MEASURING THE EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF MEDITERRANEAN TOURISM: A WINDOW DEA ANALYSIS

Purpose - Tourism is an important economic sector in the EU with particular significance for the Mediterranean countries. The aim of the study is to analyze the efficiency and productivity of Mediterranean countries in order to gain an insight into the causes of inefficiency and changes in productivity. Methodology/Design/Approach - The method used is Window Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Productivity Index on the basis of data collected for the period from 2014 to 2021. Technical efficiency (TE) is calculated as well as its main components, the pure technical efficiency (PTE) and the scale efficiency (SE). Productivity is broken down to technical and technological change and its main components. Findings - Due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, PTE, which is influenced by management, technology and external factors, experiences a sharp decline. However, the decomposition of TE (overall efficiency) revealed that prior to the pandemic, the primary source of inefficiency was the inability of the Mediterranean tourism sectors to operate at optimal scale. Productivity fell in all countries between 2019 and 2020, mainly due to a technological decline. Originality of the research - This paper analyses two distinct samples. The initial sample comprises the EU member states, whereas the second sample comprises the Mediterranean countries within the EU.