Teresa Garín-Muñoz

Tourism in Galicia: domestic and foreign demand.

This paper analyses the main determinants of the demand for tourism in Galicia and quantifies their incidence. The author elaborates two models depending on the origin (domestic or foreign) of the tourists. For domestic demand, a panel of annual data on the 17 regions of origin of tourists during 1999–2006 is used. For international demand, another annual panel is used, comprising data on 24 countries of origin of tourists for the same period. The estimated elasticities suggest that both domestic and foreign tourism in Galicia are very sensitive to income in the origin markets and to prices. Other findings are the dependence of domestic tourism on its own past and the sensitivity of tourism to the celebration of the Holy Year. The results may be of use to professionals and policymakers in their decision-making processes.

Econometric modelling of Spanish very long distance international calling

We estimate a model of the demand for outgoing telephone calls from Spain to a group of African and Oriental countries. The traffic to those countries is called very long distance calling because of the high tariffs applicable to all of them even when some of them are geographically not very distant. In this study a theoretical framework is used which takes into account the specific characteristics of the international long distance services and the socio-economic relationships between Spain and this group of countries. The analysis of annual data for minutes of calling between Spain and 27 countries from 1982 to 1991, using panel data techniques, reveals a significant own-price elasticity of 2 1.31 and a positive reciprocal calling effect of 1 0.69. The estimated elasticity of the outgoing traffic to the volume of foreign tourism is 1 0.22. The estimated elasticities are in the range that is reported in other empirical studies. The favorite equation passes a battery of diagnostics.

Internet Usage for Travel and Tourism: The Case of Spain:

The importance of the Internet for the travel and tourism industry has increased rapidly over the past few years. Understanding how travellers behave is of critical importance to travel suppliers and tourism authorities for formulating appropriate marketing strategies to exploit the full potential of this channel. This study explores the factors influencing Internet usage for travel information and shopping by analysing representative annual panel data on the 17 Spanish autonomous communities from 2003 to 2007. The results indicate that Internet usage for information depends basically on the ICT penetration level in the regions and the demographic characteristics of the population. However, when considering Internet usage as a product-purchasing tool, variables related to the characteristics of travel are also relevant.

A model of Spain-Europe telecommunications

In this study we present a model for the outgoing telephone traffic from Spain to a group of 24 European countries. We use a point-to-point model that incorporates the specific characteristics of the international long distance service and the socioeconomic relationships between Spain and this group of countries, taking into account the simultaneity between incoming and outgoing traffic. Recently available data on minutes of conversation in each direction allow us to use panel data for the period 1981-91. We use an orthogonal deviations estimator with instrumental variables. The orthogonal deviations transformation allows the specific unobservable characteristics of each route of traffic to be controlled and the instrumental variables take care of the simultaneity between incoming and outgoing traffic. We estimate a total elasticity of the minutes of outgoing traffic per line with respect to its own real price of - 0.81. Other significant variables are: the volume of trade, the number of visitors from each country, the number of foreign residents and the minutes of incoming traffic. This last variable measures the so-called reciprocal calling effect which is highly significant with a positive elasticity of 0.78.

Customer Satisfaction of Mobile-Internet Users: An Empirical Approximation for the Case of Spain

This paper studies the mobile Internet services in Spain. It deals mostly with overall consumer satisfaction as well as with some of its attributes. The study is based on Micro data from a survey conducted by the Spanish Center for Sociological Research (CIS, 2009). The analysis shows that communication quality and cost are the main attributes of the service involved in the overall satisfaction of the individual. The main model allows us to analyze to what extent different service providers generate different levels of satisfaction of individuals when controlling for other relevant variables. In this regard, statistically significant differences have been found for both overall satisfaction and for satisfaction with any other of its attributes. Taking into account that the dependent variable is somewhat ordinal, the model is estimated by three alternative methods: ordinary least squares (OLS), ordered probit and ordered logit. The three techniques produce fairly similar results

Customer Service Quality and Incomplete Information in Mobile Telecommunications: A Game Theoretical Approach to Consumer Protection

There is growing evidence that low-quality customer service prevails in the mobile telecommunications industry. In this paper we provide theoretical support to this empirical observation by using simple game theoretical models where inefficient low-quality service levels are part of an equilibrium strategy for the firms. We also find that the inefficiency is due to a demand-side market failure generated by incomplete information, and that it does not necessarily vanish with competition or with repeated interaction. This is particularly important in terms of policy implications because it suggests that the inefficiency should be solved through regulation via consumer protection.

Determinants of Satisfaction with an Urban Tourism Destination:The Case of Barcelona

Conscious of the central role of satisfaction in the success of a destination we examine the relationship between a destination’s attributes and overall satisfaction. Based on the information about 19 destination attributes and using a principal factor analysis, we identified 5 relevant dimensions, with “Accommodation and restaurant services” as the key factor to explain overall satisfaction. Next, we explore the potential moderating effects of tourist and trip characteristics on that relationship. Our results suggest that the estimated relationship is very stable across types of tourists, trip features or purpose of travel. We use a survey of 2,484 interviews conducted with international tourists that visited Barcelona throughout 2013. Empirical findings allow an efficient allocation of resources in order to achieve maximum satisfaction. Therefore, they are useful to help policy makers and entrepreneurs select targets for promotion, and attain high destination competitiveness.

Product Differences and E-Purchasing: An Empirical Study in Spain

E-commerce is gradually changing the way in which many goods and services are sold and bought in most countries. This phenomenon, made possible by the internet, has attracted the attention of retailers, marketers, researchers and policymakers.