Javier Rey-Maquieira

Land, environmental externalities and tourism development

In a two sectors dynamic model we analyze the process of tourism development based on the accumulation of capital (building of tourism facilities) and the reallocation of land from traditional activities to the tourism sector. The model incorporates the conflict between occupation of the territory by the tourism facilities, other productive activities and availability of cultural, natural and environmental assets that are valued by residents and visitors. We characterize the process of tourism development in two settings: the socially optimal solution and a situation where the costs of tourism expansion are external to the decision makers, where externalities on residents as well as intraindustry externalities are considered. Regarding the optimal solution, we show that it is optimal to limit tourism expansion before it reaches its maximum capacity even in a context where the economic attractiveness of tourism relative to other productive sectors rise continuously. However, in this context and when all the costs of tourism development are externalities the only limit to tourism quantitative expansion is its maximum capacity determined by the availability of land. Finally, we show that excessive environmental degradation from the future generations’ point of view is not a problem of discounting the future but rather a problem of externalities that affects negatively the current and future generations.

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.

Length of Stay at Multiple Destinations of Tourism Trips in Brazil

This study applied a shared heterogeneity duration model to tourists’ length of stay at different locations of multidestination trips. This analysis helps to understand tourists’ behaviors and to predict their length of stay according to relevant variables. Such information can be applied to the development of efficient marketing strategies aiming to push the average length of stay to the desired direction, and to develop “on the fly” service provision and revenue management strategies. The focus on multiple destination trips offers an innovative analytical perspective. A large data set of 309,000 visits to Brazilian destinations was analyzed. Several empirical findings regarding determinants of tourists’ length of stay were obtained. Positively skewed distributions for duration and hazard functions were found to best fit observed data. Shared heterogeneity was found to statistically improve the explanatory capacity of duration models when multidestination tourism trips data are analyzed.

The role of training in changing an economy specialising in tourism

This paper compares the training requirements of alternative tourism development strategies which are differentiated by the quality of service offered. The paper focuses on the Balearic Islands and use an original database that consists of a representative sample of Balearic hotels. This database includes data on both employers and employees and allows us to identify differences in job characteristics, as well as differences in human capital, with respect to both education and on‐the‐job training, depending on the category of the hotel. The article uses a discrete choice model to identify the characteristics of both employer and employee that determine the provision of training. It concludes that educational level is not a strong constraint on the mobility of workers between categories, and we show that on‐the‐job training has a role to play in the transition to alternative tourism development strategies.

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.

Change in the managerial efficiency and management technology of hotels: an application to Thailand

This article estimates the change in managerial efficiency and management technology of a sample of hotels in Chiang Mai, Thailand, during 2002–2006. The study applies the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology proposed by Banker et al (1984) to examine managerial efficiency in 2002 and 2006. The Malmquist productivity approach developed by Färe et al (1992) is employed to evaluate the change in managerial efficiency and management technology over the same period. The results show that medium-sized and small hotels tend to be more managerially efficient than large hotels. The total factor productivity declined slightly owing to a lack of investment in management technology. Instead, the hotels in the sample concentrated on improving managerial effort. This shortfall in technology investment could hamper productivity in the longer term.

The potential effects of a change in the distribution of tourism expenditure on employment

Many mature tourist destinations are considering replacing low category hotel beds with high category beds. This study estimates the potential effects that these proposals will have on employment, assuming that labour is homogeneous. The methodology used is based on the input–output model and the social accounting matrix, which allow direct, indirect and induced effects to be taken into account. In addition to conventional employment and output multipliers, the paper presents projections for different bed replacement scenarios and analyses the replacement ratios which would allow aggregate gross value added or employment to remain constant. Finally, the analysis extends to include the change of tourist expenditure distribution on complementary tourism facilities.

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.