Part I: Introduction to the Economics of Tourism -- 1 Definitions and Key Concepts -- 2 The Tourism Sector in the Economy -- 3 The Economics of Tourism Destinations -- Part II: The Microeconomics of Tourism -- 4 The Consumer Theory Applied to the Tourist -- 5 A Close Examination of the Consumer Theory Applied to the Tourist -- 6 Production in Tourism -- 7 The Production and the Sale of Holidays: Tour Operators and Travel Agencies -- 8 The Supply of Tourism Services: Hospitality, Transport, Attractions -- 9 The Tourism Markets -- 10 The Contracts in the Tourism Markets -- 11 The Information and Communication Technology and the Tourism Sector -- Part III: The Macroeconomics of Tourism -- 12 Tourism, Development and Growth.- 13 International Tourism: Real and Monetary Flows -- 14 The State Intervention and the Public Organization of Tourism -- 15 Sustainable Tourism -- References.

The book aims at providing an overview of the main economic issues related to tourism activities. While tourism is an important sector, contributing to more than 10% of the European Union’s GDP, research and teaching at the university level has only recently grown to a considerable level, and the field still lacks a firm research methodology. This book approaches tourism economics as an applied field of study in which tourism markets are represented as imperfect markets, with asymmetric and incomplete information among agents, bounded rationality, and with a strong presence of externalities and public goods. The economic issues studied in the book are approached both intuitively, largely using examples and case studies, and formally, with mathematical formalizations in text boxes.