International tourism and economic growth in Africa: A post-global financial crisis analysis

Abstract

Unlike the extant literature, this study revisited the tourism-growth relationship in Africa and accounted for the moderating effects of climatic factors, infrastructural development and political risk on this relationship. The study used the system GMM technique, the panel Granger causality framework, and annual panel data of 41 African countries from 2009 to 2018. Contrary to the tourism-led growth hypothesis, we find that the role of tourism as a driver of economic growth in Africa is predominantly negligible, which in turn suggests that Africa is yet to exploit its tourism potentials to drive growth during the post-Global Financial Crisis period. The study concludes that there is need for African leaders to coordinate policy efforts towards harnessing the tourism potentials on the continent in order to diversify their economies, counter instability in global commodity markets, drive sustainable growth, and fight the twin evils of poverty and unemployment.