Javier Lozano

The TALC hypothesis and economic growth theory.

The authors build a bridge between traditional analysis of the evolution of tourism destinations and economic growth theory. With this aim, they develop an environmental growth model for an economy specializing in tourism and derive the pattern of tourism development with numerical calculations. The results do not contradict the pattern of evolution implied in the tourism area life cycle hypothesis, with environmental deterioration and public goods congestion being the main reasons for the stagnation of the tourism destination. The authors also show the importance of the quality of private tourism services in the evolution of a tourism destination.

Tourism and solid waste generation in Europe: A panel data assessment of the Environmental Kuznets Curve.

The relationship between tourism growth and municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has been, until now, the subject of little research. This is puzzling since the tourism sector is an important MSW generator and, at the same time, is willing to avoid negative impacts from MSW mismanagement. This paper aims to provide tools for tourism and MSW management by assessing the effects of tourism volume, tourism quality and tourism specialization on MSW generation in the UE. This is done using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. The study considers a panel data for 32 European economies in the 1997-2010 periods. Empirical results support the EKC hypothesis for MSW and shows that northern countries tend to have lower income elasticity than less developed countries; furthermore, results confirm a non-linear and significant effect of tourism arrivals, expenditure per tourist and tourism specialization on MSW generation.

Quality standards versus taxation in a dynamic environmental model of a tourism economy

The increasing economic importance of tourism activity stimulates research on the more adequate instruments to reach tourism policy targets. This paper concentrates on two tourism policy areas, namely the influence on the pattern of tourism specialization and the correction of environmental externalities, and two policy tools, that is, a tourism tax and an accommodation quality standard. Using a dynamic general equilibrium model for an economy specialized in tourism, we show that both instruments are effective in reaching those targets, although they differ in efficiency terms. The quality standard policy regime yields a more efficient tax system, as it makes Ricardian rents bear a higher share of the tax burden, but the quality standard is in itself distortionary and can create incentives for capital over-accumulation. Looking at the steady state, the quality standard allows for higher long run welfare than the tourism tax, provided that the former does not cause any dynamic inefficiency. More generally, the paper shows that a general equilibrium perspective can unveil possible unexpected complementarities between environmental and other policy targets and instruments as, in this case, quality standards aimed to influence the pattern of tourism specialization.

Is environmental regulation harmful for competitiveness? The applicability of the porter hypothesis to tourism.

The importance of environmental quality for tourism industries can hardly be overestimated. However, high environmental quality often requires public intervention, which can lead to an increased cost burden and, eventually, to a loss of competitiveness. The Porter hypothesis (PH) proposes a mechanism to make this trade-off less grim or to even avoid it. The assertions of the PH have been tested thoroughly for the manufacturing sectors; however, in the service sectors and, more specifically, in the tourism sector, the applicability of the mechanism proposed by the PH has so far not been explored in its full formulation. At the same time, due to the very distinct nature of the tourism product, the findings of works focused on different sectors cannot be applied in a straightforward manner to the tourism sector. The aim of this article is to take a look at the relationship between environmental quality and tourism competitiveness from the perspective of the PH.

The challenges of municipal solid waste management systems provided by public-private partnerships in mature tourist destinations: The case of Mallorca

This article analyzes the influence of tourism on the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system taking as reference the case study of Mallorca, an internationally renowned destination. The characteristics of tourism such as seasonality and land scarcity, set interesting challenges to public-private partnerships related to MSWM system. The analysis of Mallorcas experience shows that land endowment strongly influences the choice of treatment technologies in tourism destinations. Furthermore, tourism seasonality significantly affects management costs which should be considered on PPP contracts. Finally, the tariff system in this kind of environmental PPPs in tourist destinations still need to improve to promote waste minimization and recycling.

Waste Generation Flows and Tourism Growth: A STIRPAT Model for Mallorca

Summary Several studies have examined the relationship between environmental degradation and population growth. However, most of them do not take into account the difference between local population and tourist arrivals, which is considerably important for mature tourist destinations. This article contributes to the literature by separating these two groups within the framework of IPAT-based models to measure the impact of tourist arrivals in terms of municipal solid waste generation for Mallorca. The model leads to a stochastic differential equations system, which shows that this mature tourist destination has higher population elasticity than industrial economies. Moreover, the model allowed us to measure the elasticity of substitution between lower- and higher-income tourists. Results showed that an increase of 1% on tourist arrivals growth rate would generate an increase in waste disposal generation of 1.25%. Furthermore, an increase of tourist expenditures by 1% on the destination would lead to an increase of municipal solid waste generation of 0.51%.

The Greening Role of Tour Operators.

Abstract This paper shows that the tour operators (TOs) can play a coordinating role in the adoption of environmental management upstream the tourism supply chain. This is done using a dynamic model to analyze the environmental management adoption by hotels in a tourism destination induced by a TO. The TO can create incentives to greening hotels’ management through the sharing of an environmental price premium. We show that the extent of green management adoption depends on interest rate, the willingness to pay for environmental quality, and hotels’ organizational inertia. We also show how the financial yields from green management are shared between TOs and hotels. Finally, we consider a destination manager that subsidizes hotels’ green management. If the destination manager does not take the greening role of TOs into account, she could mistake the true trade-off that she faces between the destination’s economic and environmental outcomes for the win–win setting that characterizes the general problem.