IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uza/wpaper/28930.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Tourism development and poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan African countries: An empirical investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Odhiambo, Nicholas M

Abstract

In this study, the impact of tourism development on poverty alleviation is examined using panel data from 32 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries during the period 2005-2014. Two indicators of tourism development are used, namely tourist arrivals and tourism revenue. In addition, four control variables have been used, namely economic growth, trade, the rule of law, and income inequality (measured by the Gini coefficient, the Atkinson index and the Palma ratio), thereby leading to three separate specifications for each tourism development proxy. Using the generalized method of moments (GMM) regression analysis, the study found that the impact of tourism development on poverty alleviation is not unanimous. When the number of tourist arrivals is used as a proxy, the results show that an increase in tourism development consistently leads to an increase in household welfare; hence, a decrease in poverty, irrespective of the specification used. However, when tourism revenue is used as a proxy, no significant impact of tourism development on household welfare is found to exist, irrespective of the model specification used. The results also show that income inequality has a clear negative impact on household welfare in SSA countries, while economic growth and the rule of law have a distinct positive effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2021. "Tourism development and poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan African countries: An empirical investigation," Working Papers 28930, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:uza:wpaper:28930
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/28930/Tourism%20development%20and%20poverty%20alleviation%20in%20Sub-Saharan%20African%20countries%20An%20empirical%20investigation.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2016. "The Mobile Phone in the Diffusion of Knowledge for Institutional Quality in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 133-147.
    2. Robertico Croes, 2014. "The Role of Tourism in Poverty Reduction: An Empirical Assessment," Tourism Economics, , vol. 20(2), pages 207-226, April.
    3. Asongu, Simplice A. & Orim, Stella-Maris I. & Nting, Rexon T., 2019. "Inequality, information technology and inclusive education in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 380-389.
    4. David Roodman, 2009. "A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(1), pages 135-158, February.
    5. Simplice A Asongu & Lieven De Moor, 2017. "Financial Globalisation Dynamic Thresholds for Financial Development: Evidence from Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(1), pages 192-212, January.
    6. Simplice Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Tourism and social media in the world: an empirical investigation," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(7), pages 1319-1331, November.
    7. Jorge Garza-Rodriguez, 2019. "Tourism and Poverty Reduction in Mexico: An ARDL Cointegration Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-10, February.
    8. Pablo Ponce & Nathalie Aguirre-Padilla & Cristiana Oliveira & José Álvarez-García & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2020. "The Spatial Externalities of Tourism Activities in Poverty Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-17, July.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "The sustainability of tourism: global comparative evidence," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/094, African Governance and Development Institute..
    10. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Trade and FDI Thresholds of CO2 emissions for a Green Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 20/072, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    11. Melville Saayman & Riaan Rossouw & Waldo Krugell, 2012. "The impact of tourism on poverty in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 462-487, September.
    12. Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2019. "The Role of Information Sharing in Modulating the Effect of Financial Access on Inequality," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 317-338, July.
    13. Irina Klytchnikova & Paul Dorosh, 2013. "Tourism sector in Panama: Regional economic impacts and the potential to benefit the poor," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 0(2), pages 70-79, May.
    14. Ravallion, M., 1992. "Poverty Comparisons - A Guide to Concepts and Methods," Papers 88, World Bank - Living Standards Measurement.
    15. Odhiambo, Nicholas M & Nyasha, Sheilla, 2020. "Is tourism a spur to economic growth in South Africa: An empirical investigation," Working Papers 26731, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    16. Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2010. "Is financial development a spur to poverty reduction? Kenya's experience," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(3), pages 343-353, August.
    17. Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2011. "Growth, Employment and Poverty in South Africa: In Search of a Trickle-Down Effect," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 20(1), pages 49-62, March.
    18. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    19. Delfin Go & Denis Nikitin & Xiongjian Wang & Heng-fu Zou, 2007. "Poverty and Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Literature Survey and Empirical Assessment," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 8(2), pages 251-304, November.
    20. Ingrid Woolard & Murray Leibbrandt, 1999. "Measuring Poverty in South Africa," Working Papers 99033, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    21. Love, Inessa & Zicchino, Lea, 2006. "Financial development and dynamic investment behavior: Evidence from panel VAR," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 190-210, May.
    22. Irina Klytchnikova & Paul Dorosh, 2013. "Tourism sector in Panama: Regional economic impacts and the potential to benefit the poor," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(2), pages 70-79, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2022. "Tourism, ICT and inclusive development: global evidence," Working Papers 22/037, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    2. Shu Guo & Xiaoying Li & Ning Cao & Ying Wang, 2023. "The Impact of Rural Tourism on the Poverty Vulnerability of Aging Rural Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, April.

