Economic policy, tourism trade and productive diversification

Over the past two decades, tourism exports have been a major driver of economic growth in many emerging and developing countries. Yet, increased tourism revenues do not automatically translate into structural transformation and broad-based economic development. Drawing on cross-sectional data, this paper gauges the extent to which tourism has contributed to economic diversification in a large sample of developing countries. An econometric model is used to assess the relative importance of a country's natural endowments, level of development, institutional maturity, business environment, and trade regulations in explaining cross-country differences in linkages between tourism and the general economy. The central findings contain encouraging lessons for developing countries: domains that are more amenable to policy interventions in the short term, such as the business environment or trade regulations, matter most in fostering productive linkages between tourism and the general economy. In contrast, fixed factors, such as land availability, or longer-terms goals, such as advances in the level of development, have less influence.