Spatial Effects in Regional Tourism Firm Births and Deaths

Agglomeration economies are benefits that firms obtain when they locate close to one another or are constrained spatially. Tourism is heavily reliant on agglomeration economies rather than mere resource endowments. Policy formation requires an understanding of how tourism agglomeration impacts entrepreneurship within regions. In this chapter, we focus on how agglomeration economies impact enterprise birth and death rates within the tourism sector in Ireland using a comprehensive dataset on tourism firm births and deaths. Agglomeration economies have been studied in the area of regional economic growth and prosperity, but less is known about the extent to which spatial agglomeration economies affect regional firm births and deaths in the tourism sector. Our results provide evidence of positive spatial dependence in regional tourism enterprise births and deaths. Co-location of a diverse set of complementary enterprises fosters greater tourism enterprise births. Greater local specialisation rather than diversity lowers regional tourism enterprise deaths.