Inbound International Tourism to the United States: A Panel Data Analysis

International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 15-27 (2012)

14 Pages Posted: 28 Jan 2013

See all articles by E. M. Ekanayake

E. M. Ekanayake

Bethune-Cookman University

Mihalis Halkides

Bethune-Cookman University

John R. Ledgerwood

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the demand for tourist arrivals to the United States, using the panel cointegration technique. The study attempts to identify and measure the impact of the main determinants of inbound international tourism flows to the United States. The study uses annual data from 1986 to 2011 for tourist arrivals from 50 major countries of tourist origin. The specified model includes several country-specific determinants. The panel unit root tests indicate all the variables are integrated of order one. The panel cointegration tests show that all seven test statistics reject the null hypothesis of no cointegration at the 1% significance level, indicating that the five variables are cointegrated. The results suggest that tourism demand to the United States must be considered as a luxury good and is highly dependent on the evolution of relative prices and cost of travel between origin and destination country. The results also show that tourism demand is elastic with respect to income but inelastic with respect to tourism price, real exchange rate, and travel costs.

Keywords: Tourism demand, Panel data, Panel cointegration, United States

JEL Classification: L83, O51

Suggested Citation

Ekanayake, E. M. and Halkides, Mihalis and Ledgerwood, John R., Inbound International Tourism to the United States: A Panel Data Analysis (2012). International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 15-27 (2012), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2162573

E. M. Ekanayake (Contact Author)

Bethune-Cookman University ( email )

Mihalis Halkides

Bethune-Cookman University ( email )

John R. Ledgerwood

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ( email )

600 South Clyde Morris Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
United States

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