The Role of Tourism in the Dynamics of Economic Development, Regional Convergence, and Socioeconomic Inequalities: European and Spanish Perspectives

This doctoral thesis analyses the role of tourism in economic growth, regional economic convergence, and income inequality, with special attention to the European and Spanish contexts. Building on classical and endogenous growth theories, as well as the main theoretical and empirical approaches to convergence (absolute, conditional, sigma, beta, and convergence clubs), the research establishes a conceptual framework to understand why some regions grow faster than others and under which conditions income and productivity gaps tend to narrow or widen over time. Based on this foundation, the study integrates tourism economics and critically revisits the Tourism-Led Growth Hypothesis, incorporating reflections that highlight both its potential and its structural limitations. At the European scale, the analysis of sectoral specialisation patterns reveals strong asymmetries between regions focused on more knowledge-based sectors. Using conditional β-convergence models applied to NUTS 3 data (2003–2021), the study confirms the existence of conditional economic convergence with nonlinear dynamics, alongside multiple development trajectories identified through four convergence clubs. The results suggest that tourism has a dual nature: it can stimulate economic growth and convergence in less developed regions but may lead to stagnation and divergence in higher-income territories with high tourism dependence. By contrast, specialisation in knowledge-intensive sectors is systematically associated with higher economic growth and a stronger contribution to economic convergence. The case of Spain allows for a deeper exploration of the distributive dimension of tourism, showing that the sector’s effects on income inequality are also nonlinear: moderate levels of tourism development can reduce inequality, while high levels may increase it, especially in highly specialised regions. The analysis also highlights the importance of distinguishing between domestic and international tourism, with the latter exhibiting a sharper turning point in this study. Finally, a policy-oriented perspective is adopted to further empirically examine some of the mechanisms through which tourism shapes regional development and income inequality, with particular attention to the role of regional productive structures and labour market dynamics in tourism-intensive economies.

Author

• Torres Penalva, Aimée

• Tourism specialisation
• Tourism economics
• Economic growth
• Regional convergence
• Income inequality
• Sectoral specialisation
• European regions
• NUTS-3

Identifier

hdl:10045/168249

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rua.ua.es:10045/168249