Abstract:Olive oil has generated a new tourism offer in Spain called oleotourism. Visitors can enjoy landscapes of ancient olive groves and visit its oil mills called almazaras, to learn about its manufacture and to taste different oil varieties. Andalusia, located in the south of Spain, produces 60% of Spain's olive oil, having the largest number of almazaras, and therefore most oleotourism offers. This differentiated tourism offer requires identifying the profile of oleotourists to determine sustainable strategies to increase demand without harming the local community. The objective of this study is to identify the Andalusian oleotourism offer according to the profile of oleotourists and project its demand evolution, in order to offer a sustainable product best suited to the demand. With this aim, three techniques are applied in this study: a random survey addressed to oleotourists in Andalusia, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the oleotourism sector in the region, and finally, its demand is projected by using the ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) model. The results indicate a favorable future scenario that should induce entrepreneurs and local authorities to invest in promoting and developing a product. Oleotourism is an alternative that can serve as a complement to agricultural income and generate employment.

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Tourism is a major economic activity in the world. However, while tourism has a noticeable positive impact on economic development, it also contributes to environmental degradation by increasing energy consumption and therefore emissions. This paper analyzes the relationships between Hotel and Restaurant electricity consumption and tourism growth in 11 European Union countries for the period 2005-2012, for which there is sufficient data availability. Panel data techniques are used to test an electricity consumption function for this sector, which depends on tourism, its squared value, energy price, income and a climate variable. The results show that the Energy-Tourism Kuznets Curve hypothesis is not supported. Instead, an increasing relationship is observed between the Hotel and Restaurant sector electricity consumption and overnight stays. Results also show the effects of income and low temperatures in increasing electricity consumption, while prices have no effects. Energy efficiency measures and the adoption of renewable energy systems are recommended, with further investments therefore being necessary.

Abstract:The EU is committed to a 40% reduction in their domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. In order to reach this ambitious target, new measures affecting all economic sectors would be needed. This paper focuses on the tourism sector. Using econometric panel data techniques, the relationships between tourist overnight stays and the hospitality sector electricity consumption is studied for the Spanish provinces during the period 1999-2013. With this aim, an Energy-Tourism Kuznets Curve hypothesis is tested. The results show that the Energy-Tourism Kuznets Curve hypothesis is not supported. An increasing positive relationship between the hospitality sector electricity consumption and overnight stays is observed. Results also show that the hospitality sector electricity consumption elasticity values, with respect to tourist overnight stays, differ among the provinces, the values being within a range of 0.1-0.5 during the period. The highest values are observed for the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Gerona, Tarragona and Malaga. Energy efficiency measures, the adoption of renewable energy systems and the development of energy management capabilities are recommended.