《旅游管理专业英语》（第二版） 讲义 Lesson13 Lesson 13.docVIP

PAGE PAGE 211 Lesson Thirteen Text Tourism Economics Notes Vocabulary Comprehension Discussion Exercises Translation Writing Further Reading Case Study of Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. Terms LCLg prime rate Profile John Maynard Keynes References Text Tourism Economics 1. Definition Economics is usually defined in terms of scarcity, a situation in which there is not enough of something to meet everyone’s wants. Hence, the study of economics has its basis not in money or wealth, but rather in people. Scarcity itself is a human phenomenon, since things do not become scarce until they become the object of human wants. Economics, therefore, may be defined as a social science that seeks to understand the choices people make in using their scarce resources to meet their wants. In the realm of tourism economics, one might ask why people choose to travel to one destination instead of another or to remain at home versus travel. Or, why does an individual make a decision to spend (invest) money for travel? In every economy certain basic choices must be faced. Among these, the most important are what goods and services should be produced, how they should be produced, who should do which jobs, and for whom the results of economic activity should be made available. Each of these choices is made necessary because of scarcity. In modern economy the number of goods and services that can be produced is immense. The essential features of the choice of what goods and services to produce is traditionally illustrated using an economy in which as few as two alternatives exist, for example, travel and education. For many students, going without travel (or limiting travel) is a scarcity that must be made in order to obtain a college education. The same trade-off that is faced by an individual student is also faced by an economy as a whole: Not enough travel services and educati