TY - JOUR
T1 - Do Regional Trade Agreements Enhance International Tourism Flows? Evidence from a Cross-Country Analysis
AU - Khalid, Usman
AU - Okafor, Luke Emeka
AU - Burzynska, Katarzyna
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study is supported by the United Arab Emirates University under the UPAR grant (# 12B001).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/7
Y1 - 2022/7
N2 - This study investigates the effect of regional trade agreements (RTAs)—including preferential and free trade agreements, customs unions, and common markets—on bilateral tourism flows. We explore these effects using a panel gravity data set of 163 destination countries, 171 source countries, and 13,589 country-pairs from 1995 to 2015. This is the first large cross-country study to undertake such an integrated analysis using the gravity framework. Results show that all types of RTAs have a positive and significant effect on bilateral tourism flows. The overall indicator of RTAs that captures the combined effect of all types of RTAs on bilateral tourism flows is also positive and significant, on average, as well as when different regions are separately evaluated. These findings underscore the importance of strong economic integration in fostering international tourism flows. Policies aimed at improving a country’s economic integration with other countries can help promote international tourism flows.
AB - This study investigates the effect of regional trade agreements (RTAs)—including preferential and free trade agreements, customs unions, and common markets—on bilateral tourism flows. We explore these effects using a panel gravity data set of 163 destination countries, 171 source countries, and 13,589 country-pairs from 1995 to 2015. This is the first large cross-country study to undertake such an integrated analysis using the gravity framework. Results show that all types of RTAs have a positive and significant effect on bilateral tourism flows. The overall indicator of RTAs that captures the combined effect of all types of RTAs on bilateral tourism flows is also positive and significant, on average, as well as when different regions are separately evaluated. These findings underscore the importance of strong economic integration in fostering international tourism flows. Policies aimed at improving a country’s economic integration with other countries can help promote international tourism flows.
KW - bilateral tourism flows
KW - customs unions
KW - free trade agreements
KW - gravity model
KW - regional trade agreement (RTA)
KW - single market
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U2 - 10.1177/00472875211028321
DO - 10.1177/00472875211028321
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110348650
SN - 0047-2875
VL - 61
SP - 1391
EP - 1408
JO - Journal of Travel Research
JF - Journal of Travel Research
IS - 6
ER -