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quantitatively. The mean, median and mode are
used to identify the centre or middle set of values
observed. Range, standard deviation and variance
indicate the spread of the observations.
Statistics are gathered on the behaviour of
tourists and other travellers �in relation to tourism
demand, for example) for market segmentation,
selecting target markets, monitoring tourist
trends, determining the effectiveness of marketing
programmes, forecasting demand and estimating
the economic impact of tourism. Tourism
demand data of most value include tourist
characteristics �such as place of residence, gender,
age, level of education, occupation, household
income) and trip characteristics �including origin,
destination, duration, purpose, transport, accommodations,
related expenditures).
Tourism supply statistics are usually collected
from establishments, the single physical locations
where productive activity takes place. These
include places of accommodation, transportation
terminals, eating and drinking places, sites of
recreational, cultural and sports activities, and
offices of other services such as travel agencies
and tour operators. Statistics are gathered on
location, capacity, quality rating �stars, crowns or
other rating terms), amenities, prices, business
receipts, employees, wages and salaries paid, taxes
paid and net income.
To be of greatest use, tourism statistics should be
comparable across space and time. Unfortunately,
this has not been the case. Even national tourism
administrations do not agree on how to define
basic terms that ensure comparability among
countries' data on international tourism behaviour.
However, the World Tourism Organization,
an affiliate of the United Nations, is working to
standardise tourism terminology and classifications
throughout the world, through training manuals
and technical seminars.
See also: quantitative methods; travel survey
Further reading
Cunningham, S. �1991) Data Analysis in Hotel &
Catering Management, Oxford: Butterworth-
Heinemann. �Application of statistical principles
to data available to hospitality managers for
solving operational problems.)
Goeldner, C.R. �1994) `Travel and tourism information
sources', in J.R.B. Ritchie and C.R.
Goeldner �eds), Travel, Tourism and Hospitality
Research:A Handbook for Managers and Researchers,
2nd edn, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 81±90.
�A guide to English-language sources of current
data on travel, tourism and hospitality.)
WTO �1995) Collection and Compilation of Tourism
Statistics, Madrid: World Tourism Organization.
�Discusses objectives and principles of conducting
national tourism surveys of inbound or
outbound international arrivals.)
stereotype
stereotype 557
DOUGLAS C. FRECHTLING, USA
Borrowing a term from printing technology,
social scientists refer to simple, inaccurate and
change-resistant ideas about the characteristics of
other groups of people as stereotypes. Rather than
being formed with individual experience, stereotypes
about different groups tend to be learned
second-hand. Because they create expectations for
encounters between different kinds of people,
stereotypes are a natural subject of interest to
scholars of tourism.
Brewer's �1984) research on interactions between
local shopkeepers and Mexican and non-
Mexican tourists in Baja, a Californian resort town
illuminates how the shopkeepers' stereotypes serve
several functions. First, the stereotypes they hold
help the locals to make sense of their tourists'
behaviour. Second, business transactions are
conducted with the expectation that the parties
will behave in predictable ways. The merchants'
stereotypes of non-Mexicans and Mexicans are
relative rather than fixed, contrasting with one
another.
One of the clearest examples of stereotypes
shaping tourism is found in the American Southwest,
where large numbers of European-Americans
visit tribal lands. There, non-native understanding
of American Indians has been organised into
stereotypes by media, especially Hollywood movies
that had no particular knack for accuracy or