David Boto‐garcía
Biographic Data
| ID | 715625 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David Boto‐garcía |
| GIVEN NAMES | David |
| FAMILY NAME | Boto‐garcía |
| SIGNATURE | GARCÍA D B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universidad de Oviedo |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8065-0983 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 48 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 52 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
When the check shapes the stars: Prospect-theory driven effects on online restaurant ratings
Online reviews shape restaurant reputation, yet how price perceptions influence ratings remains unclear. This study addresses this gap by integrating prospect theory with real-world pricing data from reviews of 2,000 New York restaurants. We operationalize reference dependence using consumer-reported prices versus platform-listed reference prices. Results reveal asymmetric effects: paying above the reference price reduces ratings more than equiva…
Bridging Theory and Empirics: A Growth Equation for Tourism-Driven Economies
This paper presents a theoretical characterization of how tourism sector specialization stimulates (deters) economic growth that integrates both Tourism-Led and Beach Disease hypotheses. We develop a multisector growth model with tourism and non-tourism production from which we derive a growth equation that can be easily estimated by practitioners using conventional regression methods, building a bridge between theory and empirics. Under mild ass…
Do new high-speed rail lines stimulate tourism demand in left-behind regions
This research examines the effect of opening new high-speed rail (HSR) lines on domestic and international tourism demand in left-behind regions, distinguishing between tourists staying in hotels, apartments and rural houses. Using data for two left-behind Spanish provinces that were connected to the HSR network in 2015, our synthetic difference-in-differences regression results show that these regions experienced significant losses in tourism ar…
Navigating the job market: How do labour market conditions at entry affect tourism graduates’ career paths
This article examines the short- and medium-term effects of macroeconomic conditions at the time of graduation on the labour market integration of tourism university graduates. Using longitudinal data on 2616 graduates observed over 20 quarters post-graduation, we provide robust evidence that higher unemployment rates at labour market entry significantly impair subsequent career trajectories. Controlling for current macroeconomic conditions, we f…
The Compatriot Win Effect and Behavioural Biases in Lottery Markets
This paper presents evidence to support the compatriot win effect as a behavioural bias in lottery demand. We exploit the quasi‐random assignment of the jackpot prize across provinces in the Christmas draw of the Spanish National Lottery to examine whether lottery sales increase in jackpot‐winning provinces in subsequent draws. Using difference‐in‐differences with staggered treatment timing, we present robust evidence that lottery sales in provin…
When Infrastructure Pushes Residents Out: High‐Speed Rail and Tourism Outflows
This paper examines the impact of high‐speed rail (HSR) connectivity on both inbound and outbound tourism inflows. Leveraging the opening of a new HSR line connecting a northern Spanish region with mainland Spain, we employ a triple difference‐in‐differences design combined with inverse probability weighting (IPW) to evaluate the causal effect of transport infrastructure developments on tourist trips in a left‐behind area. Using fine‐grained mobi…
Political instability and housing investment: Evidence from the Catalan secessionist conflict
This paper examines the impact of political uncertainty on housing investment using the Catalan secessionist conflict as a case study. We study how institutional instability in the form of political conflict affects housing purchases by local residents, residents in other Spanish provinces, and non-residents in Spain (those living abroad). We also evaluate effects by nationality and by housing typology. Applying synthetic difference-in-difference…
Water-saving strategies at hotels: Which are more effective
Water overconsumption by tourists is nowadays a major environmental challenge, raising concerns for both hospitality managers and policymakers, especially in regions facing water stress. Hotels have implemented various strategies for water conservation, yet there remains limited knowledge regarding the comparative effectiveness of technological investments in contrast to other alternatives, such as green nudges, consumer awareness programmes, or …
When Taylor Swift hits town: Megastar-driven effects on hotel performance
This article examines the economic returns on the hotel industry generated by music concerts featuring megastars, focusing on Taylor Swift. Drawing upon microeconomic theory, we posit that such impact varies across hotel categories depending on their natural occupancy rates and demand elasticity. We exploit the staggered rollout of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour 2023 across U.S. cities to analyze their impact on hotel key performance indicators. Employ…
Illegal Airbnb properties and hosts’ professionalism
