nep-tur 2019-03-04 papers

on Tourism Economics

Issue of 2019‒03‒04
two papers chosen by
Laura Vici
Università di Bologna

Measuring the effeciency of medical tourism industry in EU members states By ANDROUTSOU, LORENA; METAXAS, THEODORE
Tourism and Social Media in the World: An Empirical Investigation By Asongu, Simplice; Odhiambo, Nicholas

Measuring the effeciency of medical tourism industry in EU members states

By:	ANDROUTSOU, LORENA; METAXAS, THEODORE
Abstract:	Under the Directive 2011/24/EU, medical tourism and cross-border health are interrelated terms regarding the freedom to move to get the most accessible medical treatment into EU Member State within the defined procedures for reimbursement. Little known empirically regarding the efficiency of the cross-border health/medical tourism industry. This study aims to measure its efficiency in Europe for the years 2010-2014, by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Data obtained from OECD and the European Core Health Indicators (ECHI), which is collecting the data through Eurostat. Eurostat collects data on health care activities and provides data on hospital discharges, including the hospital discharges of non-residents and these include hospital discharges of in-patients and day care patients. The analysis uses “DEA.P, 2.1 for windows” by Coelli (1996). The results show that the Members States health systems were very efficient in handling non-residents in-patients, however when managing day cases/outpatients the efficiency scores dropped. The findings would have significant associations affecting intentions to revisit clinics and the destination country. In addition, will be useful to those seeking a better understanding of the cross-border health and medical tourism industry efficiency. Extending the findings of the European Commission report (2015c) by examining how well medical tourists are informed about the decision they are making, would be of perceived value. These are important indicators at European level by helping each Member State to measure its medical tourism services.
Keywords:	cross-border health, medical tourism, efficiency, DEA
JEL:	I11 Z10
Date:	2018
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92461&r=all

Tourism and Social Media in the World: An Empirical Investigation

By:	Asongu, Simplice; Odhiambo, Nicholas
Abstract:	The study examines the relationship between tourism and social media from a cross section of 138 countries with data for the year 2012.The empirical evidence is based on Ordinary Least Squares, Negative Binomial and Quantile regressions. Two main findings are established. First, there is a positive relationship between Facebook penetration and the number of tourist arrivals. Second, Facebook penetration is more relevant in promoting tourist arrivals in countries where initial levels in tourist arrivals are the highest and low. The established positive relationship can be elucidated from four principal angles: the transformation of travel research, the rise in social sharing, improvements in customer service and the reshaping of travel agencies. This study explores a new dataset on social media. There are very few empirical studies on the relevance of social media in development outcomes.
Keywords:	Social Media; Tourism
JEL:	D83 O30 Z00
Date:	2018–03
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92344&r=all

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