Information technology and outbound tourism: A cross-country analysis

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive investigation of the global tourism industry, combining two critical streams from the academic literature: the economic determinants of the tourism industry and the influence of technology on this industry. More precisely, this study examines the influences of technology advancement (Internet and mobile usage) on the outbound tourism (OT) in a global sample. We found interesting and consistent results by applying various panel data estimations for a sample of 126 economies composed by 3 subsamples, including (49 Low and Lower-Middle Income Economies [LMEs], 29 Upper-Middle Income Economies [UMEs] and 48 High-Income Economies [HIEs]) between 2000 and 2017. Internet use has a significant positive impact on all the three aspects of OT, including total OT expenditures, international tourism expenditures for travel items and the number of international tourism departures. The effects of Internet usage are stronger than the one observed for mobile usage. Finally, the positive influences of Internet and mobile usage are found with strong consistency across the three income groups (with a stronger marginal impact in HIEs and UMEs, and lastly in LMEs). Our study invites policy-makers to integrate digital information within the tourism sector to boost the industry and economic growth.