Is bigger better? —— A DEA examination of the efficiencies of public tourism attractions in Sichuan Province, China

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a mathematical tool commonly used for studying non-parametric frontier efficiency. It can be applied to examine the efficiencies in tourism industry. This article uses it to examines the technical efficiencies of 11 tourism attractions comprising six 4-A and five 5-A public tourism locations in Sichuan Province, China utilizing a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. Based on the results, it is found that for public tourism attraction, efficiency it is not necessarily a case of bigger being better. The article provides evidence to support the idea as well as gives several reasons to explain such conclusion.