Tourism,globalization and economic growth: a panel cointegration analysis for selected West African States

This study examined the tourism-led hypothesis for selected 11 countries of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Panel cointegration technique was employed to inspect long-run relationship between study variables. Results of fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares confirmed the positive effect of physical capital, tourism and economic globalization index on economic growth. Thus, tourism-led growth hypothesis exists in ECOWAS. Conversely, negative impact of foreign direct investment on growth was captured.     

Hong Kong's aviation and tourism growth - An empirical investigation

This study investigates the critical link between aviation and tourism growth in Hong Kong, with a focus on the identification of causal relationships between scheduled airline seat capacity and visitor arrivals. This is achieved through the cointegration analysis and Granger-causality test, using monthly data collected from Hong Kong's top 17 tourist source markets during 2008–2018. Our analysis finds clear evidence of an overall two-way causal relationship between airline scheduled capacity and tourist arrivals. The positive externalities between the two crucial sectors to the Hong Kong economy call for coordinated planning and policy design in the tourism and aviation sectors, and justify continued government support. On the other hand, market-specific features are evident in selected markets. Such heterogeneity is likely due to airline network effect and regulation in the international market. Therefore, direct subsidy is not always an efficient support measure. A combination of liberalization policy and industry supports are preferred in views of the benefits to be achieved for the two sectors and the Hong Kong economy.     

The motorcycle to passenger car ownership ratio and economic growth: A cross-country analysis

Cross-country statistics have revealed steady growth in the number of motorcycles in many less advanced economic countries (LAEC) with emerging economies due to increased urbanisation and personal wealth. In contrast, an opposite trend is occurring in advanced economic countries (AEC), with cars replacing motorcycles as income grows. Motor vehicle crashes and injuries are an inevitable consequence of a high motorcycle population. This study focused on understanding how economic growth affects the motorcycle to passenger car (MPC) ownership ratio and what factors underlie this relationship. The data used in this analysis contained a sample of 80 countries at various levels of economic developmental growth over the 48-year period between 1963 and 2010. The results pointed to an inverted U-shaped relationship between the MPC ownership ratio and the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Generally, the MPC ownership ratio increased with income at a lower level and decreased with income at a higher level. The evidence indicated that urbanisation, the total road length per thousand population, and a proxy for purchasing power with regard to vehicle purchases were the underlying factors that contributed to this relationship.     

Air cargo expansion and economic growth: Finding the empirical link

This paper applies Granger causality tests to examine the causal relationship between air cargo expansion and economic growth in Taiwan for the period 1974–2006. The results of cointegration tests show a long-run equilibrium and bi-directional relationship between air cargo expansion and economic growth in the case of Taiwan.     

New regional aviation policy in India: Early indicators and lessons learnt

In this article, we study the new regional aviation policy of India along with data collected on the performance of the scheme since its introduction in 2016. The scheme has multiple objectives. First, it wants to increase footprints of civil aviation to unserved and underserved airports of India. Second, it intends to make flying more affordable. It comes out, the aviation market in the country has expanded due to the addition of new routes under the scheme but data indicates that there is a regional imbalance in the performance of the scheme. Moreover, there are still questions on the long term sustainability of many routes and finding a solution for neglect of some priority regions. We have identified economic and commercial challenges that need to be addressed for the program to achieve its goals. The insights gathered during the study can be generalized and policy makers and managers of remote area air-connectivity schemes of different countries should find them useful.     

Tourism development and economic growth: a panel Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain

In this paper, we test the causal relationship between economic growth and tourism development in the 1995–2012 period using recently developed panel Granger causality tests that allow for country-level heterogeneity, thus leading to more accurate results for the 12 Mediterranean countries. Although results of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin [(2012) testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Economic Modelling, 29(4), 1450–1460] panel Granger causality test show a unidirectional causality from tourism development to economic growth, results of the Croux and Reusens [(2013). Do stock prices contain predictive power for the future economic activity? A Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain. Journal of Macroeconomics, 35, 93–103] panel Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain show that there is a bidirectional temporary and permanent causality between tourism development and economic growth. The bidirectional causality relationship between tourism development and economic growth, which is the main finding of this study, suggests that in order to achieve high economic growth, policy-makers should focus on developing the tourism sector.     

Inbound tourism and long-run economic growth

There is an upsurge of literature investigating the relationship between inbound tourism expansion and economic growth with special emphasis on developing countries. Some countries – such as Spain and Italy – can be taken as examples of demonstrating such a successful trajectory. This paper provides an empirical investigation of the evolution of the Spanish and Italian economies and their respective tourism sectors from the 1950s and 1960s, respectively. This research is theoretically based on the literature on demand-based growth and the methodology adopted is that of the integration, cointegration and multivariate Granger causality tests. The results show the influencing role of inbound tourism for both economies.     

