IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rrs/journl/v18y2024i1p67-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of digitalization in international tourism inflow to Romania: A spatial gravity model approach

Author

Listed:
  • Irina Denisa Munteanu

    (Faculty of Economic Cybernetics, Statistics and Informatics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania)

  • Zizi Goschin

    (Faculty of Economic Cybernetics, Statistics and Informatics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania)

Abstract

Tourism plays a crucial role in a country's economic development, offering opportunities for growth and alleviating regional disparities. This study focuses on the Romanian tourism sector, acknowledging its potential for development and recent resilience following the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need for a deeper understanding of international tourism inflow to Romania, given its potential contribution to economic growth. To this aim, we employ gravity models, commonly used in international tourism research, but rarely in Romania, especially the spatial ones. It is noteworthy that spatial gravity models consistently outperform classical models in this context. Filling a gap in the literature, the paper introduces a novel approach by incorporating digitization as an additional factor of influence in the spatial gravity model. The results confirm the main hypotheses of the gravity models: the geographical distance, GDP, and population size are indeed significant factors in explaining international tourist flows to Romania. Rather surprisingly, we found a negative impact of internet use by citizens in the countries of origin on tourist inflows to Romania. This suggests inadequate online promotion, indicating an urgent need for increased advertising of Romania's tourist attractions.

Suggested Citation

  • Irina Denisa Munteanu & Zizi Goschin, 2024. "The role of digitalization in international tourism inflow to Romania: A spatial gravity model approach," Romanian Journal of Regional Science, Romanian Regional Science Association, vol. 18(1), pages 67-86, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:rrs:journl:v:18:y:2024:i:1:p:67-86
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rjrs.ase.ro/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/3-Munteanu-Goschin.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Morley, Clive & Rosselló, Jaume & Santana-Gallego, Maria, 2014. "Gravity models for tourism demand: theory and use," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. MATSUURA Toshiyuki & SAITO Hisamitsu, 2021. "Designing a Tourism Stimulus During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan," Discussion papers 21012, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Zhou, Bo & Zhang, Ying & Zhou, Peng, 2021. "Multilateral political effects on outbound tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Rinshu Dwivedi & Jalandhar Pradhan & Ramesh Athe, 2021. "Measuring catastrophe in paying for healthcare: A comparative methodological approach by using National Sample Survey, India," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1887-1915, September.
    4. Shreyas Gadgin Matha & Patricio Goldstein & Jessie Lu, 2020. "Air Transportation and Regional Economic Development: A Case Study for the New Airport in South Albania," CID Working Papers 127a, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    5. Khusen Ibragimov & José Perles-Ribes & Ana Ramón-Rodríguez, 2022. "The impact of governance quality on inbound tourism demand of Central Asia," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(2), pages 1050-1061.
    6. Gu, Xinhua & Wu, Jie & Guo, Haizhen & Li, Guoqiang, 2018. "Local tourism cycle and external business cycle," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 159-170.
    7. María Santana-Gallego & Johan Fourie, 2022. "Tourism falls apart: How insecurity affects African tourism," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(4), pages 995-1008, June.
    8. Vanessa Hellwig, 2023. "Digital gravity? Firm birth and relocation patterns of young digital firms in Germany," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 340-378, March.
    9. Katrin Oesingmann, 2022. "The determinants of air cargo flows and the role of multinational agreements: An empirical comparison with trade and air passenger flows," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(8), pages 2370-2393, August.
    10. Luke Emeka Okafor & Usman Khalid, 2021. "Regaining international tourism attractiveness after an armed conflict: the role of security spending," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 385-402, February.
    11. Llano, Carlos & Pardo, Juan & Pérez-Balsalobre, Santiago & Pérez, Julián, 2023. "Estimating multicountry tourism flows by transport mode," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Tekleselassie, Tsegay Gebrekidan, 2016. "Three essays on the impact of institutions and policies on socio-economic outcomes," Economics PhD Theses 1316, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    13. Elisabetta Ventisette, 2019. "Means of transport of foreign tourists in Italy and the tourism balance of payments," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 25(2), pages 247-267, December.
    14. Jaume Rosselló Nadal & María Santana Gallego, 2022. "Gravity models for tourism demand modeling: Empirical review and outlook," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1358-1409, December.
    15. Martins, Luís Filipe & Gan, Yi & Ferreira-Lopes, Alexandra, 2017. "An empirical analysis of the influence of macroeconomic determinants on World tourism demand," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 248-260.
    16. Martin Enilov & Yuan Wang, 2022. "Tourism and economic growth: Multi-country evidence from mixed-frequency Granger causality tests," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(5), pages 1216-1239, August.
    17. Sylvain Petit & Neelu Seetaram, 2018. "Measuring the Effect of Revealed Cultural Preferences on Tourism Exports," Post-Print hal-02133249, HAL.
    18. Alessio Baldassarre & Danilo Carullo & Paolo Di Caro & Elisa Fusco & Pasquale Giacobbe & Carlo Orecchia, 2023. "Bilateral Regional Trade Flows in Italy: an Origin-Destination-Commodity GWR-SAR approach," Working Papers wp2023-18, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance.
    19. Jong, Meng-Chang & Hong, Puah & Arip, Mohammad Affendy, 2020. "Modelling Tourism Demand: An Augmented Gravity Model," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 54(2), pages 105-112.
    20. Sylvain Petit & Neelu Seetaram, 2019. "Measuring The Effect Of Revealed Cultural Preferences On Measuring The Effect Of Revealed Cultural Preferences On Tourism Exports," Post-Print hal-01924443, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    spatial gravity model; spatial lag and spatial error models; digitalization; tourism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models
    • C40 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - General
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rrs:journl:v:18:y:2024:i:1:p:67-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Bogdan-Vasile Ileanu (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.