0000000001056773
AUTHOR
Peter Nijkamp
Efficiency and Productivity of Italian Touris Destinations: A Quantitative Estimation Based on Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist Method
This paper aims to provide a statistical analysis of the relative economic performance of Italian tourist areas. It uses two modelling approaches to estimate the competitiveness of these regions, viz. data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist method. Our results show that the competitiveness position of several Italian regions has not improved over the years under consideration.
Analysis of Spatial Disparities by a Structural Equations Model
This paper presents a new analytical framework for assessing spatial disparities among countries. It takes for granted that the analysis of a country’s performance cannot be limited solely to either economic or social factors. The aim of the paper is to combine relevant economic and non-economic (mainly social) aspects of a country’s performance in an integrated logical framework. Based on this idea, a structural simultaneous equation model will be presented and estimated in order to explore the direction of the causal relationship between the economic and the non-economic aspects of a country’s performance. Furthermore, an exploration of the trajectory that each country has registered over…
The atractiveness and competitiveness of tourist destinations: A study on Southern Italian regions
The present paper aims to assess the relative attractiveness of competing tourist destinations on the basis of individual visitors' perceptions regarding a holiday destination. Using the feeling of tourist well-being achieved by individual tourists we evaluate indirectly the competitive ability of the tourist area to offer a compound tourist site attractiveness. The methodology employed here uses individual survey questionnaires on the tourists' evaluation of the quality of tourist facilities and attributes in a given area (the 'regional tourist profile') as the basis for constructing an aggregate expression for the relative attractiveness of that area. Using various multidimensional statis…
A spatial analysis of Italian unemployment differences
Using spatial econometric models, this paper focuses attention on the spatial structure of provincial unemployment disparities of Italian provinces for the year 2003. On the basis of findings from the economic literature and of the available socio-economic data, various model specifications including supply- and demand-side variables are tested. Further we use ESDA analysis as equivalent to integration analysis on time series; therefore it is applied on each variable, dependent and independent, involved in the statistical model. The suggestions of ESDA lead us to the most adequate statistical model, which estimates indicate that there is a significant degree of neighbouring effect (i.e. pos…
Assessment of Tourist Competitiveness by Analysing Destination Efficiency
Recently the notion and the measurement of destination competitiveness have received increasing attention in the economics literature on tourism. The reason for this interest emerges from both the increasing economic importance of the tourist sector and the increasing competition on the tourist market as a consequence of the transition from mass tourism to a new age of tourism that calls for a tailor-made approach to the specific attitudes and needs of tourists. The central subject of this paper - inspired by the conceptual competitiveness model developed earlier by Crouch and Ritchie - concerns the efficiency of tourist site destinations. Using a dataset of 103 Italian regions for the year…
PLACE-BASED ATTRIBUTES AND SPATIAL EXPENDITURE BEHAVIOR IN TOURISM
In recent discussions on local sustainable development, notions like “local for local” and “home bias” have often played a role. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether preferences for specific place-based attributes might constrain or support tourism participation and tourism destination choice of distinct socioeconomic groups of visitors. To test this proposition, a large data set from the Italian Households Budget Survey for the period 1997–2007 has been used and, by means of the double-hurdle model, tourism participation and expenditure are modeled over the life-cycle of tourists. These data are next merged with location-specific attributes including natural amenities and in…
Attractiveness and Effectiveness of Competing Tourist Areas: A Study on Italian Provinces
Tourism has become a wide-spread phenomenon in our age and a focal point of economic policy of many regions competing for the favours of tourists. Consequently, competitiveness of tourist destinations has received increasing interest in economic research with a view to the identification of the user attractiveness of a tourist area. The present paper is inspired by the conceptual competitiveness model developed by Crouch and Ritchie and presents an attempt to assess the relative attractiveness of tourist destinations on the basis of aggregate tourist strength of competing destinations. The main novelty of the present work is formed by the micro-based foundation of tourism attractiveness of …
Innovation Dynamics in Space: Local Actors and Local Factors
This paper addresses the issue of technogenesis and its geographical pattern. It aims to offer both a general analysis framework and a test on innovation data from several European cities. This framework is mainly built on the product life-cycle and the incubation approach. On the basis of this framework, it is argued that the phases of an industrial life-cycle have several firm-specific effects. First, these phases influence innovativeness and thus profit levels, output and employment of firms in a spatially distinct way. Second, the phases of the life-cycle mirror the importance of local factors for innovations, and third, they affect strategic decisions of firms, inter alia by influencin…
