Place-based attributes and spatial expenditure behavior in tourism

In recent discussions on local sustainable development, notions like “local for local” and“home bias” have often played a role. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether preferences forspecific place-based attributes might constrain or support tourism participation and tourism destinationchoice of distinct socioeconomic groups of visitors. To test this proposition, a large data set from theItalian Households Budget Survey for the period 1997–2007 has been used and, by means of the doublehurdlemodel, tourism participation and expenditure are modeled over the life-cycle of tourists. Thesedata are next merged with location-specific attributes including natural amenities and infrastructuraland regional-economic context variables. Our results show that location-specific or place-basedcharacteristics affect intra- and interregional tourism differently, as well as destination choices. Regionaldifferences between residents in two different macroareas in Italy (North and Center-South)are investigated. Location-specific characteristics may be either push or constraint factors for tourismparticipation. For families living in the North, participation in the tourism market is supported bythe tourist characteristics of their home region. For families living in the central and southern regionshowever, economic conditions of the area where they reside appear to be more significant.