Anatomy of successful tourism shopping districts

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the factors that make tourist shopping districts successful.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 12 sets of face-to-face interviews were conducted in 7 cities on 4 continents in September and October, 2019. In total, 21 individuals participated in the interviews. Interviews were conducted in Bangkok Thailand, Singapore, Melbourne and Brisbane Australia, Ottawa Canada, New York USA (three sets of interviews) and London England (four sets of interviews).

Findings

The literature focusses on operational issues, while respondents highlighted higher order issues relating primarily to organisational structure, governance and funding.

Research limitations/implications

The study focusses primarily on English speaking jurisdictions, with the exception of Bangkok. As such, the results may not be generalisable to non-English speaking economies.

Practical implications

Insights into factors influencing the success of tourism retail shopping districts are highlighted, especially the role of governance and creativity.

Social implications

The paper indicates that local stakeholders also play a key role in the success of such districts.

Originality/value

This is the first comprehensive, global study of the factors that make tourism shopping districts successful.

Citation

Mckercher, B. (2020), "Anatomy of successful tourism shopping districts", International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 831-846. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-12-2019-0208