Are per capita international tourist arrivals converging?

This paper measures whether per capita tourist arrivals have converged across 149 countries over the period 1995–2014. We find that the distribution of per capita arrival has tightened over time, i.e., there was σ-convergence in tourism. Countries at the lower tail of the per capita international tourist arrival distribution have improved their relative position. Tests of absolute (conditional) β-convergence indicate that the average country's tourism catches up (approaches its steady-state) at a speed of 1.25% (10.56%) a year, supporting the tourism destinations convergence hypothesis. These findings are helpful for tourism enterprises when making multinational location decisions. For policymakers, convergence in per capita arrivals is informative as to the direction of structural transformation.