Many destinations require Airbnb hosts to obtain permits to legally operate as accommodation providers. However, a significant portion of hosts rent their properties without legally registering their business activities (i.e., illegal suppliers). This study examines the relationship between the likelihood of operating underground and the degree of professionalism among hosts, measured by the number of properties they offer. We analyse a dataset o…
The elasticity of tourist arrivals to oil prices
This paper employs a novel identification strategy to provide a consistent estimate of the elasticity of tourist arrivals with respect to oil prices. We exploit OPEC announcements about future production as exogenous shocks to oil prices within an instrumental variables’ framework. Using monthly panel data on international and domestic tourist arrivals for 23 European countries from 2005:1 to 2019:12, we estimate an average elasticity of −0.2 for…
Gender differences in the labour market insertion of tourism graduates
This article studies gender differences in labour mobility, employment type, contract type, and sectoral mismatch among tourism graduates in the first 4 years after graduation. We exploit a longitudinal dataset of seven graduation cohorts to ascertain gender differences in their labour market insertion process at the beginning of their careers. We estimate Heckman probit regressions for each outcome variable that deal with self-selection into emp…
Are Smart Tourism Destinations more productive efficient? The Spanish case
The widespread adoption of information and communication technologies has led to the emergence of new business models and increased competition among tourist destinations. In recent years, Smart Tourism Destinations (STDs) have started to leverage information and communication technologies to enhance the overall tourist experience, allegedly improving operational efficiency. The goal of this study is to empirically examine whether transforming a …
Does an industry-promoted tourist tax per night affect hotel performance? Quasi-experimental evidence from Manchester
The Lasting Effects of Terrorism on Hotel Performance: Evidence from Jihadist Attacks in Europe
Despite extant research on how terrorism impacts tourism demand, we still know little about its long-lasting effects and how long it takes for the hospitality industry to bounce back. Moreover, while terrorism deters demand, the effect on prices and revenues is still poorly understood. Rooted on microeconomic and Prospect Theory, this work investigates the causal effects of Jihadist attacks in Europe on five measures of hotel performance: rooms s…
Gender quotas and politicians’ education
A Behavioral Microeconomics Model Of Tourist Destination Choice Under Loss Aversion
This paper offers a theoretical and empirical characterization of destination choice under risk perceptions with loss averse individuals. We develop a novel theoretical model that extends the traditional microeconomic theory of destination choice by incorporating reference-dependent preferences, particularly loss aversion. Within a random utility formulation, our model predicts that subjective threat perceptions diminish the likelihood of choosin…
Good results come to those who weight: On the importance of sampling weights in empirical research using survey data
Many empirical studies in tourism research use primary or secondary survey data. Generally, non-response is not random in the target population, so sampling weights are required to adjust for endogenous sampling. However, it is yet unclear in which situations survey weights should be applied. This paper proposes two simple tests to detect whether weights are truly needed. The relevance of weighting for correct inference and how to perform the tes…
Meeting externalities: The effects of educational training on support for tourism activities
This study evaluates whether college students change their beliefs about the social, economic, and environmental effects of tourism activities after receiving educational training. In particular, our goal is to examine if economic instruction affects their views about the impacts of cruise tourism development. We conduct an experiment with students majoring in tourism enrolled in a compulsory course on tourism and transport at the University of L…
Windfall money and outbound tourism: A natural experiment from lottery winnings
Income is a relevant factor for explaining outbound tourism demand. However, when working with regional- or country-level data, it is difficult to disentangle the role of income in stimulating tourism travelling from other factors that correlate with greater income levels. This paper exploits a natural experiment from Spanish Christmas Lottery to estimate the causal effect of income shocks on outbound tourism. We leverage the staggered and quasi-…
The economics of second-home tourism: Are there expenditure reallocation effects from accommodation savings
Second-home tourism is a popular tourism activity by which people spend leisure time away from home at second residences. Given the budget constraint, savings from not having to pay for the accommodation might produce expenditure reallocation effects on other items. This paper examines the differences in expenditure between tourists who stay at market accommodations versus those at second homes considering distinct categories. Using microdata for…
