Seminario titulado: "Tourism inflows and outflows and municipalities’ non-random exposure to high-speed rail development". El seminario será el VIERNES 9 de mayo a las 12:30hs, en la sala Dr. Ernest LLuch (Dpto de Economía)
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) connectivity on both inbound and outbound tourism inflows in a left-behind region. Leveraging the opening of a new HSR line connecting a northern Spanish region with mainland Spain, we employ a triple difference-in-differences design to evaluate the causal effect of transport infrastructure developments in lagging areas. Using fine-grained mobile phone positioning data for 168 municipalities over an 36-month period, we find that while the HSR did not increase inbound tourism, it significantly boosted outbound trips among residents in municipalities with direct access to the HSR network. Our findings point to a siphoning effect, whereby improved connectivity facilitates the outflow of local tourists without attracting additional visitors. Furthermore, our analysis highlights substantial spatial heterogeneity in treatment effects, driven by both proximity to HSR stations and municipalities’ non-random exposure to HSR-induced gains.
