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Abstract
Changes in EU agricultural policies towards
an increased focus on rural development issues raise
questions regarding the economic impact of local and
regional spatial competition. Farmers are typically price
takers in the traditional markets for the major
agricultural products. This is, however, not necessarily
the case for “new enterprises” active in local and
regional markets. This paper examines local/regional
spatial competition for farm tourism. A spatial
econometrics framework is applied to a hedonic pricing
model. It is shown that spatial dependence affects the
pricing of both Self-catering and Bed & Breakfast.
However, the results indicate that local/regional
competition may have a positive effect on the former but
a negative effect on the latter. The findings illustrate the
potential importance of local competition for rural
developments studies.