Resumen de Indebtedness of the tourism sector in Mediterranean countries
Daša Farčnik, Kir Kuščer, Domen Trobec
Although the economies of Mediterranean countries were very negatively affected by the global and financial crisis, little attention has been devoted to their sector-specific performance, especially tourism. Tourism is a key sector in these countries, so the consequences of the crisis should be explored and tools to improve the sector's performance provided. This paper therefore focuses on the influence of the indebtedness process on tourism sector performance in selected Mediterranean countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain). Using data from firms' financial statements for 2006–2010, the tourism sector is compared to all non-tourism sector with a focus on the indebtedness process and the functioning of the financial accelerator as the key obstacle to future performance. Furthermore, the paper investigates investments in core activities and financial assets as the main drivers of debt accumulation in the boom and bust periods.
