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Analysing how cultural factors influence the efficiency of tourist destinations in Chile
Author(s) -
Figueroa Víctor,
Herrero Luis César,
Báez Andrea,
Gómez Mafalda
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of tourism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.155
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1522-1970
pISSN - 1099-2340
DOI - 10.1002/jtr.2149
Subject(s) - tourism , data envelopment analysis , destinations , business , tourist destinations , investment (military) , appeal , accommodation , empirical research , regional science , marketing , geography , political science , mathematical optimization , mathematics , archaeology , neuroscience , politics , law , biology , philosophy , epistemology
The present work is framed within the line of research addressing efficiency evaluation of tourist destinations, where regions are taken as territorial units able to determine their tourist appeal, and tourist flow is taken as the variable to be optimized. A virtual production function is therefore devise considering tourist flows as output and accommodation capacity and other tourist and cultural resources as the main inputs. We examine Chile as case study, a country with a growing number or tourists and increased investment in tourist and cultural infrastructures. We follow a two‐stage model, estimating regional performance using data envelopment analysis and analysing the impact of external variables on efficiency applying bootstrap techniques and truncated regression models. Empirical results show that cultural endowments and activities together with natural resources determine Chilean regional efficiency in optimizing tourist flow, particularly in attracting international tourism. Thus, policy recommendations to improve regional management of tourist and cultural attractions are derived. This study contributes to increase applications in tourist destinations efficiency in Latin America, where works are still scarce.