Tourism and Empirical Applications of International Trade Theory: A Multi-Country Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the application of quantitative techniques to further our understanding of international trade theory with respect to tourism flows. The analyses are based on the construction of Balassa and Grubel-Lloyd Indices, as well as the construction of dynamic indices. The results of the analyses suggest that international trade theory has much to offer the study of international tourism flows. Many countries seem to specialize as both exporters and importers of tourism services. The analyses also explore the theoretical assertion that intra-industry trade is likely to be of importance in understanding international tourism flows.

Tourism Invisible Part of Exports: The Analysis of Slovenia and Montenegro on the Chinese Outbound Tourism

“…Further, it have been confirmed that intra-industry trade (IIT) had an important role in international tourism as the main pattern of international exchange in tourism services but 'largely independent of the level of development' [25].…”

“…Discussing the tourism and empirical applications of international trade theory by a multicountry analysis, Webster et al [25] found that many countries specialize in inbound and outbound tourism flows which had common basics with international trade theory as authors noted in 'international differences in technology and factor endowments' [25]. Further, it have been confirmed that intra-industry trade (IIT) had an important role in international tourism as the main pattern of international exchange in tourism services but 'largely independent of the level of development' [25].…”

Tourism openness, trade openness, and currency‐purchasing power in Brazil: A causality analysis

“…Various aspects of the association between international tourism and international trade have been studied. For this paper, the two most salient are, first, tourism flows discussed by way of the theory of foreign trade (Webster, Fletcher, Hardwick, & Morakabati, ); and second, the relation between tourism and foreign trade (Chaisumpunsakul & Pholphirul, ; Leitão, ; Santana‐Gallego, Ledesma‐Rodríguez, & Pérez‐Rodríguez, ). This paper focusses on the second aspect.…”

Intra-Tourism Trade in Europe

“…Given the importance of tourism in international trade, there has been much empirical research over the last decade devoted to the study of international flows of tourism services and tourism specialization (Peterson, 1988;Sahli, 1999Sahli, , 2006Algieri, 2006;Jensen and Zhang, 2006;Webster et al, 2007;Du Toit et al, 2010;Petit, 2010). These studies agree on the existence of a pattern of international specialization in tourism, with some countries specialized as exporters of tourism services and others as importers of tourism services.…”

“…Moshirian et al (2005) and Webster and Hardwick (2005) studied intra-industry trade in financial services for some Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. In their study of the relevance of international trade theory for tourism, Webster et al (2007) undertake an empirical evaluation of IIT for international tourism services for a sample of 44 countries using data from the United Nations' World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). However, they used multilateral data, that is, for any given country, the different partners it had were grouped together before IIT indices calculations were conducted.…”