Abstract

Airports play a crucial role in connecting places and boosting local economic development; notwithstanding this, empirical evidence on the subject is relatively limited. This paper estimates the impact of a new airport in Ragusa, in southeastern Sicily, on international tourism flows in the area, using a synthetic control approach. Connecting by air a relatively peripheral and isolated area of Sicily with a high tourism potential has made it possible to increase by about 16% the number of nights spent by foreign tourists (by about 4,450 additional nights), generating € 377,000 more in tourist expenditure per month.