Skip Navigation

Journal of Economic Geography 2004 4(4):459-472; doi:10.1093/jnlecg/lbh030
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ulubasoglu, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Hazari, B. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Related Collections
Right arrow C16 - Specific Distributions
Right arrow C21 - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
Right arrow L80 - General
Right arrow L83 - Sports; Gambling; Recreation; Tourism
Right arrow R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes
Right arrow R12 - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 4, No. 4, © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved.

Zipf's law strikes again: the case of tourism

Mehmet A. Ulubasoglu* and Bharat R. Hazari**

* Corresponding author: School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia. email <maulubas{at}deakin.edu.au>
** Deakin Business School, Deakin University, 336 Glenferrie Road, Malvern, Victoria 3144, Australia. email <hazari{at}deakin.edu.au>

Abstract

This paper examines the applicability of Zipf's law to tourism. It is established that a variation of this law holds in this case—a rank-size rule with concavity. Due to this non-linearity, it is shown that a spline regression provides an extremely convenient tool for predicting tourist arrivals in a country. The concavity is explained by appealing to random growth theory (lognormal distribution; Gibrat's law) and locational fundamentals.

Keywords: complex networks, Gibrat's law, tourism, Zipf's law,
JEL classifications: C16, C21, L8, R12
Date submitted: 6 June 2003     Date accepted: 23 February 2004


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.