The effect of high-speed rail connectivity and accessibility on tourism seasonality

Abstract

The improvement of regional transport connectivity and accessibility is a key determinant of tourism demand. This paper evaluates whether high-speed rail (HSR) connectivity and accessibility affects tourism seasonality. Using a panel dataset of 50 Spanish provinces in the period 2004–2019, we study the impact of variations in a synthetic indicator of province's connectivity and accessibility to the HSR network on the concentration of both domestic and international tourism demand. Tourism seasonality is measured using Gini and coefficient of variation indicators. Based on two-way panel fixed effects regressions and a dose-response framework, we show that access to HSR mitigates tourism seasonality in both the domestic and international segments. The effect is found to be greater at high levels of connectivity and accessibility. In the advent of forthcoming expansions of the HRS network in Spain, our findings suggest that improvements in regional connectivity and accessibility through HSR are a promising strategy to alleviate the seasonality of tourism arrivals.