Document Type : case study
Authors
1
Assistant Professor in Tourism Economic Department, Institute of Tourism Research at ACECR (Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research), Mashhad, Iran
2
Researcher of Tourism Economic Department, Institute of Tourism Research at ACECR (Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research), Mashhad, Iran
Abstract
In recent decades, tourism has become one of the most growing industrial sectors in the world. Countries need to have a suitable investment climate. It is characterized by a set of factors related to legislation, regulatory, organizational, economic, social, political, and other factors that determine the conditions of investment activity in a country, province, or city. This study examines the impact of investment climate on tourism revenue in selected Middle East countries. Numerous factors can affect the investment climate. In this study, numerous factors such as corruption control, rule of law, quality of regulations, government efficiency, the right to comment and accountability, political stability, and the general index of the business environment were considered. The share of tourism revenues in GDP is also considered as an indicator of tourism revenues. Data analysis was done using the panel-data method in the period 2016-2006 for 13 selected countries of the Middle East. The results showed that the quality of regulations and the effectiveness of government have a positive and significant effect on the share of tourism revenues from GDP and control of corruption, business climate index have a negative and significant effect on the share of tourism revenues from GDP in selected Middle East countries. With respect to results, it can be said that improvement to the investment climate is one of the important factors that should be considered in the field of tourism. In the other words, if there is a suitable investment climate in a country, the tourism sector and related sub-sectors such as transportation and hotel management will develop. Finally, suitable investment climate can increase the share of tourism revenues in GDP. If the indicators of good governance (such as political stability, quality of regulation, control of corruption, the right to comment and respond, the effectiveness of government, and the rule of law) improve, the investment climate and, consequently, tourism revenues will improve.
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