Collective or Individual? What Types of Tourism Reduce Economic Inequality in Peripheral Regions?

Andrzej Tucki,Korneliusz Pylak

doi:10.3390/su13094898

Andrzej Tucki, Korneliusz Pylak

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094898

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Abstract

Regional inequalities are a major concern for governments and policymakers. There is no doubt that tourism impacts the reduction of inequalities, but this impact is not entirely clear. We consider this ambiguity to be related to both the level of study and type of accommodation. In the present study, we examine the inequality level measured by the Gini coefficient in 108 municipalities of the peripheral region of northeastern Poland from 2009 to 2018. We employ a directional spillover index to measure the impact of two accommodation types on tax incomes per capita. The empirical results indicate that collective accommodation-based tourism only reduced inequality during the financial crisis, while individual accommodation-based tourism started to reduce inequality from 2014, when Russian sanctions hit local agriculture and businesses. These results indicate that the role of accommodation types is time-varying and evident in measuring economic distress during and after shocks.

Highlights

IntroductionThere is no doubt that tourism impacts the reduction of inequalities, but this impact is not entirely clear
The central concern of peripheral areas is the weakness of endogenous development potential and weak linkages with the exogenous economies, as a result of which all cohesion policies fail to deliver the expected results [8]
We examine the impact of both overnight stay streams on the dynamics of per capita tax income of municipalities in this province and compare the level of economic inequality in a real economy with an economy in which there would be no tourism in either collective or individual accommodation facilities

Summary

Introduction

There is no doubt that tourism impacts the reduction of inequalities, but this impact is not entirely clear We consider this ambiguity to be related to both the level of study and type of accommodation. 2014, when Russian sanctions hit local agriculture and businesses These results indicate that the role of accommodation types is time-varying and evident in measuring economic distress during and after shocks. For the sustainable development of peripheral regions, all opportunities for growth that foster convergence processes and reduce economic inequality are desirable. Tourism is one such opportunity undertaken in this research because it can be exploited by rural areas [9,10] regardless of the level of development.

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