Can the High Speed Rail reinforce tourism attractiveness? The case of the High Speed Railway section between Perpignan (France) and Barcelona (Spain)
Abstract
The transport system plays an important role in the tourism destinations development. A High Speed Railway authorizes the reduction in the transport costs and can be a tool of development of the tourism destinations by allowing the improvement in accessibility. Nevertheless, this improvement is often synonymous with reinforcement of spatial competition between tourism destinations. The new economic geography models show that agglomeration and dispersion forces determine the spatial structure of economy. These two opposing forces are influenced by transport costs. A decrease in transport costs can reinforce the concentration of the economic activities. A prospective analysis investigating the case of the forthcoming South European HSR lines between Perpignan and Barcelona shows that the increased spatial competition may reinforce the phenomenon of the tourism activities agglomeration around Barcelona to the detriment of Perpignan. The tourism products differentiation is one solution for Perpignan to confront the agglomeration forces.
Origin | Files produced by the author(s) |
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