Tourist Spending and Race of Visitors

Abstract

This article investigates racial differences in the spending patterns of tourists. The article develops a deterministic model to explain expenditures by tourists who stay overnight at a destination. The model is then applied to survey data of tourist expenditures collected from overnight visitors to Virginia Beach during the summer of 1997. The study finds that ceteris paribus overnight visitors spend about the same regardless of their race, while the most important determinant of tourist spending is visitor income. The findings hold whether total party expenditures, party expenditures per day, or expenditures per person per day are examined.