Examining the Relationship Among Counterfeit Product, Consumer Buying Behavior, and Sustainable Tourism Development

Introduction

The global trade in counterfeit products is a major challenge to the global economy and sustainable development, as it harms the global sales and profits, as well as public health, safety, and security (OECD and EUIPO, 2019). Counterfeit products put the health and safety of people worldwide at risk, also it is robbing communities of tax revenues and legitimate jobs. It is expected that counterfeiting will drain 4.2 trillion American dollars from the global economy and put 5.4 million legitimate jobs at risk by 2022 (ICC and BASCAP, 2017a). Tourism is not far from that threat, as tourism is considered as a global fast developing economic sectors, and is a major international trade sector, and one of the main sources that creating wealth for developing economies, and it works as a tool for achieving all sustainable development essentials for these countries through tourism activities (UNWTO, 2013). Meanwhile, Sustainable tourism aims to achieve a balance between the current and future economic, social and environmental benefits of tourism development, takes advantage of the current positive impacts of sustainable tourism, and avoid the negative impacts of it, which could occur in the future, whether as a direct result of sustainable tourism development, or wrong practices from any party of the industry (Waligo et al, 2013).

Shopping at street and night markets is one of the main tourists' activities, an important part of tourists' experience, which is considered as a way to save countries' culture, and popular attractions for tourists (Henderson et al., 2011), and offers tourists the opportunity to transform the intangible encounters they experience during their visit into a tangible memory and expand the linkage to the visited destination beyond the visit itself (Fangxuan & Ryan, 2018; Haldrup, 2017), taking into account that counterfeit products are the backbone of the business at street markets, and near to historical sites in Egypt.

Although, shopping is an important push factor that motivates tourists to travel, and it represents a large portion of tourist expenditure. However, scientific tourism research related to shopping at street markets, which explains tourists' preferences, behaviors, and purchase intention is still an emergent topic (Lloyd et al., 2011). Additionally, the researches with further insights relating to counterfeit products in developing countries are very little (Veloutsou & Bian, 2008; and Norum & Cuno, 2011), and particularly in the tourism sector in Egypt.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge related to sustainable tourism development, tourists' shopping experiences of counterfeit products in street markets in Egypt. For that this study aims to examine the interrelationships among the counterfeit products with its three dimensions “Price Consciousness, Social Acceptance, Product knowledge”, tourists' buying behavior, and sustainable tourism development in Egypt from the perspective of tourists.