Knowledge Sources, Agglomeration, and Tourist Districts

ABSTRACT

The present article analyzes the extent to which the degree of firm agglomeration is higher or lower among Spanish coastline tourist districts, depending on the knowledge made available from the institutions at each destination (universities, vocational training centers, and technology centers). The empirical evidence supports the hypothesis of a U-shaped relationship between these variables for knowledge obtained from universities and higher-level vocational training centers. In this sense, the article highlights the importance of knowledge as a source of competitive advantage, and the ease of access to that resource inside clusters and/or tourist districts. However, the evidence is the opposite for knowledge from medium-level vocational training centers and technology centers, that is, an inverted U-shaped relationship between the variables.

KEYWORDS:

• agglomeration, knowledge spillovers, location, tourist districts