Repeat Tourism in Uruguay: Modelling Truncated Distributions of Count Data

Abstract

This paper studies the determinants of repeat visiting in Uruguay, where loyal visitors are a relevant part of the total. From a statistical point of view the number of times a visitor has been to a place constitutes count data. In this regard available information on Uruguay present relevant limitations. Count data is in fact reported only for those who visited the country up to five times, whereas records about the most frequent visitors are collapsed into one residual category. This implies that the classic models for count data such as Poisson or negative binomial cannot be put into consideration. The paper suggest instead the use of a quantile count data regression, that is a model based on measures of location rather than mean values. A set of explanatory variables related to socioeconomic characteristics, features of the journey and composition of the travel party are considered.

Keywords: Repeat tourism, Uruguay, Quantile Regression, Count Data

JEL Classification: L83, N76, C21