The Supply Determinants of Small Island Tourist Economies

Authors

  • Courtney E. Parry Sant Mary's College, Nortre Dame, Indiana
  • Jerome L. McElroy Sant Mary's College, Nortre Dame, Indiana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/ara.v2i1.18971

Keywords:

Islands, economy, tourism, MIRAB, PROFIT, SITE

Abstract

For over two decades, the island economy literature has been dominated by the MIRAB model (Bertram & Watters, 1985) which argues that small islands subsist on remittances from off-island workers and aid from metropolitan patron countries. This study presents a MIRAB alternative, the small island tourist-driven economy or SITE, and teases out its characteristics employing three empirical analyses: (1) a means difference comparison between the more developed Caribbean and the less penetrated Pacific and Indian Ocean islands; (2) a Tourist Penetration Index analysis of 39 small islands less than three million in population; and (3) a regression analysis that identifies the contours of successful SITEs: political dependence, uncrowded ambience, ample tourism infrastructure, favorable geography, and relative affluence.

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Published

2017-05-02

How to Cite

Parry, C. E., & McElroy, J. L. (2017). The Supply Determinants of Small Island Tourist Economies. Ara: Journal of Tourism Research, 2(1), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1344/ara.v2i1.18971

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Section

Articles