Regional Public Spending for Tourism in Italy: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The authors analyse the effects of public spending on tourism in the regions of Italy by adopting a cross-sectional regression analysis approach. The evaluation is made possible by the availability of a database under the project entitled ‘Conti Pubblici Territoriali’ (‘Regional Public Accounts’) of the Ministero dello sviluppo economico (Ministry of Economic Development), wherein the spending of all public institutions is aggregated for each region and classified according to different criteria, including the sectoral criterion. Furthermore, the effects of public spending on tourism on the tourism attractiveness of various regions are also investigated. Generally, the effectiveness of public spending appears to be deficient.