TOURISM LED GROWTH HYPOTHESIS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM FIVE SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

The study analyzes the impact of tourism, gross capita formation and energy consumption on gross domestic product for the selected South Asian countries over the time period 1995 to 2016.  For empirical estimation the study applied FMOLS and we have observed from the empirical results that tourism is positively associated with gross domestic product in the selected countries. Thus, the study is supporting the idea of tourism led growth hypothesis in the selected countries. Other results indicate that energy consumption is also positively associated with gross domestic product whereas gross capital formation is also positively influencing gross domestic product (GDP). The study drew few important insights for policy makers to formulate suitable policies to boost up GDP growth rate in the selected countries.