European outbound tourism expansion on the islands of Cape Verde

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to shed light on the determinants of international tourism demand expansion in Cape Verde. The research involves cointegration analysis to test the existence of a long-term equilibrium relationship between the variables included in tourism demand using the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach. The results showed high income elasticity and price inelastic demand. Moreover, turmoil in traditional tourist destinations in non-European Mediterranean basin countries, coupled with the investments of tour operators and hotel groups who are key players in the European source markets, significantly and positively affected international tourism demand. Supply side changes associated with foreign investment were necessary to increase the number of tourists. Finally, lower level of income in European countries following the financial crisis of 2008 might have favored the shift of European tourists from more expensive destinations to Cape Verde. The concentration of tourism, economic growth, jobs creation, and population growth on two islands may have affected island communities, resources, and other aspects of inter- and intraisland relationships.