Measuring the Economic Impact of a Voluntary Sustainable Tourism Certification

Amelia Bilbao-Terol and Celia Bilbao-Terol
Additional contact information
Amelia Bilbao-Terol: Department of Quantitative Economics, University of Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain
Celia Bilbao-Terol: Department of Economics, University of Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: This article contributes to the debate about whether the investment in tourism sustainability is economically profitable for firms. Specifically, using cross-sectional analysis, we explore the existence of a causal link between the possession of a voluntary sustainable certification, Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), and the increase in the prices of hotel accommodation. For this, the hedonic price method is used. Prior to the hedonic estimation, the propensity score-matching methodology is applied in order to control for self-selection bias. The analysis is carried out for coastal hotels located in the southern area of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) which merits attention as a typical mature sun and beach tourist destination. The study does not reveal any significant effects of sustainable certification on the prices of accommodations, which would appear to explain the low participation of establishments in the program. We conclude by providing some useful insights on measures aimed at improving related policies.

Keywords: sustainable tourism; sustainable certification; propensity score-matching; market value; hedonic methods; Tenerife (Spain) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/13/5465/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/13/5465/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:13:p:5465-:d:381305

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().