Recherche et activités scientifiques

Habilitation to Supervise Research (HDR)

“Tourism economics: quantifying international flows and their effects on local development” (in French). Research synthesis defended on 14 December 2018 at the GREDEG laboratory, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (Université Côte d’Azur). Supervisor: Dominique Torre (full text).

Jury: Louis Job (chair, reviewer), Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis (reviewer), Nicolas Peypoch (reviewer), François de Grandpré (examiner).

PhD thesis

“An analysis of international tourism: fragmented production, cross flows and redistributive effects” (in French). Defended on 19 November 2010 with the highest distinction, Université Lille 1, EQUIPPE laboratory. Supervisors: Hubert Jayet and Jean-Jacques Nowak (full text).

Jury: Georges Bresson (chair), Lionel Fontagné (reviewer), Farid Toubal (reviewer), Mondher Sahli, Hubert Jayet and Jean-Jacques Nowak (supervisors).

Publications in journals and books

• Giannoni, S., Petit, S. & Peypoch, N. (forthcoming). Assessing the Impact of Urban Riots on Tourism in France. Revue d’Économie Régionale et Urbaine.

• Petit, S. & Suárez Tostado, M. (2026). Innovation Dynamics in Tourism: Insights from European SMEs. Tourism Economics, forthcoming, doi:10.1177/13548166261434994. (online version)

• Delaplace, M., Dropsy, V., Fourati, M., Petit, S. & Sahli, M. (2026). Les JOP 2024 à Teahupo’o : un outil de développement du tourisme à Tahiti ? Une analyse des anticipations locales. In Les enjeux des Jeux. Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme du Pacifique, forthcoming.

• Richard, G. & Petit, S. (2026). Les liens entre habitants et tourisme : un enjeu scientifique majeur. Espaces tourisme & loisirs, 389, special issue “Residents and tourism”, March–April 2026 (editorial). (online version)

• Sartoretti, I., Huftier, A., Petit, S. & Oumheta, M. (2026). La Porte du Hainaut : penser le tourisme avec et pour les habitants. Espaces tourisme & loisirs, 389, special issue “Residents and tourism”, March–April 2026. (online version)

• Petit, S. (2026). Six thematic entries (Pricing, Tourism products, Tourism markets, International tourism flows, Tourism economics) in J.-M. Breton & J.-L. Michaud (Eds.), Dictionnaire du tourisme et du droit du tourisme. Mare & Martin. (online version)

• Delaplace, M., Dropsy, V., Petit, S. & Sahli, M. (2025). Distances et proximités dans l’organisation des épreuves de surf des jeux olympiques de Paris 2024 à Teahupo’o en Polynésie française. Bulletin de l’Association de Géographes Français, 102(4), 571–590. (online version)

• Oumheta, M. & Petit, S. (2025). Modelling a domestic tourism destination: adapting the Regional Tourism Model to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Via – Tourism Review, 27. (online version)

• Lambrecht, S. & Petit, S. (2025). 7th QATEM (Quantitative Advances in Tourism Economics and Management) workshop. Tourism Economics, 31(3), 516–517 (editorial). (online version)

• Dropsy, V., Nowak, J.-J., Petit, S. & Sahli, M. (2024). The gravity model for tourism flows: considering the non-homothetic nature of demand. Working paper.

• Giannoni, S., Petit, S., Voltaire, L., Chagnon, P.H. & Paul, R. (2024). Adoption of Covid-19 Safety Certification and Pricing Strategy in the Hotel Industry. Applied Economics, 56(15), 1723–1747. (online version, working paper version)

• Giannoni, S., Petit, S., Peypoch, N. & Zekan, B. (2024). Tourism economics development beyond the COVID-19 crisis: The eighth International Association for Tourism Economics (IATE) conference. Tourism Economics, 30(4), 809–812 (editorial). (online version)

• Delaplace, M., Dropsy, V., Petit, S. & Sahli, M. (2024). Planning a Paris 2024 event away from the capital: the surfing competition in Teahupo’o. In M. Delaplace & P.-O. Schut (Eds.), Planning the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Palgrave. (online version)

• Dropsy, V. & Petit, S. (2024). Regional Economic Integration and The Pacific Way. In S. Al Wardi & S. Tcherkezoff (Eds.), Pacific Way. 50 ans après. Api Tahiti. (online version)

