The threshold effect of tourism, growth, and population interactions on environmental pollution in Mediterranean countries

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the effects of tourism activities on carbon emissions in the Mediterranean countries where the world's intense tourism activities are carried out. The analysis period covers the period 1995‐2018. In the study, panel threshold regression method was used to reveal nonlinear effects. Thus, it is tried to analyze the regime-dependent effects of tourism activities on carbon emissions.According to the results obtained, it has been seen that there is no effect on carbon emissions when tourism revenues are considered alone. On the other hand, when tourism revenues are considered together with the interaction variable, it is seen that the increase in tourism revenues increases carbon emissions in both regimes, and the interaction variable decreases carbon emissions only in the second regime. The increased number of tourists, taken alone, reduces carbon emissions. On the other hand, when the number of tourists is considered together with the interaction variable, it is seen that the increase in the number of tourists increases the carbon emission in the second regime and the interaction variable decreases the carbon emission only in the second regime.