The impact of air quality on international tourism arrivals: a global panel data analysis

Using data from World Development Indicators (WDI), this research constructs panel data of 99 countries from 1996 to 2018 and employs a spatial econometric model to analyze the impact of air quality on international tourism arrivals. Evidence shows that Moran’s I values are significantly positive, indicating a strong positive spatial dependence in each country and that poor air quality does have a negative impact on the number of tourist arrivals. The results of grouped data illustrate that middle-income countries, low-income countries, high concentrations of PM(2.5), and countries with less numbers of tourists have negative effects on tourist arrivals in neighboring countries. The contrary groups, however, have positive effects on tourist arrivals – that is, the influence of air quality on the number of tourist arrivals exhibits heterogeneity. In addition, tests of the interaction term show that countries with higher R&D intensity have better air quality and thus attract more tourists. Therefore, countries with poor air quality should improve the environment through international cooperation and undertake technology transfer, thus ultimately increasing the number of tourists.