The Validity of the Tourism-induced EKC Hypothesis: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

This paper examines the existence of relationship between international tourist arrivals (TA), and Carbon dioxide emissions per capita (CO2) in Turkey over the period . We also use energy use per capita (EU) and GDP per capita (GDP) as a control variables. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test approach was applied to analyze the long-run relationship among the variables. The results confirmed the validity of the tourism-induced Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. An increased tourism demand increases environmental pollution up to a point where the sector attains a certain development level, after which emissions begin to fall. On the other hand, the results indicate that the EKC hypothesis between income and CO2 emissions has not been confirmed. Energy usage has positive and significant effects on carbon dioxide emissions as expected. For sustainable tourism and to the reduction of emissions in Turkey, environmental protection and the use of renewable energy should be supported by policy makers. ÖZET Bu makale, 1960-2015 döneminde Türkiye'de uluslararası turist varışları (TA) ile kişi başına düşen Karbondioksit emisyonları (CO2) arasındaki ilişkinin varlığını incelemektedir. Ayrıca, kontrol değişkenleri olarak kişi başına düşen enerji kullanımını (AB) ve kişi başına düşen GSYİH'yı (GSYİH) kullanıyoruz.Değişkenler arasındaki uzun dönemli ilişkiyi analiz etmek için otoregresif dağıtılmış gecikme (ARDL) sınırları testi yaklaşımı uygulandı. Sonuçlar, turizm kaynaklı Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisi (EKC) hipotezinin geçerliliğini doğruladı. Artan turizm talebi, çevre kirliliğini sektörün belirli bir gelişme düzeyine ulaştığı noktaya kadar artırmakta ve ardından emisyonlar düşmeye başlamaktadır. Öte yandan, sonuçlar, gelir ve CO2 emisyonları arasındaki EKC hipotezinin doğrulanmadığını göstermektedir. Enerji kullanımının karbondioksit emisyonları üzerinde beklendiği gibi olumlu ve önemli etkileri bulunmaktadır. Türkiye'de sürdürülebilir turizm ve emisyonların azaltılması için çevrenin korunması ve yenilenebilir enerji kullanımı politika yapıcılar tarafından desteklenmelidir.

Longitudinal Analysis of Sustainable Tourism Potential of the Black Sea Riparian States Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey

“…All of this has strengthened the importance of sustainability in tourism more than in other sectors, and Turkey is concerned with developing sustainable tourism [ 77 ]. Turkey focuses on climate change [ 81 ] and is interested in environmental protection and the use of renewable energy [ 43 ]. In the Black Sea region, Turkey intends to focus on the development of rural tourism [ 82 ] and ecotourism, and also on strategic initiatives for sustainable tourism, that is, planning, managing and monitoring the tourism sector through long-term sustainable approaches [ 83 ].…”

“…This only happens in regions with an educated population because the educational advantage increases the opportunity to attract tourists [ 42 ]. Kilavuz et al (2021) [ 43 ] examined the relationship between international tourist arrivals and carbon dioxide emissions per capita in Turkey over the period 1960–2015. As tourism demand increases, so does pollution, until the tourism sector reaches a certain level of development and the amount of greenhouse emissions begins to decrease.…”

The impact of tourism on carbon (CO2) Emissions: An empirical analysis of Turkiye

“…The result showed that international visitors have a positive impact on CO2 emissions. Kılavuz et al (2021Kılavuz et al ( ) 1960Kılavuz et al ( -2015 Turkey ARDL Test…”

“…Studies on the relationship between tourism and CO2 emissions in the literature generally explain the issue through various variables such as tourism, energy, economic growth, environment (Lee and Brahmasrene, 2013;Katircioglu et al, 2014;Dogan et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2019;Zhang, 2021 Rahman et al, 2022;Katircioglu and Katircioglu, 2022;Duran and Bozkaya, 2022), as well as renewable energy and foreign trade (Jebli, 2019;Salahodjaev, 2022). Meanwhile, some studies examine the relevant topic, considering the potential connections between socio-economic factors such as tourism and the environment, in a notably Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework (Katircioğlu, 2014;De Vita et al, 2015;Zaman et al, 2016;Kılavuz et al, 2021). In specific studies related to the topic in the literature, emphasis is placed on tourism revenue and visitor numbers (Al-Mulali et al, 2015;Sharif et al, 2017;Eyuboglu and Uzar, 2019;Koçak et al, 2020;Le and Nguyen, 2020).…”