旅游恩格尔系数的概念辨析和理论探讨——兼与孙根年、刘思敏等先生商榷

随着我国居民收入的快速增长,旅游需求的持续升温,一些专家学者借鉴恩格尔系数,提出了"旅游恩格尔系数"的新概念,并尝试以此来讨论和测度收入增加对于旅游需求的正相关关系。但这一"旅游恩格尔系数"的定义及其内涵有悖于恩格尔系数的理论初衷,与恩格尔系数缺乏必要的逻辑自洽。文章从恩格尔系数的本源出发,应用旅游经济学理论来重新定义旅游恩格尔系数,即游客在旅游过程中(非惯常环境下),用于食、住、行等必需品消费占整个旅游消费的比例。一方面对恩格尔定律及旅游恩格尔系数适用的条件进行了探讨,另一方面对前面所述的错误观点进行了商榷。最后利用这一系数对于2004-2013年我国入境游客在华消费结构进行了统计分析,初步研究了这一系数在测度客源市场成熟度和旅游目的地发展水平、产业结构等方面的应用前景。

CONCEPT ANALYSIS AND THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION OF TOURISM ENGEL COEFFICIENT: DISCUSSED CONCURRENTLY WITH SUN GENNIAN AND LIU SIMIN

With the rapid growth of income of residents, continued warming tourism demand in China, some experts and scholars put forward a new concept of "tourism Engel coefficient" based on the Engel coefficient. They try to discuss and measure that income increase is positively related with tourism demand. However, the definition and connation of the "tourism Engel coefficient" raised by Sun, Liu etc. is against the original intention of the Engel coefficient and cannot be well logically explained. From the perspective of the concept of the Engel's Law and Engel coefficient, a whole new understanding of tourism Engel coefficient is provided in the paper based on tourism economics theory:the tourism Engel coefficient is the proportion of tourists' total travel expenditure that is spent on food, shelter, and other necessities during their trip. The practicability and applicability of the Engel coefficient and the tourism Engel coefficient were discussed and some points of view for improper understanding of tourism Engel coefficient were criticized as well. Based on the time-series data from 2004 to 2013 China's inbound tourists' consumption structure, some statistical analysis were carried out by using the tourism Engel coefficient. A preliminary study of the coefficient's application is also presented. It indicates that "tourism Engel coefficient" defined in this paper can be used to measure the maturity of the tourist market, tourist destination development level and tourism economic structure.