Tourism Specialization, Absorptive Capacity, and Economic Growth

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Author
De Vita, Glauco
Kyaw, Sandy
Date
2017-04-01Acceptance date
2016-02-01
Type
Article
Publisher
SAGE
ISSN
0047-2875
1552-6763 (online)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
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.
Journal/conference proceeding
Journal of Travel Research;
Citation
De Vita, G. and Kyaw, K.S. (2017) 'Tourism specialization, absorptive capacity, and economic growth', Journal of Travel Research, 56(4), pp.423-435
Description
Article published in Journal of Travel Research available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287516650042
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