Tourist areas: Examining the effects of location attributes on tour-operator package holiday prices

• There is a negative relationship between prices and the distance to the beach.
• National differences exist between British and German tourists.
• Having a room with sea views increases the price.
• The distance from the area to the airport exerts a negative effect on prices.

This paper focuses on an analysis of the effect of locational characteristics on holiday prices, using the hedonic price model to estimate them. The paper's main finding is that location attributes do have an effect on prices. More specifically, when hotel-related locational characteristics were analysed, a negative relationship was observed between prices and the distance to the beach for German and British package holidays, a positive relationship between prices and the distance to the centre of the tourist resort for British tourists, and a negative one in this instance for German tourists. Having a room with a sea view was found to push up the price for both German and British packages and price differences among tourist resorts were also observed. As for the area-related attributes that were considered, only the distance from the tourist resort to the airport turned out to be relevant, with a negative effect on prices being identified.