“…Moving to the local characteristics of the tourism industry and factors related to tourism and environmental sustainability, Table 2 shows that, as expected, air movements are far more critical for islands. The transportation system, including the frequency of air connections (Mazzola et al, 2022), has a crucial role in fostering the development of islands (see also Pratt, 2015, on the effects for SIDS). In contrast, our proxy of overall tourism demand appears to be significantly associated only with the economic growth of mainland regions.…”