costa_2012

| N.º 17/18 | 2012 243 Tourism policy instruments: An empirical analysis o Portu- guese local governments CLÁUDIA CRISTINA S. COSTA * [ [email protected] ] Keywords | Market Failure Theory, Tourism Market Failures, Tourism Policy Tools. Objectives | Tourism activity is intensely subject to market ailures and, naturally, requires government intervention (Dimitris, Aimilia and George, 2005; Fayos-Sola, 1996; Fleischer and Felsenstein, 2000; Hart ley and Hoo per , 1993; Michael, 2001; Monge-González, Ri ver and Tijerino, 2010; Scott, 201 1; Sinclair, 1998; Smeral, 1998; W anhill, 2005). Ho wever , government intervention is itsel a source o policy ailure. With this in mind, the research aims at analyzing the importance o public policy tools as an approach to solving public problems related with market ailures, while considering possible negative impacts o the intervention itsel. These public policy tools have been applied to several policy areas. This work extends these analyses to the context o tourism and applies the instrument typology presented by Weimer and Vining (2005) to ll an important gap in the literature and provide a broader typology o tourism policy tools. In addition, it is evaluated the impact o tourism policy tools in tourism management at the Portuguese municipal level. Methodology | This research answers three undamental questions; the rst one is descriptive, whereas the other two are analytical: i) what tourism policy tools are most oten used by Portuguese municipalities?; ii) what policy tools do Portuguese local governments adopt to address market ailures?; iii) to what extent does the adoption o specic tourism policy tools increase municipal economic development?. Based on our theoretical ramework, and considering a generic perspective, two preliminary hypotheses are derived: H1: Tourism policy tools o a regulatory nature are used more requently than market policy tools. H2: Market-type policy tools produce better results to solve tourism market ailures. These hypotheses are supported by two main arguments. Firstly, the literature argues that command-and-control tools are used more requently than market-type tools, despite the economists consistent endorsement o the latter (Keohane, Revesz and Stavins, 1998). Secondly, Portuguese local governments are traditionally involved in direct provision o public goods and serv ices (Rodrigues, T avares and Araújo, 2011). In this sense, it is expected that local governments will play an active role in solving tourism market ailures. Other hypotheses will be developed to account or specic attributes o the Portuguese local reality and tourist market. These hypotheses will be tested using variables and indicators describ ing the economic, political and environmental setting where policy adoption takes place. These hypotheses will be subj ect to empirical test s using data collected or this purpose. The rst goal is to identiy which tourism policy tools are most requently used by Portuguese municipalities. In order to accomplish this task, I will employ a survey questionnaire to all municipalities (308). This questionnaire will be elaborated considering the typology o Weimer and Vining (2005) and the policy tools that the literature identies as relevant in the tourism area. Ater the questionnaire is pre-tested and ready, it will be sent to the tourism department in each municipality. * Mestre em Administração Pública pela Universidade do Minho, Equiparada a Assistente de 1º triénio do Instituto Politécnico de Bragança .

costa_2012

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