The impact of a new airport on international tourism: the case of Ragusa (Sicily)

Francesco David (francesco.david@bancaditalia.it) and Giuseppe Saporito (giuseppe.saporito@bancaditalia.it)
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Francesco David: Bank of Italy
Giuseppe Saporito: Bank of Italy

No 412, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: Airports play a crucial role in connecting places and boosting local economic development; notwithstanding this, empirical evidence on the subject is relatively limited. This paper estimates the impact of a new airport in Ragusa, in southeastern Sicily, on international tourism flows in the area, using a synthetic control approach. Connecting by air a relatively peripheral and isolated area of Sicily with a high tourism potential has made it possible to increase by about one fifth the number of nights spent by foreign tourists (for over 5,100 additional nights), generating �434 thousand more in tourist expenditure per month.

Keywords: air transport; international tourism; synthetic control approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L83 R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-tre, nep-tur and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_412_17

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