• Otcenasek, Y. & Petit, S. (2023). Anticiper les conséquences économiques pour le tourisme d’une petite destination insulaire : l’exemple de la Polynésie française. In P. Brown & N. Gaertner-Mazouni (Eds.), Small Islands. Big Issues. Pacific Perspectives on the Ecosystem of Knowledge. Peter Lang. (working paper version, video)

• Lévi, L., Nowak, J.-J., Petit, S. & Hammadou, H. (2022). Industrial legacy and hotel pricing: an application of spatial hedonic pricing analysis in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Tourism Economics, 28(4), 870–898. (online version, working paper version)

• de Grandpré, F., Morshel, J. & Petit, S. (2022). L’intérêt d’une approche par espaces touristiques homogènes ou par produits dans une destination insulaire : l’exemple de la Polynésie française. Espaces tourisme & loisirs, 366, special issue “Islands and tourism”, May–June 2022. (online version, working paper version)

• Nowak, J.-J. & Petit, S. (2021). A reconsideration of tourism specialization in Europe. Tourism Economics, 27(8), 1833–1838. (online version, working paper version)

• Qiu, R., Wu, D., Dropsy, V., Petit, S., Pratt, S. & Ohe, Y. (2021). Visitor arrival forecast amid COVID-19: Asia-Pacific team. Annals of Tourism Research, 88, 103155 (Golden Medal of the forecasting competition). (online version)

• Dropsy, V. & Petit, S. (2021). L’initiative des nouvelles Routes de la soie : à partir d’un modèle de gravité. In S. Al Wardi & J.-M. Regnault (Eds.), L’Indo-Pacifique et routes de la soie : les nouvelles stratégies mondiales, 77–95. Api Tahiti. (working paper version, video)

• Petit, S. (2021). Comment retrouver la confiance dans le tourisme avec des politiques publiques incohérentes ? Tahiti Pacifique, 455. (online version)

• Petit, S. (2021). Tourisme : l’année 2021 peut-elle être pire pour le tourisme que 2020 ? Tahiti Pacifique, 448 (cover story). (online version)

• Petit, S. (2020). Quantitative Methods in Tourism. A Handbook, 2nd edition (book review). Tourism Analysis, 25(1), 195–196. (online version, working paper version)

• Botti, L., Petit, S. & Zhang, L. (2020). Strategic decision-making concerning tourist origins portfolio: A decision process based on the ELECTRE method and applied to French Polynesia. Tourism Economics, 26(5), 830–843. (online version, working paper version)

• Petit, S. (2020). Le diagnostic de la destination de Polynésie française. Tahiti Pacifique, 443. (online version)

• Petit, S. (2020). Reprise du tourisme : le moteur cale. Tahiti Pacifique, 440. (online version)

• Petit, S. (2020). Recrudescence des cas de COVID-19 en Polynésie française : le tourisme n’est pas coupable ! Blog post, Veille documentaire : Tourisme & Résilience, 14, CETOP. (online version)

• Otcenasek, Y., Oulé, J.-C. & Petit, S. (2020). L’optimisation du portefeuille de marchés touristiques émetteurs. Blog post, Veille documentaire : Tourisme & Résilience, 6, CETOP. (online version)

• Dropsy, V., Oulé, J.-C., Petit, S. & Rival, Y. (2020). Sauver le secteur touristique de la Polynésie française. Tahiti Pacifique, 433. (online version)

• Petit, S. (2020). Malgré la crise, il est urgent de penser au redémarrage du tourisme en Polynésie française. Focus, Veille documentaire : Tourisme & Résilience, 4, CETOP. (online version)

• Dropsy, V., Oulé, J.-C., Petit, S. & Rival, Y. (2020). Et si l’avenir du tourisme en Polynésie française passait par le « bubble tourism » ? Focus, Veille documentaire : Tourisme & Résilience, 3, CETOP. (online version)

• Dropsy, V., Oulé, J.-C., Petit, S. & Rival, Y. (2020). Les prévisions internationales et pour la Polynésie française. Veille documentaire : Tourisme & Résilience, 1, CETOP. (online version)

• Petit, S. & Seetaram, N. (2019). Measuring the effects of revealed cultural preferences on tourism exports. Journal of Travel Research, 58(8), 1262–1273. (online version, working paper version)

• Dropsy, V. & Petit, S. (2019). Les économies des PTOM du Pacifique et leurs relations avec l’UE. In A. De Raulin & J.-P. Pastorel (Eds.), Les relations UE, pays ACP et PTOM : vers la fin d’un cycle. L’Harmattan. (working paper version)

• Petit, S. (2019). La Polynésie française ; une destination qui doit se positionner dans le marché du tourisme international. Paroles d’expert, CETOP. (online version)

• Petit, S. & Venayre, F. (2018). L’ouverture du marché polynésien du transport aérien international menacée par la communication de l’Autorité de la concurrence. Revue juridique, politique et économique de Nouvelle-Calédonie, 32, 64–75. (online version, working paper version, video)

• Petit, S. (2018). L’ouverture à la concurrence du transport aérien interne en Polynésie française : une chance à saisir et de nouveaux challenges pour les pouvoirs publics. Paroles d’expert, CETOP. (online version)

• Petit, S. & Venayre, F. (2018). Tahiti : le revers de la guerre des prix dans l’aérien. L’Echo touristique, 13 June 2018. (online version)

• Petit, S. (2017). International trade in services and inequalities: empirical evaluation and role of tourism. Tourism Economics, 23(5), 1069–1075. (online version, working paper version)

• Zhang, L., Botti, L. & Petit, S. (2016). Destination performance: Introducing the utility function in the Mean-Variance space. Tourism Management, 52, 123–132. (online version, working paper version)

• Hanna, J., Lévi, L. & Petit, S. (2015). Intra-tourism trade, income distribution and tourism endowment: an econometric investigation. Applied Economics, 47(21), 2184–2200. (online version, working paper version)

• Nowak, J.-J., Petit, S. & Sahli, M. (2013). Tourism and Globalization: The International Division of Tourism Production. In L. Dwyer & N. Seetaram (Eds.), Recent Developments in the Economics of Tourism, Vol. II, Part B. Edward Elgar (collection of the most significant articles in the field over the past 20 years). (working paper version)

• Nowak, J.-J., Petit, S. & Sahli, M. (2013). Tourism and Globalization: A Trade Theoretic Approach. In C. Tisdell (Ed.), Handbook of Tourism Economics: Analysis, New Applications and Case Studies, Part III. World Scientific Publishing. (working paper version)

• Petit, S. (2013). Enjeux et dangers du tourisme international sur le développement local. In T. Trzaskalik & T. Wachowicz (Eds.), Multiple Criteria Decision Making. University of Economics in Katowice. (working paper version)

• Nowak, J.-J., Petit, S. & Sahli, M. (2012). Intra-Tourism Trade in Europe. Tourism Economics, 18(6), 1287–1311. (online version, working paper version)

• Cassette, A., Fleury, N. & Petit, S. (2012). Income inequality and international trade in goods and services: short and long-run evidence. The International Trade Journal, 26(3), 223–254. (online version, working paper version)

• Seetaram, N. & Petit, S. (2012). Panel data analysis in Tourism Research. In N. Seetaram, L. Dwyer & A. Gill (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods in Tourism. Edward Elgar. (working paper version)

• Petit, S. (2011). Allers et retours entre théorie et empirique dans la littérature du commerce international : l’exemple du commerce intrabranche. Conference “Vers une société modèle ?”, UVHC, November 2011. (working paper version)

• Nowak, J.-J., Petit, S. & Sahli, M. (2010). Tourism and Globalization: The International Division of Tourism Production. Journal of Travel Research, 49(2), 228–245. (online version, working paper version)

Expert report

• de Grandpré, F. & Petit, S. (2020). Contribution to the tourism diagnosis of French Polynesia, 2020–2025 (in French). Centre for Tourism Studies in Oceania-Pacific (CETOP) (report).

Research supervision

• Qi-Bin Liang (HDR, 2026): “Contributions to the construction of production technology and its application to tourism economics”, defended on 2 June 2026.

• Antoine Rogier (since 2024): “Territorial and national economic impacts of mega sporting events: the case of the 2024 Olympic Games”, co-supervised with Pierre-Olaf Schut, funded by the Hauts-de-France Region and UPHF.

• Maeva Longine (since 2023): “The 2024 Olympic Games in Tahiti: assessing the economic, environmental and socio-cultural impacts in French Polynesia”, co-supervised with Vincent Dropsy, Pacific Doctoral School (EDP), UPF.

• Myriam Oumheta (since 2022): “Essays on regional tourism economics: destination diagnosis, heritage value, efficiency in destination management”, joint PhD with the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), co-supervised with Lucie Morisset; 50% funded by UPHF. Recipient of the International Mobility Grant of the Fondation Partenariale Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (2023).

• Roberto Paolo Vico (2016–2020): “The Olympic Games between myth and reality: an ethnographic study of the imaginary of Rio de Janeiro’s population against the use of territory during the 2016 Olympic Games”, joint PhD with the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Natal, Brazil), co-supervised with Francisco Fransualdo de Azevedo and Arnaud Huftier (UPHF), defended on 18 December 2020 (full text).

PhD examination committees

• Salima Cherti, UPVD, 1 July 2026: reviewer.

• Yvan Tegui, UPVD, 15 June 2026: chair and examiner.

• Clémentine Séguine, EPHE-PSL, 12 October 2023: reviewer.

• Kongmanwatana Papangkorn, UPVD, 12 May 2017: examiner.

• PhD monitoring committees: Yvan Tegui (chair, 2023), Salima Cherti (2022–2024), Abdylbasit Awad (2022), Luc Renaud (2021).

External scientific responsibilities

• Elected treasurer and UPHF representative, AsTRES (Association Tourisme Recherche et Enseignement Supérieur), since 2024.

• Member of the HCERES expert pool, since 2023.

• Elected Vice-President, AFMAT (French Association for Tourism Management), 2022–2026.

• Member of the scientific committee of the Dictionnaire du tourisme et du droit du tourisme (Mare & Martin), edited by J.-M. Breton and J.-L. Michaud.

• Project evaluator: PIA 4 ExcellencES EURO-TELL, Wave 1 (2025); EXEBIO Excellence Call (2024).

• Guest editor, Mondes du tourisme, special issue “Tourism and residents”.

• Guest editor, Tourism Economics, special focus “QATEM 2023”.

• Editorial board member, Tourism Analysis (since 2023) and Tourism Economics (since 2019).

• Reviewer for: International Journal of Hospitality Management, Economic Change and Restructuring, Applied Economics, Tourism Analysis, Annals of Tourism Research, Revue d’Économie Industrielle, Revue d’Économie Politique, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Tourism Economics, Tourism Management, International Economics, The International Trade Journal.

• Elected member of the executive board, IATE (International Association for Tourism Economics), 2011–2018.

• Scientific committees: IATE conferences (since 2011), QATEM workshop (since 2018), AFMAT and AsTRES (since 2022), EUNICE Synergy 2026 congress.

Research projects / events

• Scientific partner and steering committee member, TexTOUR (From experiential to regenerative tourism), InSPIR programme, Hauts-de-France Region, led by Vincent Herbert (ULCO); 6 institutions; budget: €1,000,000.

• Principal investigator, SaFeP (Women’s Health and Prevention: evaluation of the “Women’s Health Villages” event), 2025–2026, UPHF-LARSH, with Valenciennes Hospital.

• Member of the Chair “Tourism and Heritage Valorisation”, UPHF, led by Arnaud Huftier, funded by the Porte du Hainaut agglomeration community, since 2021.

• Partner and work-package leader, THREpiCo (Tourism in Hauts-de-France facing the Covid-19 epidemic risk), led by Louinord Voltaire (ULCO), funded by the ANR and the Hauts-de-France Region, 2021–2022; budget: €371,124.

• Partner, “Economic analysis of tourism in the Pacific islands: New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Vanuatu”, led by Mondher Sahli, Pacific Fund, 2020–2022.

• Principal investigator, “Tourism & Resilience” monitoring bulletin, CETOP, UPF, 2020–2021; 21 issues.

• Co-principal investigator, Tourism diagnosis of French Polynesia, funded by CETOP and coordinated by François de Grandpré (UQTR), 2019–2020.

• Principal investigator, seed projects TOP FP (Tourist Origins Portfolio for French Polynesia, 2019–2020) and TSARQ (Tourism Specialization Across Ranges of Quality, 2018–2019), UPF.

• Principal investigator, “Heritage and Territories” project (SIFRE), UVHC, 2016–2017: 2 conferences and 10 seminars (program).

• International Research Quality Bonus (BQRI) 2016 with Neelu Seetaram (Bournemouth University), “Tourism and cultural proximity”.

• Principal investigator, EETR (Assessment of the Regional Tourism Economy), Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, 2013–2014; budget: €230,000 (report).

Organisation of scientific events

• Member of the scientific committee, EUNICE Synergy 2026 congress, November 2026.

• Scientific chair and co-organiser, 13th AFMAT and 12th ARIMHE conferences, 5–7 May 2026, Valenciennes and Amiens.

• Scientific chair and organiser, 14th AsTRES conference “Tourism and residents”, UPHF, December 2025; 70 speakers.

• Organiser of the seminar series “Research models and methods in economics”, CRISS department, LARSH, UPHF, since 2022.

• Organiser of the IATE PhD Workshop and the QATEM Workshop 2023, UPHF, June 2023.

• Organising committee, workshop “Rethinking tourism and development in French Polynesia after the pandemic”, UPF, October 2022, and IATE Conference 2022 (UPVD, Université de Corse, UPHF).

• Organiser of the presentation of the tourism diagnosis of French Polynesia, UPF, 13 November 2020.

• Organiser of the 6th QATEM Workshop, UPF, 14–15 June 2018 (programme).

• Organiser of the Interdisciplinary Days and Seminars on Heritage and Territories (JIPT and SIPT), 2017.

• Organiser of the 3rd IATE PhD Workshop, 16–17 June 2014.

Interviews

• “Surtourisme : faut-il restreindre l’accès aux destinations les plus prisées ?”, series “Les fléaux du surtourisme” (3/3), Capital.fr, 29 March 2025. (link)

• “Prix de l’immobilier, pression sur les ressources naturelles… les ravages du surtourisme”, series “Les fléaux du surtourisme” (2/3), Capital.fr, 12 March 2025. (link)

• “Saison touristique : le surtourisme existe-t-il vraiment ?”, Pour l’Éco, 7 September 2023. (link)

• “Entre écologie, authenticité et marketing, le filon du slow tourisme”, L’Express, 12 August 2023. (link)

• “Fin des véhicules diesel à Paris : les cars touristiques contraints de s’adapter… et vite”, L’Express, 14 May 2023. (link)

• “Pour l’économiste Sylvain Petit, 600 000 touristes/an suppose d’industrialiser”, La Dépêche de Tahiti, 23 March 2023. (link)

• “Quels scénarios pour une sortie de crise ?”, annual magazine Dixit, 2022.

• “Tourisme : une industrie à réinventer”, three-page interview, annual magazine L’économie polynésienne, 2, 2021.

• “Le tourisme de luxe et de l’ultraluxe fait de la résistance”, Tahiti Infos, 12 January 2021. (link)

• “Le secteur touristique « amortit plutôt bien le choc »”, La Dépêche de Tahiti, 30 November 2020. (link)

• “La crise du tourisme pourrait durer jusqu’en 2025”, Tahiti Infos, 16 November 2020. (link)

• “Tourisme : « L’urgence c’est d’aller chercher le marché asiatique, le premier à se relever »”, Tahiti Infos, 5 November 2020. (link)

• “Le tourisme, moteur de l’économie insulaire”, TNTV evening news, 18 August 2020. (link)

• Tahiti Positive e-Festival, “Tourism in French Polynesia”, introduction of the tourism panel, 26 April 2020 (from 3:03:00 in the video). (link)

• “Le spectre d’une récession économique majeure se profile”, Polynésie la 1ère evening news, 20 March 2020. (link)

• Ahitea, episode 20, focus on the professional bachelor’s in hospitality and tourism, TNTV (14 March 2020) and Polynésie la 1ère (15 March 2020). (link)

• “Le tourisme : matière de recherches et d’études”, Honuatere, 13, June–August 2019.

• “Le yield management, une pratique pour « optimiser la rentabilité »”, Tahiti Infos, 20 June 2018. (link)

• “Un outil pour mesurer notre performance touristique”, Tahiti Infos, 14 June 2018. (link)

• “Capland à Marquise, Maison des Archers à Watten : quand les musées font flop”, Daily Nord, 15 May 2017. (link)