Winescape's Aesthetic Impact on Lodging Room Prices: A Spatial Analysis of the Douro Region. Issue 2 (3rd March 2020) - Guedes, Alexandre
ABSTRACT: This study estimates the local economic effects on lodging establishments' room prices of the winescape 's aesthetic attributes, mostly shaped by the wine filière, combined with other fundamental situation, site-specific and online reputation factors. A semi-parametric geographically weighted regression model was applied to examine how lodging establishments' room prices vary in space. The hedonic pricing model was based on Booking.com's room rates of lodging establishments located in the Douro region in Portugal, a monocultural environment, which is predominantly rural and dominated by vineyards, combining small towns with a hybrid urban-rural character. The results suggest that landscape factors, which encapsulate structural features of the Douro wine region, exert a statistically significant effect on lodging establishments' room prices.