International tourism and economic development-a panel data analysis of top 10 tourist visited countries

Abstract

International tourism has been playing a key role in driving economic development for countries across the world. In fact, top 10 tourist visited countries have been gaining significant amount of tourism revenue, but also a large number of international tourists since two decades ago. As a result, this research analyzes relationships between international tourism and economic development of top 10 tourist visited countries. In so doing, the researchers adopted a quantitative research method, namely, panel-data multiple regression analysis to help analyze relationships among variables and test hypotheses. Key research findings confirmed that both international tourist receipts and outbound tourist expenditures have significant relationships with both GDP and GDP per Capita. Implications for future research and enhancing competitiveness of tourism industry are addressed.