Relationships between Tourism and Hospitality Sector Electricity Consumption in Spanish Provinces (1999–2013)

Abstract

Abstract:The EU is committed to a 40% reduction in their domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. In order to reach this ambitious target, new measures affecting all economic sectors would be needed. This paper focuses on the tourism sector. Using econometric panel data techniques, the relationships between tourist overnight stays and the hospitality sector electricity consumption is studied for the Spanish provinces during the period 1999-2013. With this aim, an Energy-Tourism Kuznets Curve hypothesis is tested. The results show that the Energy-Tourism Kuznets Curve hypothesis is not supported. An increasing positive relationship between the hospitality sector electricity consumption and overnight stays is observed. Results also show that the hospitality sector electricity consumption elasticity values, with respect to tourist overnight stays, differ among the provinces, the values being within a range of 0.1-0.5 during the period. The highest values are observed for the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Gerona, Tarragona and Malaga. Energy efficiency measures, the adoption of renewable energy systems and the development of energy management capabilities are recommended.

Tourism and Environmental Pollution: Evidence from the One Belt One Road Provinces of Western China

“…Both developing and developed countries are focusing on the CO 2 reduction without affecting the sustainable development. Focusing on the tourism sector, Romero et al [17] investigated the link between tourists stay and the electricity consumption for Spain. The results indicated that the EKC hypothesis is not valid in the case of Spain during 1999-2013.…”

Relationships between Hotel and Restaurant Electricity Consumption and Tourism in 11 European Union Countries

“…In that sense, the study by Ben Aissa et al [42] finds that international attraction and market competition have a direct influence on hotel efficiency, while other studies, such as those of Razumova et al [43] and Leonidou et al [44], indicate that hotels are more predisposed to implement effective green strategies when they have sufficient physical and financial resources. Therefore, as stated in Pablo-Romero et al [34], increasing the Hotel and Restaurant sector earnings through tourism stays increases, for example, the ease of implementing energy efficiency measures, thereby reducing energy use. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that some other papers also highlight that hotels that offer higher quality services use more energy [45][46][47], causing energy consumption growth.…”

“…In particular, the nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments' series was used (sample number code tour_occ_ninat). Total overnight stays have been used before as a proxy to measure tourism, such as in the studies by Cortés-Jiménez and Pulina [50] and Gómez-Calero et al [51], and more recently in the study by Pablo-Romero et al [34]. Figures are expressed in overnight stays per inhabitants in natural logs.…”

“…In addition to these variables, the squared value of the tourism variable is included in the model. The inclusion of this squared variable allows testing the Energy-Tourism Kuznets Curve hypothesis, as in Pablo-Romero et al [34]. The Energy-Tourism Kuznets Curve hypothesis states that increasing tourism produces an energy consumption increase until some turning point is reached, from which a decreasing relationship is observed between the variables.…”

“…Likewise, the study by Gössling et al [33] emphasizes the inter-relationships between water and energy, as a result of air conditioning, heating and water supply, for restaurants and accommodation. In addition, focusing on restaurants and accommodation, the study by Pablo-Romero et al [34] analyzes the relationships between tourist overnight stays and the hospitality sector electricity consumption for the Spanish provinces, by testing the Energy-Tourism Kuznets Curve hypothesis. Finally, the study by Qureshi et al [35] examines the relationship between sustainable tourism, energy, health and wealth, in a panel of 37 tourist countries, showing that inbound tourism has a positive relationship with energy demand.…”