Differences in the economic performance of hotel-based and residential tourist destinations measured by their retail activity. Evidence from Spain

Abstract

This paper compares the economic performance of holiday and residential tourism destinations in Spain, as measured by the level of retail activity, from a quantitative perspective. Differences between destinations are explored. A positive association between the economic development of destinations and their retail index was expected. However, no significant differences were found between residential/second-home tourism and holiday/leisure tourism destinations. The results obtained contradict the conventional assumptions that holiday destinations perform better economically than residential ones due to a higher level of tourist spending of people accommodated in hotels.

Keywords:

• residential tourism
• hotel-based tourism
• economic performance
• retail activities

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank the journal’s referees for their insightful comments, which have improved the presentation of research substantially.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.