Are lodging revenue cycles leading indicators for shifts in financial well-being?

The study contributes a natural experiment on the impact of tourism destination visit dynamic on national financial well-being. The study tracks the weekly rate of change in lodging demand in a top-ten U.S. vacation destination by visitor count, the Myrtle Beach area (Grand Strand), South Carolina The study covers a fifteen-year period on the relative strength of business valuation as measured by the Dow Industrial Index. The findings suggest that trends in lodging industry performance in a leisure travel destination such as the Myrtle Beach area may be a leading indicator of change in business valuation at the national level. In reporting on limitations, natural experiments need to include discussions of sources of invalidity such as the sources that appear in this study.

Automated summary

This study provides a natural experiment on the impact of tourism destination visits on national financial well-being. By tracking the weekly rate of change in lodging demand in Myrtle Beach area over a fifteen-year period, the findings suggest that trends in lodging industry performance at a leisure travel destination like Myrtle Beach may be a leading indicator of changes in national business valuation. Discussions on limitations of natural experiments, including sources of invalidity, need to be included in such studies.