Domestic air passenger traffic and economic growth in China: Evidence from heterogeneous panel models

This paper applies recent panel methodology to examine the short-run dynamics, the long-run equilibrium relationships and the Granger causal relationship between economic growth and domestic air passenger traffic. It is based on the quarterly panel data of 29 provinces in China from the period of 2006Q1 to 2012Q3. Tests for panel unit roots, cointegration in heterogeneous panels and panel causality are employed in a bi-variate panel vector error correction model (PVECM), which is estimated by the system generalized moment method (SYS-GMM). The results show evidence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between economic growth and domestic air passenger traffic. Specifically, 1% increase in the air passenger traffic is found to lead to an increase of 0.943% in real gross domestic product (GDP). A long-run and strong bi-directional Granger causal relationship is found between these two series. It is also found that there is a short-run uni-directional Granger causality running from the domestic air passenger traffic to the economic growth.     

Tourism development and economic growth in the Mediterranean countries: evidence from panel Granger causality tests

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between tourism development and economic growth in the Mediterranean countries using the newly developed panel Granger causality tests for the 1995–2010 period. It is concluded that while there is bidirectional causal nexus between tourism development and economic growth for Portugal, unidirectional causal nexus from economic growth to tourism development is found for Spain, Italy, Tunisia, Cyprus, Croatia, Bulgaria and Greece. Therefore, the growth-led tourism hypothesis is supported in case of these seven countries. On the other hand, there is no causal relation for Malta and Egypt. The study finds evidence to support the tourism-led growth hypothesis for a group of panel in Mediterranean countries. The results of the overall study suggest that governments of Mediterranean countries should focus on economic policies to promote tourism as a potential source of economic growth.     

A cointegration analysis of bilateral air travel flows: The case of international travel to and from the United States

Demand for international air travel has risen over the past decade causing international visitation to the US to reach a record high in 2012. This paper assesses the dynamic impacts of GDP, exchange rate, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks on bilateral air travel flows between the US and its 11 major travel and trading partners. An autoregressive distributed lag modeling approach is employed to estimate short- and long-run relationships between variables. Long-run results demonstrate foreign GDP as the major determinant of demand for inbound travel to the US and US GDP is a crucial factor affecting demand for outbound travel from the US. These findings support a strong linkage between economic growth and demand for international air travel. The real exchange rate has relatively little impact on the bilateral air travel flows. The US dollar appreciation against foreign currencies is found to reduce demand for inbound travel to the US, while having mixed effects on outbound travel from the US. In the short-run, economic growth tends to be a primary factor influencing international travel flows to and from the US. The 9/11 market shock has a detrimental short- and long-run effect on the bilateral air travel flows, implying that the impact of 9/11 is prolonged in international air travel markets.     

Demystifying residents' walking behaviors: Active transport in South East Queensland,Australia

This study investigates the correlates of a resident's walking behaviors and aims to shed light on mechanisms through which walking may be encouraged. The results of this investigation paint a complex and nuanced picture of the residents’ walking behaviors in South East Queensland, Australia. The results suggest that sociodemographic characteristics separately may contribute greatly to whether or not one engages in walking behaviors. Further, cumulatively these differences might be greater for some groups of residents compared to others. One of the most prominent findings of the study is that the purpose, the characteristics of the origin, and the characteristics of the destination of a trip tended to be similar in the heterogeneity they exhibit over the distribution of time spent walking. For example, pick something up, undertake work, or engage in personal business, move to or from a workplace, shop, or social place are activities that tend to be associated with walking as a main mode of transport and a higher number of walking episodes. However, these trips tended to be short.     

Cycling down under: a comparative analysis of bicycling trends and policies in Sydney and Melbourne

The purpose of this paper is to document and explain differences in cycling between Australia’s two largest cities. Our comparative case study analysis is based on a wide range of statistical datasets, secondary reports, and interviews with a panel of 22 bicycling policy and planning experts. The main finding is that cycling levels in Melbourne are roughly twice as high as in Sydney and have been growing three times as fast in recent years. The difference is due to Melbourne’s more favorable topography, climate, and road network as well as more supportive public policies. In particular, Melbourne has more and better integrated cycling infrastructure as well as more extensive cycling programs, advocacy, and promotional events. Melbourne also benefits from safer cycling than Sydney, which suffers from a lack of traffic-protected cycling facilities and aggressive motorist behavior toward cyclists on the road. While cycling has been increasing in Australia, it remains at very low levels relative to northern Europe, where both land use and transport policies are far more supportive of bicycling while discouraging car use through numerous restrictions and financial disincentives.     

International tourism and economic development in South Africa: a Granger causality test

One of the major objectives of macroeconomic policies in many developing countries is sustained economic growth, and South Africa has been striving to achieve and maintain this in various ways. One of these is through international tourism. Although international tourism contributes to the growth of many economies, it is in turn, impacted by growth in many developed countries. Real gross domestic product (GDP), international tourism earnings, real effective exchange rate and exports were analysed within a multivariate vector auto regressive model using annual data covering 1980–2005. The main focus of this study therefore was to demonstrate the direction of causality between international tourism earnings and long‐run economic growth of South Africa, among other variables, using Granger causality analysis. The result obtained showed a unidirectional causality running from international tourism earnings to real GDP, both in the short run and in the long run. The error correction mechanism carried out also supported this causality. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tourism and transport systems in mountain environments: analysis of the economic efficiency of cableways in South Tyrol

This paper examines the economic efficiency of cableways in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Italy, and relates it to sustainability and tourism issues. Cableways represent an environmental-friendly mode of transport that enables access to remote and environmentally delicate areas. Thus, examining cableways efficiency informs policies that foster regional competitiveness from a sustainable development perspective. Employing annual data from 2002 up to 2008, the pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency are computed using a panel Data Envelopment Analysis. Overall, the empirical findings reveal that this type of transport in the Italian Alps can be regarded as relatively economically inefficient and most of the cableways denote decreasing returns to scale. Nevertheless, some distinctive features are detected amongst cableways classified by district. Policy implications are drawn to help economic agents improve their efficiency scores.     

