The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one of the best performing regions in the world in terms of economic growth. Tourism industry is one of the sources for ASEAN region to realize higher economic growth. Tourism is a significant driver of economic growth and a potential strategic industry for economic growth in all of ASEAN member countries. In other words, tourism is a key economic sector that has implications for societies and cultures in this region.
In this chapter the relationship between tourism industry and economic growth in ASEAN countries is studied. Tourism receipts, export revenues, and foreign direct investment are the variables that were analyzed to determine how effective they are on the GDP of the ASEAN member countries. For that panel data analysis is used. Panel data is the most available method to study on common characteristics of country groups as it was in this case. Logarithmic values of the variables are included in to the analysis. First of all, stationarity of the variables was tested with Levin, Lin, and Chu; Im, Pesaran, and Shin W-stat; ADF-Fisher Chi-square, PP-Fisher Chi-square, and all variables are eliminated from unit root. After that panel data analysis was performed via EViews 8 statistical program. There are some studies used the method in tourism.
The results of the analysis show that there are statistically significant relations between GDP, export, and tourism. But the effect of the foreign direct investment on the GDP is not significant as it was seen in many empirical studies before. The coefficient of the export and the tourism are low maybe because of the economic diversity of the ASEAN countries. This means that the region is available for tourism investments and has potential to invite more tourists. The coefficient of the export and the tourism is low maybe because of the economic diversity of the ASEAN countries as well as the lack of enough investment and the lack effective tourism policies. For example, Singapore is export-oriented country, and the rate of the export on the GDP is so high, and Cambodia is tourism oriented, whereas Myanmar has no effective policies to invigorate the tourism and the export.
Highlights:
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First contribution analyzing ASEAN tourism receipts and its effect on the GDP.
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Panel data model which is the most available method to study on common characteristics of country groups.
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External demand to the economies of ASEAN countries as goods, services, and local assets.
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Tourism receipts and the export revenues seem effective on the GDP.
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Some of ASEAN countries are export oriented, while the others are tourism oriented.
