The globalization indicators and tourism development: a dynamic panel-data analysis for Mediterranean countries

Abstract

Purpose- This study investigates how economic, social and political globalization indicators influence tourism development from 1995 to 2018 in the context of eight Mediterranean countries economies. Methodology- A group of econometric tests; regressions with ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects (FE), random effects (RE), dynamic OLS, fully modified OLS, and at the end, the GMM approaches have been estimated from panel data of this study to achieve accurate and unbiased results. Findings- Globalization factors categorized EG (economic globalisation), SG (social globalization) and PG (political globalization) exert positively significant and positive effects on tourism development in the selected countries’ tourism growth. An improvement in any one of these globalization factors would mean higher tourism growth in the countries. Conclusion- The results indicate that economic, social, and political globalization are significant factors for tourism development. Thus, this study proves that economic, social, and political integration of countries are significant driving forces behind their tourism development. Empirical findings propose that tourism sector significantly encourages economic growth. Also, the globalisation has a long-term relationship with tourism development.