Employment dynamics in the Brazilian tourism sector (2006–2015)

• Published in: Tourism economics : the business and finance of tourism and recreation Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. 418 - 433
• Main Authors: Ribeiro, Luiz Carlos De Santana, Lopes, Thiago Henrique Carneiro Rios, Montenegro, Rosa Lívia Gonçalves, Andrade, José Roberto De Lima
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.06.2018; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Convergence; Diversification; Econometrics; Economic conditions; Economic models; Employment; Externality; Growth rate; Municipalities; Specialization; Tourism; Tourist attractions; Urbanization; Visualization; Brazil; Brazilian municipalities; employment; specialization externalities; spatial econometrics
• DOI: 10.1177/1354816617736409
• ISSN: 1354-8166

Tourism is recognized as an activity with great potential for Brazil, not only because of its diverse tourist attractions but also because of the generation of economic dynamics and its capacity to absorb labour. This article investigates the influence of specialization, urbanization and diversification externalities on the tourism employment growth rate in Brazilian municipalities between 2006 and 2015. To this end, we apply Local Indicators of Spatial Association and spatial econometric models. Both techniques enable the visualization of a spatial and temporal overview of the convergence process in tourism employment in Brazil. The main results suggest that the externalities of specialization, urbanization and diversification positively affect the employment growth rate in the tourism sector. Nevertheless, the employment growth rate for tourism in neighbouring municipalities reduces local employment in the same sector, which we interpret as arising from a competitive effect.