A wavelet analysis for exploring the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and tourist footfalls in the USA

We attempt to establish the relationship between Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) and international tourist footfalls in the USA. In the first stage, we investigate the influence of country-specific EPU and global EPU on tourist footfalls. Since, these two are overlapping in nature, in the second stage, we study the isolated influence of country-specific EPU on footfalls by eliminating the influence of global EPU and vice versa. We consider a study period spanning over January 1997 to April 2017. To capture the variations in the relationship at different time dimensions, we apply wavelet-based techniques. We observe the following: (a) the impact of policy uncertainty shock has a little immediate impact on tourist footfalls, (b) medium to long-run shocks persist due to occurrence of major undesirable economic events, and (c) the influence of domestic (country-specific) EPU is dominant in comparison to global EPU for the USA.     

Air transport demand and economic growth in Brazil: A time series analysis

We investigate the relationship between air transport demand (passenger-kilometer: PAX) and economic growth (GDP) between 1966 and 2006 in Brazil. Special attention is paid to stationary features and the existence of a long-run equilibrium between variables to work in a vector autoregressive environment. Our findings suggest that GDP and PAX are co-integrated. Impulse-response analysis indicates a strong positive reaction of PAX due to a positive change in GDP. However, GDP reacts to a change in PAX in a slower and moderated way. We interpret these findings as an empirical evidence of air transport multiplier effects in the economy.     

Comparing the contributions of tourism and non-tourism exports to economic growth in Malaysia

An in-depth study using data from 1974 to 2013 is conducted to assess the role of exports in Malaysia's economic growth through the neoclassical growth model. Unlike previous studies, we segregate exports into four major components, namely tourism, electrical and electronic (E&E), palm oil and rubbers. By doing so, we are able to assess the relative contributions of tourism and non-tourism (i.e. E&E, palm oil and rubbers) exports to Malaysia's economic growth. To achieve the objective of this study, we perform the cointegration, Granger causality and the variance decomposition tests. Our findings suggest that only tourism, E&E and palm oil exports significantly influence economic growth in the long-run. Likewise, our Granger causality results also suggest that only tourism, E&E and palm oil exports Granger-cause economic growth. Thus, it supports the tourism-led growth, E&E export-led growth (ELG) and palm oil ELG hypotheses in Malaysia. With reference to the contributions to economic growth, the long-run estimation results and the results of generalized variance decomposition consistently suggest that tourism is relatively more important than the three non-tourism exports, especially in explaining the long-term economic growth of Malaysia.     

The relationship between tourism,foreign direct investment and economic growth: evidence from Iran

Tourism is one of the world's largest industries and an increasingly important source of foreign currency that is used to finance economic growth. The purpose of this study is to examine the long-term and short-term relationships between tourism and economic growth in Iran, by using annual data covering the 1985–2013 period and autoregressive distributed lag and the Error Correction model to examine the relationships between variables. The findings showed that there is a positive relationship between tourism expenditure and economic growth in the long term and short term. The result indicate that there is also positive relationship between the real effective exchange rate (REER), foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth. The Granger causality test shows a bidirectional causality running between tourism expenditure and economic growth.     

Strategic development trend and key factors analysis of Airport City in Taiwan

In the past decade, many airports have shifted from being simple transfer ports to logistical transportation hubs and, more recently, into multi-functional airport cities. The emergence of the airport city provides evidence of advanced transportation development of a country or a region, as it serves as the impetus for national industry and a gateway to economic globalization. This paper explores the development trend of airport cities in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore as a basis for analysis of outcomes in Taiwan. Using grounded theory-based qualitative research, this study analyses and conceptualizes thirty key factors and seven trends for airport-city development via interviews with focus groups and experts. These development trends are verified by a contingency analysis with airport cities development intelligence. In addition, this study conducts an industrial matrix analysis and verb-term coding to propose action items for industrial categories in the case of Taiwan Taoyuan international airport.     

The design of light-handed regulation of airports: Lessons from experience in Australia and New Zealand

The difficulties experienced with traditional forms of economic regulation of airports involving direct control of prices have led to an interest in light-handed regulatory frameworks. Experience with light-handed regulation of airports is primarily confined to Australia and New Zealand. The paper examines the design features of light-handed regulation in Australia and New Zealand in relation to the stated objectives associated with the introduction of light-handed regulation. The paper identifies important aspects associated with the design of light-handed regulation including the incorporation of a credible threat of stronger regulation and the characteristics of this, and an apparent trade-off in objectives achieved with different approaches to light-handed regulation.