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Obliquity describes the process of achieving complex objectives indirectly. The recent emergence of the concept and paradigm of intelligent or smart tourist destinations has given rise to a proliferation of initiatives to convert many tourism destinations into smart tourism destinations. Such initiatives are often driven by publicly and privately financed technologically-based companies, In theory, the concept of the smart tourist destination includes different levels of action in the environmental, social and technological fields, directed at enhancing the satisfaction and experience of tourists. However, in many practical applications of the concept, only the latter level is addressed, and the other dimensions are neglected. This article argues that smart tourism destinations represent the first real opportunity to make the concept of sustainable tourism operational. This argument is based on the fact that, for the first time, the intensive use of technology involved in implementing a smart tourism destination will enable the continuous measurement of aspects related to sustainability which, until now, in the absence of this technology, were difficult or impossible to measure, and therefore, manage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the economic performance of holiday and residential tourism destinations in Spain, as measured by the level of retail activity, from a quantitative perspective. Differences between destinations are explored. A positive association between the economic development of destinations and their retail index was expected. However, no significant differences were found between residential/second-home tourism and holiday/leisure tourism destinations. The results obtained contradict the conventional assumptions that holiday destinations perform better economically than residential ones due to a higher level of tourist spending of people accommodated in hotels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effects of the recent Arab uprisings on tourism destinations located along the Mediterranean coastline. It uses time-series analysis to model international tourist arrivals. First, autoregressive integrated moving average models are estimated for the period 1980-2009 and predicted for 2010-2014 to establish suitable country controls. Second, Bayesian structural time-series models - designed primarily to determine causal impacts in on-line marketing campaigns - are used to establish the effects of the events in Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Spain and Greece. The main conclusion is that the models clearly capture the negative impact of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and their positive impacts on Morocco and Turkey. However, the effects on Spain and Greece are less clear and depend crucially on the set of controls used in the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how the slowdown in the real estate market during the most recent economic and financial crisis has affected residential tourism destinations on the Spanish coast. The afore-mentioned crisis, which gave rise to a standstill in residential activity, coincided with the turbulences experienced in the competing destinations of Northern Africa, which brought about a record number of international tourist arrivals to Spain. The resulting situation enables us to explore the future scenario of all the Spanish destinations that, due to the depletion of available land, are reaching their maximum levels of urban growth. Examining the case of Calpe, a destination which is representative of the Spanish Mediterranean, the study analyses whether the foreseeable dynamics for the future are conceptualized in the favourable terms that characterize “sustainable development” or, on the contrary, exhibit negative implications which the classic economists refer to as the “steady state”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential tourism and second homes are two closely related phenomena that constitute a growing research field, but the different names given to the concepts by researchers have led to a fragmented and disconnected literature. These two categories are essentially the same -- or share many elements -- but the research seems to be disjointed, which, in our opinion, has created a gap in the existing literature on this subject. Specifically, the research on "residential tourism" has expanded to integrate not only second home ownership issues, but the rental of holiday homes to tourists. This commercial use of second homes has been only occasionally referred to by second home authors. Mainstream literature, mainly focused on North American-Canadian and Scandinavian destinations, uses the term "second homes". Conversely, researchers in Mediterranean countries -- e.g. Spain or France -- prefer the term "residential tourism". Both phenomena are also related with a third concept, to take into account in this context, the visiting friends and relatives tourism (VFR). This note advocates an unified approach to studying this kind of tourism that will extend knowledge in the field and optimise future research efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the application of the cluster concept to tourist destinations using Benidorm as a case study. A questionnaire was administered to tourism firms based in Benidorm in order to determine whether this destination currently constitutes a tourism cluster or whether it possesses the ideal characteristics to become a cluster with the private agents' collaboration, that is, whether it is a potential cluster. The results obtained from this research indicate that Benidorm's success is not derived from the presence of a cluster due to a series of elements that prevent its existence. In this destination there is a need to strengthen cooperation between public and private agents (especially in those areas that determine the competitive advantage of the destination) and to design a strategy based on shared goals. Both of these elements are fundamental for the characterisation of a cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note analyzes the relationship between economic crises and tourism performance in Spain during the period 1970-2013 using machine learning techniques. Specifically, a regression tree is estimated to confirm that, although the dynamics of Spanish tourism performance is influenced by the general variables established by the literature, the crisis periods disrupt the natural functioning of these dynamics, provoking disturbances that affect the tourism market position of destinations to a greater extent than expected. Conversely, to other econometric techniques, machine learning approach allows us to achieve greater flexibility and enriches the information, estimating the interrelations and thresholds operating in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a theoretical model of the influence of economic crises on tourism destination performance. It discusses the temporary and permanent effects of economic crises on the global market shares of tourism destinations through a series of potential transmission mechanisms based on the main economic competitiveness determinants identified in the literature. The proposed model explains the non-neutrality of economic shocks in tourism competitiveness. The model is tested on Spain's tourism industry, which is among the leaders of the global tourism sector, for the period 1970-2013 using non-linear econometric techniques. The empirical analysis confirms that the proposed model is appropriate for explaining the changes in the market positions caused by the economic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to estimate a model of hedonic prices that is applied to apartments that are rented in the Spanish coastline, based on data that has been provided by Tecnitasa. The results confirm the relevance of the determinants that were previously identified by the literature and point to new determinants, such as tourism competitiveness and online reputation, as future drivers of prices in the new tourist environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]