How well do couples know their partners’ preferences? Experimental evidence from joint recreation
There are many situations in which one partner must make decisions on behalf of the couple. In such cases, incomplete knowledge about the partner’s likes and desires might lead to suboptimal decisions. This paper investigates whether individuals hold accurate beliefs about their partners’ tastes. In particular, we look at gender differences in knowledge about one’s partner’s preferences in the context of joint recreation. We conduct a Discrete Ch…
Optimal carrying capacity in rural tourism: Crowding, quality deterioration, and productive inefficiency
This paper introduces a novel framework for characterizing destination overcrowding in rural tourism using a production approach. We build upon destination life cycle, carrying capacity, and consumer preference theories to characterize optimal levels of overnight stays in the presence of disutility from crowding. Using panel data for rural tourism in Spanish provinces, we model crowding non-linearly as a demand shifter within a service production…
Grade point averages versus experience
We study the role of Grade Point Averages and experience on tourism graduates' employability. • Pre-graduation experience is a key predictor of employability in the first year since graduation. • Without experience, higher Grade Point Averages increase employability for females but not for males
Carbon price shocks and tourism demand
This article studies the effect of carbon prices on tourism demand. We adopt a novel identification strategy that exploits carbon price shocks induced by policy events on the supply of emission allowances in the European Trading System (EU ETS). Using monthly panel data on tourism arrivals and stays in 26 European countries between 2005 and 2019, and applying panel local projections, we find there is a ‘V’ shaped pattern. Impulse response estimat…
Domestic tourism and the resilience of hotel demand
Social influence and bandwagon effects in tourism travel
Spatial price mimicking on Airbnb: Multi-host vs single-host
Climate change: Personal responsibility and energy saving
Consumers' demand for operational licencing: Evidence from Airbnb in Paris
Since July 2021, Airbnb discloses whether listings in Paris hold a mandatory registration number to legally operate. Grounded on information asymmetries and moral hazard theories, this paper studies consumers' preferences for certifications of legality and minimum quality standards. We exploit the staggered disclosure of licences over time to evaluate the change in demand (reviews) compared to those that continue offering their properties without…
Modelling heterogeneous preferences for nature‐based tourism trips
Optimal carrying capacity in rural tourism: Crowding, quality deterioration, and productive inefficiency
This paper introduces a novel framework for characterizing destination overcrowding in rural tourism using a production approach. We build upon destination life cycle, carrying capacity, and consumer preference theories to characterize optimal levels of overnight stays in the presence of disutility from crowding. Using panel data for rural tourism in Spanish provinces, we model crowding non-linearly as a demand shifter within a service production…
Carbon price shocks and tourism demand
This article studies the effect of carbon prices on tourism demand. We adopt a novel identification strategy that exploits carbon price shocks induced by policy events on the supply of emission allowances in the European Trading System (EU ETS). Using monthly panel data on tourism arrivals and stays in 26 European countries between 2005 and 2019, and applying panel local projections, we find there is a ‘V’ shaped pattern. Impulse response estimat…
Does an industry-promoted tourist tax per night affect hotel performance? Quasi-experimental evidence from Manchester
The association between marital locus of control and break-up intentions
Understanding couple instability is a topic of social and economic relevance. This paper investigates how the risk of dissolution relates to efforts to solve disagreements. We study whether marital locus of control (a noncognitive trait that captures individual's perception of control over problems within the couple) is associated with the prevalence of relationship instability in the past. We implement a list experiment using the count-item tech…
The Lasting Effects of Terrorism on Hotel Performance: Evidence from Jihadist Attacks in Europe
Despite extant research on how terrorism impacts tourism demand, we still know little about its long-lasting effects and how long it takes for the hospitality industry to bounce back. Moreover, while terrorism deters demand, the effect on prices and revenues is still poorly understood. Rooted on microeconomic and Prospect Theory, this work investigates the causal effects of Jihadist attacks in Europe on five measures of hotel performance: rooms s…
A Behavioral Microeconomics Model Of Tourist Destination Choice Under Loss Aversion
This paper offers a theoretical and empirical characterization of destination choice under risk perceptions with loss averse individuals. We develop a novel theoretical model that extends the traditional microeconomic theory of destination choice by incorporating reference-dependent preferences, particularly loss aversion. Within a random utility formulation, our model predicts that subjective threat perceptions diminish the likelihood of choosin…
