Determinants of Tourism and Its Potential for Economic Development

Like in several sectors of consumer demand, attitudes, believes, and the political environment may also influence the worldwide demand for tourism. Consequentially, this book concentrates on a wider range of determinants including non-economical (geographical and socio-cultural) factors of tourism demand and supply at a worldwide scale. The second intent is to analyze whether and how (sustainable) tourism can be a trigger for economic development. The results show that tourism is able to enhance economic growth in countries which are specialized in this industry. As an increasing willingness to pay for outbound tourism goes hand in hand with an increasing per capita income in the world, it is evidenced that tourism is a superior good. However, cultural openness of a society is an important precondition from the country of origins' point of view. Regarding the tourism exporting countries (countries of destination), the most interesting outcome is that biodiversity as a proxy for "nice nature" is an important supply factor of the economy. Together with the tourism's potential to enhance economic growth, this reflects the value biodiversity can play for economic development.