Seminario de investigación del GIDE

El 18 de noviembre a las 13h tendrá lugar un Seminario de investigación del GIDE titulado Hotels, second homes and destination planning policies: a sequential game model. Estará a cargo de Maria José Alonsopérez, Juan Gabriel Brida y Valeria Posadas.

Será en modalidad virtual. Para obtener el enlace de acceso a los seminarios en modalidad virtual, es necesario comunicarse al correo Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo..

Resumen

This work presents a theoretical model that analyses the decision problem between the construction of second homes and hotels. Over the last decades, the number of second homes has increased and academic interest in this topic too, which mainly has its origins in the Nordic countries and Canada (C. M. Hall & Müller, 2018). The number of publications has increased since 2004 (C. M. Hall, 2014), with geographic expansion with countries such as China, Iran, Latin America, Malaysia, South Africa. Müller (2021), found four clusters of second homes research, the first and major is made up of Nordic countries, New Zealand, and South Africa, the second one by Spain, France, Italy and Denmark, the third by North America, and the last one by the United Kingdom and Australia. The initial condition is that for a given tourist destination, the land available for the construction of accommodation is limited. For this reason, when choosing between building second homes or building hotels, many fa ctors come into consideration in the decision model.
The theoretical mechanism generalizes the model analyzed in Brida & Boffa (2010) and is based on a four-stage sequential game with three players. First, the landowner of a tourist destination decide whether to build a hotel or a second home. Therefore, the landowner compares the benefit he gets from each of the alternatives. Second, if he builds the hotel, he sells it to a second agent who is a profit maximizing company. If he builds a second home, he will sell it to an individual, the third agent, who will either use it for vacationing or rent it, depending on what season the individual prefers to use his second home. The landowner being a profit maximiser, compares the willingness to pay of the two types of buyers. If the hotel entrepreneur is willing to pay more than the private individual who wants to buy a second home, then the landowner builds a hotel and sells it to the hotel entrepreneur. If the private individual is willing to pay more than the entrepreneur, then the landown er builds a residence and sells it to the private individual. Thirdly, the private individual rents the second residence in high season or low season and uses it as a second home if he does not rent it in his preferred season. Finally, tourists make their consumption choices. They choose to enjoy the destination by renting a hotel room, a second home or by using their second home if they own it, either in high or low season, depending on their preference.
The model results suggest a single equilibrium price for the rent of the hotel room and the second home (which are assumed equal as a simplification of the model) and equal to the individual tourist's valuation of spending time in the tourist destination, both in high and low season. In contrast to Brida and Boffa (2010), we find that the second residence does not remain empty in the low season, which is consistent with what happens in several tourist destinations such as Uruguay. Consequently, the tourist destination in the low season does not forgo the potential income generated by tourist in activities, such as restaurant services and other businesses in the destination. Another consequence of considering that second homes do not remain empty in the low season is related to the results of the welfare model. The total welfare, generated by second home construction, includes the added value that tourists generate in the tourist destination by the services consumption both in high an d low season. The total welfare generated when the hotel is built results from the price paid by the company buying the hotel (equivalent to the value of the hotel obtained by the consumer fully extracted by the hotel owner) and the value added introduced into the economy in both high and low season. This result, contrary to Brida and Boffa (2010), is equivalent when the hotel owner also owns the related activities. Consequently, the aggregate welfare maximization matches with both maximization of the integrated owner and maximization of the owner who does not own the destination related activities. Moreover, it is socially optimal to build a hotel as well as to build a second home, because both generate added value during both seasons. This model does not consider that the second home remains empty during the low season, so there are no negative externalities derived from the seasonality caused by the decrease in the level of economic activity during the low season. This is because second homes remain occupied all year round either by their owners or by tourists who rent them, depending on the preferences of each of these agents.
The contribution of this paper to the study of second home tourism is to introduce a theoretical framework that allows us to analyze the problem posed. The literature on economic theory is scarce in Tourism Economics in general, and in particular the analysis of second home tourism.
In relation to the economic policy implications, the results of the model suggest that it should not necessarily be aimed at encouraging and granting exemptions to hotel entrepreneurs. This arises from the fact that second homes, being occupied all year round like hotels, do not generate seasonality. Therefore, the construction of second homes should be encouraged in the same way as the construction of hotels, because they contribute to increasing the destination activity level throughout the year. Future research may arise from this study, such as the local economic development impact of a policy that encourages both the construction of second homes and the construction of hotels, each with their particular advantages and disadvantages. Also of interest would be the generation of direct and indirect employment by hotels and second homes, as well as the effects of both types of construction on the development of ecotourism, rural tourism and environmental preservation. Also the main limitations of the model developed, such as the assumption of risk-neutral agents and their rationality, could be studied. This theoretical model could be consider as a framework for empirical studies supported by data that would confirm its validity. Finally, it would be interesting to extend this model constituting a dynamic model or to incorporate complex systems into it.

Mail de contacto: Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo.