Demand elasticities of tourism in Singapore

Abstract

In 1983 the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific set up a study to investigate the relationship between prices of tourist goods and tourist inflow in Singapore. The analysis was carried out on a “world” level using amalgamated data for 15 nations, also individually for each of the five major tourist-generating countries. Determinants of demand considered were - income, exchange rates, shopping and hotel prices, and local disturbances. Tourism demand is found to be highly income elastic whereas effects of prices and exchange rate movements vary between countries. Two out of three disturbance factors significantly reduced demand.