How efficient is the Italian hospitality sector? A window DEA and truncated-Tobit analysis

This paper analyses the Italian regional efficiency of the hospitality sector using a data envelopment analysis (DEA), for the time span 2000-2004. Via a window DEA, pure technical efficiency is computed. The Lombardy region presents the best relative performance. Overall Italian regions denote important sources of inefficiency mostly related to their inputs. Via a truncated-Tobit analysis, the rate of utilisation and regional intrinsic features positively are found to affect hospitality efficiency. Nevertheless, empirical evidence does not support spill-over effects amongst Italian regions.