Seasonality gaps and markets: A new methodology

Abstract

The specific seasonality gaps for any destination could be explained by the relevance of differential market specialisation vectors. In this sense, this paper proposes a novel methodology that allows us to precisely isolate the role played by specific specialisation (i.e., the structural component) and by the factors that affect every market (i.e., the transversal component) in determining the seasonality gaps. We understand that the results can be of interest to researchers and policy makers. The proposed methodology is applied, as an empirical exercise, to the analysis of inequalities in hotel demand seasonality for the main Spanish provinces over the 2006-2019 period. The results would indicate not only the existence (and increase) of disparities in seasonality at the territorial level, but also the greater weight of the transversal component compared to the structural component as a determinant of the gap.