Relazione tra contribuzione pubblica e performance economico-sociali nel settore turistico-ricettivo

Purpose: This study investigates how government grants influence the economic and social performance of companies benefiting from them. Literature in this topic indicates various results: according to some studies subsidies seem to improve company performance and profitability, while, according to others, they have a negative impact on long term productivity and growth. Government grants impact have been not extensively investigated in the tourism sector, especially regarding the economic and social performance of the hotels. This study aims to fill this research gap by analyzing tourism grants’ impact on different small and medium enterprises - SMEs located in the metropolitan area of Cagliari (Sardinia) and furthermore to provide an evaluation of grants policies’ outcome. Design/methodology/approach: The research questions are: Q1: Do tourism government grants improve the economic and social SMEs performance in the hospitality industry? Q2: Have tourism government grants proved to be effective and appropriate to the hospitality sector? The research shows an exploratory multiple case study conducted on five subsidized hotels, selected with a purposeful sampling process, which started from the three Sardinian major tourism public subsidies of the past decade. Economic grants impact has been measured by typical revenue management operating indicators in the hotel indus7 try such as occupancy rate, average revenue per room and revenue per available room, while subsidies’ social impact has been evaluated with social indicators such as the human employment company level. The analysis compares the 3-year period which precedes and follows the grants. The use of a mixed methods research, both qualitative and quantitative, with tools such as questionnaires and interviews, also allowed a deep comprehension of subsidies’ main characteristics and shortcomings. Findings: The study shows that positive economic performance seems not to depend exclusively on additional investment programs stimulated by subsidies. Nevertheless it is shown that, contrary to the conventional intertemporal substitution argument, taking advantage of grants provisions by anticipating investments, may not always have a negative impact on company performance. The study reveals that the more investment programs are sustainable and well-structured, the greater are the chances of the grants having a positive long term impact on companies’ economic and social performance. Grants’ negative impact on both economic and social performance seems to be linked to the lack of government supervision on the subsidized investment programs. Research limitation/implication: The study, which is only exploratory at this point, needs to be extended to more significant samples in the hospitality industry. The study shows that more of grants quality and more attention to the sector’s real needs evaluation should be employed in order to provide more research evidence to detail both the exact impact of subsidies on corporate performance and the quality of public resources use. Practical implication: The research shows that financial assistance to tourism SMEs seems in part to be incoherent with the real regional needs. Subsidies have an impact on companies’ economic and social performance and thus their provision should be the result of careful design from the point of view of both the sector’s actors and the policy authorities. Originality/value: In this study a set of economic and social indicators of firm performance are employed and linked to qualitative information to better comprehend the perceived benefits and problems of regional tourism subsidies. The study provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of subsidies on hospitality businesses.