Spatial and environmental characteristics of rural tourism lodging units

Abstract

The geographical characteristics of the site where a rural house is located determine its tourist affluence. By using a hedonic prices model, this paper estimates the influence of some spatial and environmental variables in the rental prices of rural houses in Gran Canaria, Spain. Geographic information systems (GIS) data are used to measure the geographical attributes associated with the house, such as the land use and the nearby population density. Other factors traditionally included in hedonic models are also analysed, such as the structural characteristics of the house and distance to some points of interest. The methodology allows us to obtain an estimation of the economic value of the location and environment surrounding a rural house. Spatial econometrics was applied to study the correlation of rental prices. Results indicate that environmental diversity and remoteness positively affect prices. Some recommendations are extracted from the results, which could help to orientate the tourist diversification policies applied to the island.

Keywords:

• rural tourism
• GIS
• spatial econometrics
• remoteness
• land diversity

Acknowledgements

This work was partially financed by project ECO2008-05589/ECON and project SEJ2006-15408/ECON from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of the Spanish Government. The authors are very grateful to three anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions.