Sandra Zapata-Aguirre

Causality between economic growth and air transport expansion: empirical evidence from Mexico

This paper analyses the effects in the long-run between air transport demand and the economic growth in Mexico. Using quarterly data from 1995qIII to 2013qIV, the study investigates possible causal relationships between real GDP and number of air passengers in arriving and departing from Mexican airports. Johansen cointegration analysis shows the existence of one cointegrated vector where the corresponding elasticities are positive. The study shows that the causality relationship is positive and bidirectional. Impulse response analysis shows that an increase in the magnitude of air transport expansion in Mexico produces a positive effect on economic growth in the country.

ClustOfVar and the segmentation of cruise passengers from mixed data

The ClustOfVar algorithm is applied to segment cruise tourists.The technique is suitable for mixed qualitative and quantitative variables.Clusters of cruise visitors to Uruguay are detected and analysed.Economic impact is linked to positive perception of local people.Port of call and age are main discriminators of groups. Market segmentation comprises a variety of measurement methodologies that are used to support management, marketing and promotional policies in tourism destinations. This study applies ClustOfVar, a relatively recent algorithm for cluster analysis from mixed variables. The technique finds groups of variables by using a homogeneity criterion based on the sum of correlation ratios for qualitative variables, and squared correlations for quantitative variables. Then principal components from each cluster of variables are extracted in order to segment cruise passengers. CART analysis is finally used for the sake of finding the variables that drove the formation of the clusters. All the analysis is based on an official survey of tourists who disembarked in Uruguayan ports. The analysis identified five clusters, both for variables and cruise passengers. Findings highlight the importance of the enjoyment of the contact with local people for the economic impact, as well as the important role of age and gender related variables. Managerial implications are also discussed.

Measuring business performance in the airport context: a critical review of literature

Purpose Over 15 years have passed since the first paper was published applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure airport productivity. Since then, a wave of studies has appeared refining and validating this technique as one of the most reliable in the airport context. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a critical review of this accumulated literature. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents an exhaustive review of approximately 60 peer-reviewed published papers on business performance measurement through DEA applications in the airport industry. Findings The paper analyses the research on DEA technique chronologically and by geography. Managerial and academic practitioners’ interest in conducting performance measurement studies has grown and benchmarking techniques have become more sophisticated. Research limitations/implications Despite the popularity of the methodological framework of DEA, it can be improved by further research to continue refining and exploiting deeply the basic DEA scores. Some innovations have appeared from studies using alternative approaches to DEA, e.g. a Bayesian approach. Practical implications The conclusions explore the research contribution, its final value delivered to airport management and some practical aspects and recommendations for the selected field of work. Originality/value The paper explores the contribution of research to final value delivered to airport management by describing the main complementary procedures refining DEA technique scores for improving the operational efficiencies of airports through benchmarking. As well as by presenting the results of the assessment of major determinants of efficiency at airports around the world.

Air transport performance: current evidences about the efficiency of Italian airports

This paper analyses the performance of Italian airports. We construct and estimate a data envelopment analysis, under Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR), Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) and superefficiency models, in order to obtain efficiency scores for 14 airports for the period 2009-2011. In addition, we use a Malmquist Index for measuring the evolution of the productivity of individual airports along the time. The results show that Genoa, Rome, Naples, Bergamo and Bologna exhibit the best practices when distributing efficiently their production factor available to face an increase in the demand, keeping this behavior during all the period under study. These airports are efficient in both constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS), indicating that scale is the prevailing source of efficiency.

A Classification and Regression Tree (CART) to Analyse Cruisers’ Expenditure Pattern and Perception in a Port of Call

This study analyses cruise visitors’ perceptions in a port-of-call. The empirical data were collected via a survey in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) during 2009. A high quality and an original database was obtained for such a niche of economy activity. The novelty of this paper consists of a few methodological enhancements. First, a hierarchical cluster analysis, based on the results of a correspondence analysis and two stopping rules, has robustly demonstrated the existence of six different clusters. Second, a CART is used to identify which variables are better predictors to classify individuals in the different clusters. The empirical findings imply several policy directions for each of the clusters. Specifically, institutions intervention should enhance security in Cartagena to guarantee inland repeated visits; an ad hoc marketing policy may encourage revisit by young South American customers; destination managers should extend the inland visiting time that is likely to produce local multiplier effects.