Fuel tourism in border regions: The case of Switzerland

Silvia Banfi*, Massimo Filippini, Lester C. Hunt

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper explores the issue of 'fuel tourism' in Switzerland. For the period 1985-1997, a panel data model for the border regions of Switzerland, (Italy, France, and Germany) is estimated. The results show a significant impact of the gasoline price differential on demand, suggesting that a decrease of 10% in the Swiss gasoline price leads to an increase in demand in the border areas of nearly 17.5%. It is shown that fuel tourism accounted for about 9% of overall gasoline sales in the three regions during the period 1985-1997 and that the recently proposed Swiss CO2-tax might, given current conditions, eliminate net fuel tourism.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)689-707
    Number of pages19
    JournalEnergy Economics
    Volume27
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Sept 2005

    Keywords

    • Fuel tourism
    • Gasoline price differentials
    • Panel data estimation

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