Grade point averages versus experience
We study the role of Grade Point Averages and experience on tourism graduates' employability. • Pre-graduation experience is a key predictor of employability in the first year since graduation. • Without experience, higher Grade Point Averages increase employability for females but not for males
University education, mismatched jobs: Are there gender differences in the drivers of overeducation
This paper studies potential gender differences in overeducation prevalence among recent highly educated entrants to the labour market and in its underlying drivers. Using representative microdata on university graduates in Spain in the academic year 2009/2010 observed in 2014, we analyse whether males and females exhibit distinct overeducation likelihoods, distinguishing between graduates below and above 30 years of age. First, we use matching e…
Climate change: Personal responsibility and energy saving
Playing a play: Online and live performing arts consumers profiles and the role of supply constraints
Modelling heterogeneous preferences for nature‐based tourism trips
Spatial price mimicking on Airbnb: Multi-host vs single-host
Propelled: Evidence on the impact of vaccination against Covid-19 on travel propensity
Do people vaccinated against COVID-19 exhibit a greater propensity to take a vacation trip? This paper answers this research question using nationwide survey microdata for a representative sample of the Spanish population in the summer of 2021. To provide a causal estimate of how COVID-19 vaccine affects travel propensity, our identification strategy uses an Inverse Probability Weighting Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) estimator that deals with sel…
Multiway clustering in tourism research
The importance of controlling for intragroup correlation in clustered samples is largely acknowledged in applied econometrics. However, this issue has remained underexplored in tourism research. In many instances, the observation units are naturally grouped, either geographically or due to the sampling scheme, and therefore the iid assumption of the error term in linear regression is broken. This paper presents two case studies to show how defaul…
Tourists’ willingness to pay for holiday trip characteristics: A Discrete Choice Experiment
This article studies the marginal rates of substitution and Willingness to Pay for holiday trip characteristics. Using a Discrete Choice Experiment, we examine how much individuals from four cities in Northern Spain are willing to pay for accommodation, mode of transport, travel time and length of stay. We estimate a Latent Class Model that accounts for taste heterogeneity based on sociodemographic characteristics. The welfare loss due to a touri…
Exposure to Covid-19 and travel intentions: Evidence from Spain
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted the global economy. Since containment measures directly limit mobility and social interactions, the pandemic has substantially affected the tourism sector. This work explores the effect of COVID-19 exposure on people’s travel intentions during the summer of 2020 use representative survey data for 3873 individuals collected in Spain, one of the countries with the highest infection a…
University education, mismatched jobs: Are there gender differences in the drivers of overeducation
This paper studies potential gender differences in overeducation prevalence among recent highly educated entrants to the labour market and in its underlying drivers. Using representative microdata on university graduates in Spain in the academic year 2009/2010 observed in 2014, we analyse whether males and females exhibit distinct overeducation likelihoods, distinguishing between graduates below and above 30 years of age. First, we use matching e…
Domestic tourism and the resilience of hotel demand
Social influence and bandwagon effects in tourism travel
Order does matter: Recency effects in tourist satisfaction after multi-destination trips
Whereas the drivers of tourist satisfaction with a destination have been largely studied, we know little about whether the serial order of the destination in multi-destination trips plays a role in explaining satisfaction. Based on a large longitudinal data set and using ordered probit models, we show that tourists are systematically highly satisfied with those destinations visited later within a multi-destination trip. This finding is conditiona…
Is visitors’ expenditure at destination influenced by weather conditions
Weather has been shown to affect consumption patterns by altering people’s moods. This paper examines the impact of atmospheric conditions on destination expenditure considering cruise passengers’ onshore expenditure as the case study. We exploit quasi-random variation in a set of hourly real-time weather indicators in a port of call, through the Tourism Climate Index (TCI) and the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET), to draw inference a…
Vacation rental market regulation and accommodation supply growth
Short-term residential vacation rentals (RVRs) have increased their popularity in recent years. Local governments have introduced different regulatory changes to control their supply growth. This paper evaluates a policy intervention in a Northern Spanish destination that has reduced the bureaucratic procedures to officially open a RVR since 2016. We compare the evolution of accommodation growth of RVRs with that of tourist apartments exploiting …