Sustainable tourist development in Italian holiday destinations
This paper argues that tourism, will become a major activity in a modern welfare state, which will have serious consequences for environmental sustainability. This issue calls for an assessment of the pros and cons of the ecological efficiency of tourism. We propose an overall efficiency indicator that comprises both a sustainable tourism index and an economic efficiency index. Based on a data set for Italian provinces and using Activity Analysis, a quantitative assessment of the relative position of Italian tourist destination areas is made from the perspective of sustainable tourism. Copyright © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Determinants of Manufacturing Location in EU Accession Countries
Since 1990, Central and Eastern European countries have experienced increased integration with the European Union which has led to a reallocation of resources across sectors and space. The spatial implications of this process have been little investigated so far. Have regional production structures changed over the last decade? How specialized/diversified are regions? How concentrated/dispersed are industries? What are the determinants of manufacturing location patterns? This paper identifies and explains patterns of regional specialization and manufacturing concentration in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia. We find that patterns of manufacturing relocation are country-speci…
The measurement of economic, social and environmental performance of countries: a novel approach
This paper presents a new analytical framework for assessing spatial disparities among countries. It takes for granted that the analysis of a country's performance cannot be limited solely to either economic or social factors. The aim of the paper is to combine relevant economic and 'non-economic' (mainly social) aspects of a country's performance in an integrated logical framework. Based on this idea, a structural simultaneous equation model will be presented and estimated in order to explore the direction of the causal relationship between economic and non-economic aspects of a country's performance. Furthermore, an exploration of the trajectory that each country has registered over time …
ASSESSMENT OF TOURISM COMPETITIVENESS BY ANALYSING DESTINATION EFFICIENCY
The notion and measurement of destination competitiveness have received increasing attention in the economics literature on tourism. The reason for this emerges from both the growing economic importance of the tourist sector and the increasing competition in the tourist market resulting from the transition from mass tourism to a new age of tourism that calls for a tailor-made approach to the specific attitudes and needs of tourists. The central subject of this paper – inspired by the conceptual competitiveness model developed by Crouch and Ritchie – concerns the efficiency of tourist site destinations. Using a data set of 103 Italian regions for 2001, an economic efficiency analysis is car…
Innovation dynamics in space. Local actors and local factors
This paper addresses the issue of technogenesis and its geographical pattern. It aims to offer both a general analysis framework and a test on innovation data from several European cities. This framework is mainly built on the product life-cycle and the incubation approach. On the basis of this framework, it is argued that the phases of an industrial life-cycle have several firm-specific effects. First, these phases influence innovativeness and thus profit levels, output and employment of firms in a spatially distinct way. Second, the phases of the life-cycle mirror the importance of local factors for innovations, and third, they affect strategic decisions of firms, inter alia by influencin…
Geographical Distribution of Unemployment: An Analysis of Provincial Differences in Italy
Unemployment rates appear to vary widely at a subregional (e.g., local or provincial) level. Using spatial econometric models for spatial autocorrelation, this paper focuses attention on the spatial structure of regional unemployment disparities of Italian provinces. On the basis of findings from the economic literature and of the available socio-economic data, various model specifications including different explanatory variables are tested to investigate the geographical distribution of unemployment in the 103 provinces of Italy for the years 1998 and 2003. The results suggest that there is a clear explanation of unemployment differentials in terms of spatial equilibrium and disequilibriu…
Micro and Macro Resilience Measures of an Economic Crisis
Using Italian Households Budget Survey data over the period 1997-2013, a Cragg model in a life-cycle context is specified to compare the consumption behaviour in the pre- and post-crisis time and develop different micro and macro measures of resilience against crisis shocks. Cohort profiles for participation in and for consumption of tourism services in the pre- and post-crisis time are determined so as to explore the households’ resilience by generations. Next, the households’ resilience according to socio-demographic characteristics is addressed. As for the macro-resilience, combining individual expenditure elasticity, we examine whether and how Italian regions have responded to the recen…
Efficiency and Productivity of Italian Tourist Destinations: A Quantitative Estimation Based on Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquidt Method
This paper aims to provide a statistical analysis of the relative economic performance of Italian tourist areas. It uses two modelling approaches to estimate the competitiveness of these regions, viz. data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist method. Our results show that the competitiveness position of several Italian regions has not improved over the years under consideration.