Tourism and transport systems in mountain environments: analysis of the economic efficiency of cableways in South Tyrol

• Economic efficiency of cableways in the region of Bolzano (Italy) is estimated.
• A panel DEA has been employed as a non-parametric approach.
• Findings reveal that cableways denote decreasing returns to scale.
• Results show that cableways in Bolzano are relatively economically inefficient.

This paper examines the economic efficiency of cableways in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Italy, and relates it to sustainability and tourism issues. Cableways represent an environmental-friendly mode of transport that enables access to remote and environmentally delicate areas. Thus, examining cableways efficiency informs policies that foster regional competitiveness from a sustainable development perspective. Employing annual data from 2002 up to 2008, the pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency are computed using a panel Data Envelopment Analysis. Overall, the empirical findings reveal that this type of transport in the Italian Alps can be regarded as relatively economically inefficient and most of the cableways denote decreasing returns to scale. Nevertheless, some distinctive features are detected amongst cableways classified by district. Policy implications are drawn to help economic agents improve their efficiency scores.