Tourism and Economic Growth in MENA Countries

Abstract

The present paper aims to analyze the causal relationship between tourism and economic growth in MENA countries. The study uses panel data for the period 1997 and 2019 and uses a panel-Granger causality analysis developed by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) to assess the contribution of tourism makes to economic growth. The model uses GDP per capita as the dependent variable and tourist arrivals and tourism receipts as independent variables. The results show that there is no causal relationship between tourism and growth in the MENA group. They indicate also that this relationship depends on the country