A Comparative Analysis of the Causal Relationship between the Tourism Industry and Economic Growth in South Asia

Business and Management

Poverty is one of the significant issues faced by most countries in Asia despite the very few numbers of countries that have attained significant economic growth. 47% of the world's poorest people whose per day income is less than a dollar lives in South Asia. South Asian Countries could make it advantageous as they are closely located geographically, and their culture is also shared. Furthermore, they possess ample religious resources that could attract tourists. Therefore, these countries could use the common physical and economic infrastructure, which is capable of generating productive employment and reducing poverty through tourism. Thus, this research contributes to the identification of the tourism determinants which influence the economic growth in the context of South Asia. To achieve this research's goals, the data were collected from eight South Asian countries, and the years selected from 2008 to 2017 to observe variation in the time series. Descriptive analysis and causality relationship were analyzed using EViews software to explore the results of this study. This research revealed that among the factors of number of tourist arrivals, expenditure for passenger transport items, tourist receipts, receipts from travel items and tourism expenditures, there is no sufficient evidence to suggest that growth in these factors cause economic growth for the selected South Asian Countries. This research delivers outcomes that could be valued to the South Asian region to promote tourism and establish a sustainable tourist market with the regional integration towards economic growth.

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