Analysis of the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Hotel Sector Spanish: An Efficiency Study by Regions

Juan Antonio Giménez Espín (), María Pilar Alberca Oliver and José Manuel Santos-Jaén
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Juan Antonio Giménez Espín: Department of Financial Economic and Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain
María Pilar Alberca Oliver: Department of Business and Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, National Distance Education University (UNED), Paseo Senda del Rey, 11, 28040 Madrid, Spain
José Manuel Santos-Jaén: Department of Financial Economic and Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain

Administrative Sciences, 2025, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-29

Abstract: In this paper, the non-parametric frontier methodology (DEA) with input orientation, variable returns to scale, and the Malmquist productivity indices are used to study the level of national and regional efficiency and know the productive change of Spanish hotels in the period 2014–2021, after the health crisis caused by COVID-19. The main objective of this paper is to know if the national and regional efficiency and total productivity of this sector have changed due to this pandemic. The data were extracted from the Iberian Balance Sheet Analysis System (SABI) and the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). The results obtained make it possible to determine which regions are the most efficient (Asturias, Castilla-León, and Cantabria) and to know that changes in productivity have their origin in efficiency. Furthermore, in 2021, after eliminating the restrictions imposed to fight COVID-19, investments made by hotel companies led to great technical progress. Thus, contrary to what one might think, the pandemic did positively affect the productivity of these companies, thanks to great technical progress and better adjustment of their scale. Besides, it is possible that COVID-19 has shifted tourism from regions with large cities to those with more natural areas, so the most efficient regions are those where natural tourism stands out.

Keywords: DEA methodology; Malmquist productivity indices; efficiency; productivity; hotel companies; COVID-19 pandemic; natural tourism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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