IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/worlde/v46y2023i5p1378-1407.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of COVID‐19 on international tourism flows to Italy: Evidence from mobile phone data

Author

Listed:
  • Valerio Della Corte
  • Claudio Doria
  • Giacomo Oddo

Abstract

This paper analyses the response to the COVID‐19 pandemic of inbound tourism to Italy looking at variation across countries and provinces. To this end, it uses weekly data on the number of foreign visitors in Italy from January 2019 until February 2021, as provided by a primary mobile telephony operator. We document a very robust negative relation at the province level between the local epidemic situation and the inflow of foreign travellers. Moreover, provinces with a historically higher share in art‐tourism, and those that used to be ‘hotel intensive’ were hit the most during the pandemic, while provinces with a more prevalent orientation to business tourism proved to be more resilient. Entry restrictions with varying degrees of strictness played a key role in explaining cross‐country patterns. After controlling for these restrictions, we observed that the number of travellers that could arrive by private means of transportation decreased proportionally less. Overall, this evidence emphasises that contagion risk considerations played a significant role in shaping international tourism patterns during the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Valerio Della Corte & Claudio Doria & Giacomo Oddo, 2023. "The impact of COVID‐19 on international tourism flows to Italy: Evidence from mobile phone data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1378-1407, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:46:y:2023:i:5:p:1378-1407
    DOI: 10.1111/twec.13380
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.13380
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/twec.13380?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Serhan Cevik, 2022. "Going Viral: A Gravity Model of Infectious Diseases and Tourism Flows," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 141-156, February.
    2. Morley, Clive & Rosselló, Jaume & Santana-Gallego, Maria, 2014. "Gravity models for tourism demand: theory and use," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-10.
    3. Dunia Rassy & Richard D. Smith, 2013. "The economic impact of H1N1 on Mexico's tourist and pork sectors," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(7), pages 824-834, July.
    4. Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2006. "Notes on CEPII’s distances measures," MPRA Paper 26469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. J. M. C. Santos Silva & Silvana Tenreyro, 2006. "The Log of Gravity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 641-658, November.
    6. Sigala, Marianna, 2020. "Tourism and COVID-19: Impacts and implications for advancing and resetting industry and research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 312-321.
    7. Ji Chou & Nai-Fong Kuo & Su-Ling Peng, 2004. "Potential Impacts of the SARS Outbreak on Taiwan's Economy," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 3(1), pages 84-99.
    8. Antoine Berthou & Sebastian Stumpner, 2022. "Trade Under Lockdown," Working papers 867, Banque de France.
    9. E. Guglielminetti & M. Loberto & A. Mistretta, 2023. "The impact of COVID-19 on the European short-term rental market," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 50(3), pages 585-623, August.
    10. Folinas, Sotiris & Metaxas, Theodore, 2020. "‘Tourism: The Great Patient of Coronavirus COVID-2019’," MPRA Paper 99666, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Donald Hanna & Yiping Huang, 2004. "The Impact of SARS on Asian Economies," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 3(1), pages 102-112.
    12. Sergio Correia & Paulo Guimarães & Tom Zylkin, 2020. "Fast Poisson estimation with high-dimensional fixed effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 20(1), pages 95-115, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. E. Guglielminetti & M. Loberto & A. Mistretta, 2023. "The impact of COVID-19 on the European short-term rental market," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 50(3), pages 585-623, August.
    2. Marta Crispino & Vincenzo Mariani, 2023. "A tool to nowcast tourist overnight stays with payment data and complementary indicators," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 746, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Delgadillo Chavarria, Carlos Bruno, 2019. "El Efecto de la Mediterraneidad sobre el Flujo Comercial Internacional: Evidencia Empírica Internacional y para América del Sur (1990-2016) [The Effect of Landlocked Country Status on International," MPRA Paper 96294, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Sep 2019.
    2. Delgadillo Chavarria, Carlos Bruno, 2019. "El Efecto de la Mediterraneidad sobre el Flujo Comercial Internacional: Evidencia Empírica Internacional y para América del Sur (1990-2016) [The Effect of Landlocked Country Status on International," MPRA Paper 96093, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Sep 2019.
    3. Johannes Buggle & Thierry Mayer & Seyhun Orcan Sakalli & Mathias Thoenig, 2023. "The Refugee’s Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(2), pages 1273-1345.
    4. Dennis, Allen & Shepherd, Ben, 2007. "Trade costs, barriers to entry, and export diversification in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4368, The World Bank.
    5. Badarinza, Cristian & Ramadorai, Tarun & Shimizu, Chihiro, 2022. "Gravity, counterparties, and foreign investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 132-152.
    6. MATSUURA Toshiyuki & SAITO Hisamitsu, 2021. "Designing a Tourism Stimulus During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan," Discussion papers 21012, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    7. Anderson, James E. & Vesselovsky, Mykyta & Yotov, Yoto V., 2016. "Gravity with scale effects," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 174-193.
    8. Justin Caron & Thibault Fally & James Markusen, 2021. "Per capita income and the demand for skills," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 12, pages 251-268, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi, 2015. "European enlargement policy, technological capabilities and sectoral export dynamics," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 25-69, February.
    10. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi, 2013. "Public policies for a sustainable energy sector: regulation, diversity and fostering of innovation," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 401-429, April.
    11. Álvarez, Inmaculada C. & Barbero, Javier & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Zofío, José L., 2018. "Does Institutional Quality Matter for Trade? Institutional Conditions in a Sectoral Trade Framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 72-87.
    12. Harald Badinger & Peter Egger, 2010. "Horizontal vs. Vertical Interdependence in Multinational Activity," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(6), pages 744-768, December.
    13. Wessel, Jan, 2019. "Evaluating the transport-mode-specific trade effects of different transport infrastructure types," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 42-57.
    14. Beine, Michel & Docquier, Frédéric & Özden, Çaglar, 2011. "Diasporas," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 30-41, May.
    15. Harald Oberhofer & Michael Pfaffermayr & Yvonne Wolfmayr, 2021. "Die Auswirkungen des Brexit auf Österreichs Wirtschaft," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 66782, Juni.
    16. Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2014. "Mismeasurement of Distance Effects: The Role of Internal Location of Production," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 992-1015, November.
    17. Gianluca Orefice, 2015. "International migration and trade agreements: The new role of PTAs," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(1), pages 310-334, February.
    18. Dao, Thu Hien & Docquier, Frédéric & Parsons, Chris & Peri, Giovanni, 2018. "Migration and development: Dissecting the anatomy of the mobility transition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 88-101.
    19. Ronen, Eyal, 2017. "The Trade-Enhancing Effect Of Non-Tariff Measures On Virgin Olive Oil," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 5(3), July.
    20. Barrell, Ray & Nahhas, Abdulkader, 2018. "Economic integration and bilateral FDI stocks: the impacts of NAFTA and the EU," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 90372, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:46:y:2023:i:5:p:1378-1407. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0378-5920 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.