Tourism and GDP: A Meta-analysis of Panel Data Studies

Abstract

This article provides a meta-analysis of a selected sample of 87 estimates from studies based on panel data techniques published through until 2012. The purpose is to obtain a summary measure of the effects of tourism on economic growth by applying models for both fixed and random effects. The results show a positive elasticity between GDP and tourism, although the magnitude of the effect varies according to the methodological procedure employed in the original studies for empirical estimates. In this sense, when estimates exclude other explanatory variables of economic growth, elasticities are overvalued.