Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (UNIR), Logroño, La Rioja, Spain.
Escola Superior de Ciències Socials i de l'Empresa Tecnocampus, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Mataró, Spain.
PLoS One. 2022 Jan 31;17(1):e0262428. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262428. eCollection 2022.
The aim of this article is to assess both the economic and social value of balneotherapy and spa tourism, being the first paper in carrying out this analysis. The study has been conducted in Maresme, a region of Catalonia, Spain. On the one hand, an Input-Output (IO) model with a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) has been carried out to assess the economic value. On the other hand, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) has been used to monetise the social value in this region, taking into account, among other concepts, direct and indirect health profits, given that balneotherapy helps to alleviate various diseases. The results show that whereas the economic multiplier is 1.529 considering the direct and indirect effects and 1.712 taking into account also the induced effects, which are similar to health and medical tourism multipliers, social value generates additional positive value, given that the cost-benefit ratio is 1.858. The theoretical implications of the paper as well as the findings' implications for policy so as to encourage investments in spa tourism are discussed.
本文旨在评估水疗和温泉旅游的经济和社会价值，这是首次对此进行分析。该研究在西班牙加泰罗尼亚的马雷姆斯地区进行。一方面，采用投入产出（IO）模型和社会核算矩阵（SAM）来评估经济价值。另一方面，采用成本效益分析（CBA）来货币化该地区的社会价值，考虑了直接和间接的健康收益，因为水疗有助于缓解各种疾病。结果表明，考虑直接和间接影响时，经济乘数为 1.529，同时考虑诱导效应时，经济乘数为 1.712，这与健康和医疗旅游乘数相似，而社会价值则产生了额外的积极价值，因为成本效益比为 1.858。本文讨论了理论意义以及对政策的影响，以鼓励对温泉旅游的投资。
