José Francisco Baños-Pino

This paper examines the link between tourism specialization and regional growth rates and factor accumulation. Based on convergence growth theory, we use a Bartik instrument to address the endogeneity of tourism intensity in explaining GDP per capita growth rates. Using data for Spanish provinces over the 2002–2018 period, we find that tourism positively affects regional economic growth. Nonetheless, there is evidence of an inverted-U relationship, indicating that the growth-enhancing effects of tourism diminish at high levels of overnight stays per capita. We also document relevant heterogeneity depending on the degree of specialization in international vs. domestic segments and tourism seasonality. Most notably, we show that tourism increases employment rates and both private and public capital stock per capita, but negatively affects human capital. Our findings highlight that tourism can be a driver of regional development, though its benefits are uneven and may come at the expense of long-term human capital accumulation.

This paper examines the impact of high‐speed rail (HSR) connectivity on both inbound and outbound tourism inflows. Leveraging the opening of a new HSR line connecting a northern Spanish region with mainland Spain, we employ a triple difference‐in‐differences design combined with inverse probability weighting (IPW) to evaluate the causal effect of transport infrastructure developments on tourist trips in a left‐behind area. Using fine‐grained mobile phone positioning data for 168 municipalities over a 36‐month period, we find that while the HSR did not increase inbound tourism, it significantly boosted outbound trips among residents in municipalities with direct access to the HSR network. Our findings point to a siphoning effect, whereby improved connectivity facilitates the outflow of local tourists without attracting additional visitors. Furthermore, our analysis highlights spatial heterogeneity in treatment effects, driven by geographical proximity to HSR stations.

This paper presents a theoretical characterization of how tourism sector specialization stimulates (deters) economic growth that integrates both Tourism-Led and Beach Disease hypotheses. We develop a multisector growth model with tourism and non-tourism production from which we derive a growth equation that can be easily estimated by practitioners using conventional regression methods, building a bridge between theory and empirics. Under mild assumptions, we demonstrate theoretically that GDP per capita growth rate depends on the share the tourism sector represents over total GDP, Total Factor Productivity, and other determinants of the steady state of the economy. A testable implication is that a higher specialization in tourism services yields positive GDP per capita growth rates consistent with the Tourism-Led growth hypothesis if, and only if, the tourism sector is more productive than the rest of the economy. Otherwise, greater tourism specialization results in degrowth paths that are compatible with the Beach Disease. We also conduct simulation exercises illustrating the differential impacts of demand- and supply-side policies on long-term economic growth using calibrated parameters for Spain, a large economy in which more than 10% of GDP is generated by tourism-related activities.

The widespread adoption of information and communication technologies has led to the emergence of new business models and increased competition among tourist destinations. In recent years, Smart Tourism Destinations (STDs) have started to leverage information and communication technologies to enhance the overall tourist experience, allegedly improving operational efficiency. The goal of this study is to empirically examine whether transforming a destination into an STD has indeed an effect on its productive efficiency, understood as those that achieve a higher volume of overnights stays given a set of inputs. The analysis is performed using panel data on 137 destinations in Spain in the period 2005–2021. Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis, our results show that becoming an STD does not have a significant effect on productive efficiency. Our analysis thus casts doubt on the common belief that STDs are more efficient and offer relevant implications for destination managers and policy makers.