Are authenticity labels effective for local tourism efficiency? A regression discontinuity design approach

Authenticity labels are policy instruments that aim to promote the development of local tourism by acting as territorial marketing tools. By issuing a recognisable certificate, they certify local assets of cultural, environmental and architectural value. This paper proposes a policy evaluation approach at the municipal level to examine the impact of two Italian initiatives based on the adoption of authenticity labels aimed at promoting local tourism development. The analysis is structured in two steps. First, we apply a two-stage double bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis to calculate tourism efficiency scores for each municipality, taken as an outcome variable over the period 2014-2019. We then assess the local impact of authenticity labels on tourism efficiency in a Regression Discontinuity Design framework. Our results suggest that authenticity labels alone do not play a significant role in increasing local tourism efficiency unless the municipality already holds a long-established cultural vocation.