The impact of Covid-19 on tourists’ length of stay and daily expenditures
This study evaluates the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourists’ length of stay and daily expenditures at a destination. The paper compares detailed microdata for visitors to a Northern Spanish region in the summer periods of 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (after the pandemic outbreak). We estimate the pandemic-induced impacts on the length of stay and expenditures per person for several categories using regression adjustment, inverse probabil…
Distance Traveled in Times of Pandemic: An Endogenous Switching Regression Approach
This paper studies the change in the distance traveled by domestic tourists considering the pre- and post-pandemic outbreak summer periods of 2019 and 2020. Using representative monthly microdata involving more than 31,000 trips conducted by Spanish residents, we examine the heterogeneity in behavioral adaptation to COVID-19 based on sociodemographic and trip-related characteristics. To account for selection effects and the potential change in th…
Methods to examine omitted variable bias in hedonic price studies
Many studies use the hedonic pricing method to uncover consumers’ willingness to pay for accommodation characteristics in the hospitality industry. In most empirical applications using cross-sectional data, implicit prices might be biased if omitted time-invariant variables correlate with observed attributes. This paper proposes a set of diagnostic checks to inspect the potential bias in the estimates through exploiting repeated information for t…
Deep habits and travel resilience after Covid-19
This research examines how deep travel habits in the form of habit formation and reduced substitutability between tourism travel and other leisure goods impact travel resilience after COVID-19. Using microdata for almost 3000 tourists in Andalusia (Spain), we relate post-pandemic outbreak tourism participation to pre-pandemic travelling intensity and whether taking a vacation is considered a priority good. In doing so, we control for standard soc…
The effect of high-speed rail connectivity and accessibility on tourism seasonality
The improvement of regional transport connectivity and accessibility is a key determinant of tourism demand. This paper evaluates whether high-speed rail (HSR) connectivity and accessibility affects tourism seasonality. Using a panel dataset of 50 Spanish provinces in the period 2004–2019, we study the impact of variations in a synthetic indicator of province's connectivity and accessibility to the HSR network on the concentration of both domesti…
Couple and individual willingness to take risks
Tourism seasonality and gambling: The role of a new casino's opening
Consumers' demand for operational licencing: Evidence from Airbnb in Paris
Since July 2021, Airbnb discloses whether listings in Paris hold a mandatory registration number to legally operate. Grounded on information asymmetries and moral hazard theories, this paper studies consumers' preferences for certifications of legality and minimum quality standards. We exploit the staggered disclosure of licences over time to evaluate the change in demand (reviews) compared to those that continue offering their properties without…
Good results come to those who weight: On the importance of sampling weights in empirical research using survey data
Many empirical studies in tourism research use primary or secondary survey data. Generally, non-response is not random in the target population, so sampling weights are required to adjust for endogenous sampling. However, it is yet unclear in which situations survey weights should be applied. This paper proposes two simple tests to detect whether weights are truly needed. The relevance of weighting for correct inference and how to perform the tes…
Meeting externalities: The effects of educational training on support for tourism activities
This study evaluates whether college students change their beliefs about the social, economic, and environmental effects of tourism activities after receiving educational training. In particular, our goal is to examine if economic instruction affects their views about the impacts of cruise tourism development. We conduct an experiment with students majoring in tourism enrolled in a compulsory course on tourism and transport at the University of L…
Windfall money and outbound tourism: A natural experiment from lottery winnings
Income is a relevant factor for explaining outbound tourism demand. However, when working with regional- or country-level data, it is difficult to disentangle the role of income in stimulating tourism travelling from other factors that correlate with greater income levels. This paper exploits a natural experiment from Spanish Christmas Lottery to estimate the causal effect of income shocks on outbound tourism. We leverage the staggered and quasi-…
Economics (34 works) · Tourism (34 works) · Geography (27 works) · Business (23 works) · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research (23 works) · Econometrics (20 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Demographic economics (10 works) · Mathematics (10 works) · Microeconomics (10 works)