1994-99 community support framework and tourism in portugal: impact evaluation of the "tourism and cultural heritage" program on tourism spatial patterns (338)

Theme Track: Regional Policy - Tourism

Authors:
Malta, Paula ; Eusébio, Celeste ; Costa, Carlos

Tourism plays a strategic role in the Portuguese economy. In 1998, it was responsible for about 26 millions of international arrivals and contributed with approximately 4.739 million euro in terms of international receipts (INE, 1999). Tourism development is one of the means selected for advancing the objectives of the structural founds in virtually all EU regions. As a result, the most significant financial aid made available for tourism development comes through the structural founds (Davidson, 1998), mainly from European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The ERDF, aiming at contributing to the correction of regional imbalances within the EU, is used in three major ways: direct investment in tourism facilities; investment in infrastructure directly linked to the tourism sector; and investment in projects to upgrade the cultural and historical resources. The majority of founds allocated for tourism projects in the Community Support Framework (1994-99) for Portugal, came under the Program 'Tourism and Cultural Heritage'.

It would be very interesting to assess exactly the total EU contribution for tourism. However, because multiple sources of financing have direct and indirect influence on tourism development, this paper only attempts to make a comprehensive evaluation of the spatial patterns and investment composition of ERDF resources directly allocated to tourism projects under the 'Tourism and Cultural Heritage' program, in the period from 1994 to 1999. To accomplish this objective, statistical data on number of approved projects, nature, location, eligible investment and incentive supported by this program were collected on a regional basis. The methods used were location measures (location quotient and coefficient of localisation). The regional distribution of those indicators highlights one striking feature: not only a non-homogeneous pattern appears but strong regional polarisation by a restricted group of regions emerge. To summarise, "Lisboa e Vale do Tejo" and 'Norte' were the two major regional recipients of the financial support allocated to tourism projects. However, when location measures are used, a new geographic pattern emerges, where the dominant positions are occupied by the traditional and most important Portuguese tourism destinations: the regions of "Madeira", "Lisboa e Vale do Tejo" and "Algarve".

Keywords: Tourism, financial instruments, EU's structural funds - European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Community Support Framework 1994-99, spatial patterns, location measures, location quotient, coefficient of localisation Portugal.

[Home]    [Sitemap]