Support policy for the tourism business: a comparative case study in Spain David Urbano a , Nuria Toledano a and Domingo Ribeiro b a Department of Business Economics, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Edifici B, Bellaterra 08193, Spain; b Management Department, Edificio Departamental Oriental, University of Valencia, Campus de los Naranjos, Valencia, 46021, Spain (Received 1 June 2008; final version received 3 June 2008) It is now well known that service industries, and especially the tourism sector, significantly contribute to economic and social development in the European Union. Intrinsic to the growth of the tourism industry has been the public interventions that, directly or indirectly, have facilitated the development of this sector. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the knowledge on the design and implementation process of support policies for tourism businesses in Spain, using institutional economics as the theoretical framework. Based on a comparative case study, the article shows that despite the relevance of the legal system, the most important factors for the promotion of the tourism business are the socio-cultural ones. Keywords: support policy; tourism business; institutional economics; case study; Spain Introduction It is now well known that service industries in the European Union significantly contribute to its economic and social development (McKee, 2008; McKee & Garner, 1992; Stanback, Bearse, Noyelle, & Karsek, 1981). Within the service industries, tourism has become a very important and dynamic sector, due to its growth-affecting sectors, e.g., transport, commerce, etc., and not only the activities directly linked to tourism but also many other activities and sectors (European Commission, 2004, 2006). In recent years, the rapid growth of the tourism industry has been especially pro- nounced in some countries in the South of Europe, such as Spain. Specifically, according the World Tourism Organization (2007), Spain is second in the ranking of countries either by international tourism earnings or by international tourism arrivals. That year, the con- tribution of the tourism industry 1 to the GDP was around 11% (Spanish Statistical Insti- tute, 2007). Therefore, the Spanish economy is heavily dependent on tourism. Intrinsic to the development of the tourism industry in Spain has been the public inter- ventions that, directly or indirectly, have facilitated the development of this sector. Regu- lation, in many policy areas, has been important to the competitiveness of the tourism industry and tourist destinations (European Commission, 2004, 2006). Recently, the gov- ernment’s attention to the tourism businesses has increased due to the fact that their poten- tial to generate employment and growth has been explicitly recognised 2 (Spanish Statistical Institute, 2007). ISSN 0264-2069 print/ISSN 1743-9507 online # 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/02642060802252050 http://www.informaworld.com Corresponding author. Email: david.urbano@uab.es The Service Industries Journal Vol. 30, No. 1, January 2010, 119–131 Downloaded By: [Consorci de Biblioteques Universitaries de Catalunya] At: 18:02 24 December 2009