The Emergence and Global Development of Niche Economic Sectors

为了更好地理解促成利基经济部门出现、发展和成功的因素，本项目提出了这样一个问题：国际旅游业最近的变化对经济和社会的影响是什么？自19世纪末开始发展以来，消费者驱动的大众旅游（国际旅游）已经成为一个重要的全球性产业。国际旅游业占全球国内生产总值（GDP）的10%，占全球就业的9%，构成了我们这个时代最大的全球商品、服务、信息和人口流通。国际旅游业也是许多国家经济发展计划的中心，包括它们在多个部门（例如服务部门、手工业）促进就业增长、创造外汇、刺激国内和国际投资以及改善道路、港口和机场等国家基础设施的努力。过去十年来，国际旅游部门发生了重大变化，其特点是旅游地点和游客人口构成发生了变化。在中东，冲突不仅改变了游客想去的地方，而且该地区的参与者也开始开发利基市场，以吸引来自亚洲、中东、北美和欧洲的不断增长的中产阶级穆斯林。这个行业（俗称“清真旅游”）规模巨大，预计在未来五年内将从1400亿美元增长到2300亿美元。了解像清真旅游这样的利基市场发展的因素，以及它们对全球旅游业的影响，对于制定经济计划和政策至关重要，这些计划和政策将使所有美国人在面对不断变化的全球经济关系和进程时受益。该研究将在新兴的清真旅游利基产业中心大伊斯坦布尔地区进行，并将重点关注来自海湾合作委员会成员国、东南亚和英国的清真旅游供应商和消费者的跨国网络。这是一个特别适合的研究环境，因为研究者在过去的五年里进行了广泛的初步实地调查，为这个项目奠定了基础，并且在大中东地区有超过15年的研究经验，研究跨越中东、南亚、欧洲和北美的穆斯林网络。因此，研究者可以利用现有的基础设施和支持，这使得少量的资金可以产生重大的研究影响。研究者将评估清真旅游利基部门是如何与传统形式的大众旅游发展的，以及什么样的宗教理解和实践塑造了这个部门的出现。在检查这些问题时，研究者将研究这个利基部门的三个维度：供应商，消费者和清真旅游的网站。调查员将参加行业会议；采访企业家、旅游官员和消费者；并收集酒店、旅游、餐厅等清真旅游基础设施的信息。本研究的结果将通过考察宗教理解和实践对企业家和消费者的经济活动和决策过程的影响程度，深入了解促进利基经济部门发展的因素。

To better understand the factors that contribute to the emergence, development, and success of niche economic sectors, this project asks, what are the economic and social implications of recent changes in international tourism? Since its development beginning in the late 19th century, consumer-driven mass tourism (international tourism) has become a vital global industry. International tourism accounts for 10% of global gross domestic product (GDP), 9% of jobs worldwide, and constitutes the largest global circulation of goods, services, information and populations of our time. The international tourism industry is also central to many countries' economic development plans, including their attempts at fostering job growth in multiple sectors (e.g. service sector, craft industries), generating foreign currency, stimulating national and international investment, and improving national infrastructure such as roads, ports and airports. Over the past decade, the international tourism sector has undergone significant changes, marked by shifts in sites of tourism and the demographic composition of tourists. In the Middle East, conflicts have not only rerouted where tourists seek to go, but actors in the region have also begun to develop niche markets to attract growing populations of middle class Muslims from throughout Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe. This industry (which is colloquially referred to as 'halal tourism') is massive, expected to grow from $140 to $230 billion over the next five years. Understanding the factors that account for the development of niche markets like halal tourism, and the impact they are having on global tourism is critical for developing economic programs and policies that will benefit all Americans in the face of changing global economic relations and processes. The research will be conducted in the greater Istanbul area, a hub of the nascent halal tourism niche industry, and will focus on a transnational network of halal tourism purveyors and consumers from the Gulf Cooperation Council states, South-East Asia and the United Kingdom. This is a particularly apt research milieu because the investigator has conducted extensive preliminary fieldwork over the past five years to lay the groundwork for this project, and has over fifteen years of research experience in the greater Middle East region, and of researching Muslim networks that span the Middle East, South Asia, Europe and North America. As such, the investigator can leverage existing infrastructure and support, which allows a small amount of funding to produce significant research impact. The investigator will assess how the halal tourism niche sector is developing in relation to conventional forms of mass tourism and what religious understandings and practice shape the emergence of this sector. In examining these issues, the investigator will research three dimensions of this niche sector: purveyors, consumers, and sites of halal tourism. The investigator will attend trade conferences; interview entrepreneurs, tourism officials and consumers; and collect information on hotels, tours, restaurants and other halal tourism infrastructure. Findings from this research will provide insight into factors that promote the development of niche economic sectors by examining the extent to which religious understandings and practices impact entrepreneurs' and consumers' economic activities and decision-making processes.