The Impact of Sporting and Cultural Events in a Heterogeneous Hotel Market: Evidence from Austin, TX

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical analysis of how various local events impact the daily hotel market of Austin, Texas. The major innovation in this paper over previous studies that use daily hotel data is that we differentiate between six different grades of hotel rooms. Thus, the analysis differentiates how various events impact the daily demand for hotel rooms in different grades. The analysis is extended to daily hotel revenues generated in the six grades of hotel rooms and discuss how the various events contribute to local and state hotel-occupancy tax revenues. The paper closes with a discussion about possible policy implications to city and state economies.

Keywords: economic impact, occupancy tax, tourism economics

JEL Classification: H71, Z23, Z28