Tourism Specialization, Absorptive Capacity, and Economic Growth

Glauco De Vita*, Khine S. Kyaw

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

97 Citations (Scopus)
5 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between tourism specialization and economic growth while accounting for the absorptive capacity of host (tourism destination) countries, defined in terms of financial system development. We use the system generalized methods-of-moments (SYS-GMM) estimation methodology to investigate this relationship for 129 countries over the period 1995–2011. The results support the hypothesis that the positive effect of tourism specialization on growth is contingent on the level of economic development as well as the financial system absorptive capacity of recipient economies. Consistent with the law of diminishing returns, we also find that for countries with a developed financial system, at exponential levels of tourism specialization, its effect on growth turns negative. Significant policy implications flow from these findings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)423-435
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Travel Research
Volume56
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 May 2016

Keywords

  • SYS-GMM
  • absorptive capacity
  • economic growth
  • financial development
  • tourism specialization

Cite this