An empirical refinement of the relationship between tourism and economic growth

Abstract

Today many developing countries focus on economic policies in order to promote international tourism as a potential source of economic growth for the country; however, the understanding of the relationship between tourism and economic growth is ongoing. The objective of this paper was to assess if tourism has promoted economic growth. We use six regional classifications and four income level classification in our data-set. Using a panel data of 144 countries that span over the period 1975–2010, our results reveal that the relationship between international tourism and economic growth is consistent among all different types of regions and classification countries of the world.