The financing of SMEs in the Spanish tourism sector at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis: Lessons to learn?

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are a powerful economic engine in many European countries. Moreover, tourism SMEs are particularly important in the economies of countries in southern Europe due to the climate and sociodemographic situation, among other reasons. In Spain, specifically, these enterprises are a vital economic asset. Nonetheless, neither the importance of SMEs in the tourism industry nor the main factors that influence their capital structure have been sufficiently studied. We used panel data methodology with a regression model to analyse the capital structure of SMEs in the tourism sector at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. Our results show the significance of SMEs within the tourism industry as well as the need to take into account the main factors that influence their capital, which are type (micro, small or medium enterprise), profitability, number of employees and size (logarithm of total assets). Furthermore, despite the robustness of these companies, they have been affected by the crisis. This study is of great interest as it provides indicators to understand the strength of tourist SMEs to confront potential crises.