Quality Externalities among Hotel Establishments: What is the Impact of Tour Operators

Abstract

This paper is about quality decisions in a vertical structure where competitive producers sell to powerful retailers. Specifically, we focus the analysis on the role played by a tour operator on quality investments when distributing the capacity of a given tourist destination. We emphasize the presence of quality externalities among hotel establishments, and see that sometimes a Tour Operator distribution can provide a solution to the "tragedy of the commons' in quality provision. Thus, we analyze what implications do vertical relations have for quality in this industry, and then derive some policy recommendationsvertical relations, externalities, tragedy of commons,tourism, hotel industry