    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. Nicholas M. Odhiambo, "undated". "Tourism Development And Poverty Alleviation In Sub-Saharan African Countries: An Empirical Investigation," Working Papers AESRI09, African Economic and Social Research Institute (AESRI).
    2. Nicholas M Odhiambo, 2021. "Tourism Development and Poverty Alleviation in Sub-Saharan African Countries: An Empirical Investigation," Working Papers AERI0921, African Economic and Social Research Institute (AESRI).
    3. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nnanna, Joseph & Acha-Anyi, Paul N., 2020. "Finance, inequality and inclusive education in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 162-177.
    4. Kazeem B. Ajide & Olorunfemi Y. Alimi & Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "Ethnic Diversity and Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Do Institutions Reduce the Noise?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 1033-1062, October.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Insurance Policy Thresholds for Economic Growth in Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 672-689, July.
    6. Simplice Asongu & Joseph Nnanna & Paul Acha-Anyi, 2019. "Information technology, governance and insurance in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(8), pages 1253-1273, September.
    7. Simplice A. Asongu & Rexon T. Nting & Evans S. Osabuohien, 2019. "One Bad Turn Deserves Another: How Terrorism Sustains the Addiction to Capital Flight in Africa," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 501-535, September.
    8. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nnanna, Joseph & Acha-Anyi, Paul N., 2020. "Inequality and gender economic inclusion: The moderating role of financial access in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 173-185.
    9. Asongu, Simplice, 2019. "Natural Resource Exports, Foreign Aid and Terrorism," International Journal of Development and Conflict, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 74-94.
    10. Efobi, Uchenna & Asongu, Simplice & Okafor, Chinelo & Tchamyou, Vanessa & Tanankem, Belmondo, 2019. "Remittances, finance and industrialisation in Africa," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 54-66.
    11. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2020. "Inequality and gender inclusion: Minimum ICT policy thresholds for promoting female employment in Sub-Saharan Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4).
    12. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Governance, capital flight and industrialisation in Africa," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, December.
    13. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Insurance and Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policy Thresholds," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 20/005, African Governance and Development Institute..
    14. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Finance, governance and inclusive education in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(8), pages 1044-1061, July.
    15. Asongu, Simplice & Odhiambo, Nicholas, 2019. "Foreign Aid Complementarities and Inclusive Human Development in Africa," MPRA Paper 101086, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2022. "Information technology, income inequality and economic growth in sub-Saharan African countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(6).
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo‐Obasi, 2020. "Drivers and Persistence of Death in Conflicts: Global Evidence," World Affairs, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 183(4), pages 389-429, December.
    18. Tchamyou, Vanessa S. & Erreygers, Guido & Cassimon, Danny, 2019. "Inequality, ICT and financial access in Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 169-184.
    19. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2018. "Increasing Foreign Aid for Inclusive Human Development in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 443-466, July.
    20. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Nnanna, 2019. "Dynamic Determinants of Access to Weapons: Global Evidence," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 54(4), pages 334-354, November.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:uza:wpaper:28930. 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: Shaun Donovan (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deusaza.html .

    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.