Behavioral Economics for Tourism

Milena S. Nikolova is a researcher and expert in tourism. She received her PhD from The George Washington University School of Business and her MS in Psychology from the Sofia University in Bulgaria. She has 15 years of combined experience as academic educator and researcher at The George Washington University School of Business and the Department of Business at the American University in Bulgaria. Her profile combines academic background with practitioner experience as global expert who has worked with tourism businesses and institutions across four continents. Milena’s research and professional interests focus on traveler psychology and behavioral tactics for tourism business and policy. She is a frequent speaker at tourism industry events on these topics. Currently, Milena is actively engaged in piloting innovation programs applying behavioral solutions for sustainability and market success for travel destinations.

• Introduction1. Primer on Behavioural EconomicsCASES: 1. Save More Tomorrow Program for Retirement Planning in the US2. Smarter Lunchrooms Movement3. Making Roads Safer4. Using Behaviorally-friendly Design to Encourage Loan Payoff5. Designing Policy with Happiness in Mind6. Fighting Obesity with Air Miles7. Improving the Likelihood for Enrollment and Graduation of Unprivileged College Students8. Reducing the use of disposable plastic bags in Chicago9. Encouraging Water Conservation10. Nudging companies towards timely tax return registration 2. Tourism and traditional thinking3. Tourism of the (near) future: growing, faster, on-the-go4. Behavior-Smart Thinking for Destinations5. Behavior-Smart Thinking for Tourism Companies6. Challenges and Approaches Using Behaviour-Smart Thinking in 10 Tourism Industry ScenariosCASES1. Behavior-Smart Lowering of Airline Carbon Emissions…Today2. Making Climate Footprint a Factor in Food Choice3. Behavioral Segmentation for Destination Netherlands 20304. Making Sustainability Easy to Follow (Helsinki's Think Sustainably)5. Factory Food-N-Dance: designing the experience with what is good for the traveler in the mind6. Iceland Academy: Traveler Education for Better Experience and Proper Behavior7. Economic Nutrition: Making Economic Impact of Spending Salient8. Gamifying Responsible Travel: Adventure Junky9. Cut Food Waste 2020: An Integrated Effort to Cut Food Waste10. Piloting Behavior-Smart Thinking on Destination Level (Västmanland Region, Sweden)Conclusion

"Explores the tourism industry from a behavioral economics perspective, providing a realistic explanation to the phenomena associated with typical business and policy challenges." --Journal of Economic Literature