Abstract
Tourism is clearly a place-based activity, while in many advanced economies it is increasingly becoming a knowledge-based activity, with a high potential for the development of practice- and place-based innovation strategies. This study analyses whether and how regional systems of innovation influence the competiveness of tourism destinations in Europe. Impacts of both traditional production factors (physical and human capital), productivity, specialization and other contextual variables – related to the territorial capital of each region – on regional tourism performance of 237 European regions (NUTS 2) are analysed over a period of 8 years, using advanced techniques for spatial econometric analysis. The results reveal lower levels of productivity in those regions where tourism services are more labour intensive, while regions where education, innovation and productivity demonstrate higher levels are those where gross value added in tourism is less important for the regional economy. Policy implications are discussed, taking into consideration the principles for smart specialisation strategies in European regions and the possibility for cross-border regional cooperation. This work also confirms the research potential of spatial econometric analysis – and in particular spatial autocorrelation techniques – for tourism studies.
Highlights
Tourism is clearly a place-based activity, while in many advanced economies it is increasingly becoming a knowledge-based activity (Racherla, Hu, & Hyun, 2008)
A spatial dimension is introduced in our econometric model, aiming at identifying different spatial patterns among European regions regarding the relation between innovation dynamics and tourism performance
Our results reveal a modest importance of research and development activities in regions where tourism specialization is high, suggesting a low contribution of the knowledge sector for the regional economy, despite the potential of tourism services to integrate knowledge and new technologies, mostly related to information and communication technologies (ICT) or media production
Summary
Tourism is clearly a place-based activity, while in many advanced economies it is increasingly becoming a knowledge-based activity (Racherla, Hu, & Hyun, 2008). A spatial dimension is introduced in our econometric model, aiming at identifying different spatial patterns among European regions regarding the relation between innovation dynamics and tourism performance This innovative approach aims at offering relevant insights, taking into consideration that research-intensive industries in Europe tend to be regionally concentrated, with increasing regional inequalities in terms of economic development (Hansen & Winther, 2011) and high dependence on the geographical and historical conditions influencing regional development trajectories (Martin, 2014). An advanced econometric approach based on a spatial panel data model is presented and developed, aiming to provide a quantified explanation of the impacts of each explanatory variable – and the related spatial effects – on regional tourism performance. A discussion of the main results of this analysis and its policy and managerial implications will be offered in the concluding section
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