Relationship between ICT and international tourism demand: A study of major tourist destinations

In this article, we study the effect of ICT on tourism demand in nine major tourist destinations based on visitor arrivals. Mobile and broadband subscriptions are used to proxy for ICT. Additionally, we account for price, source country’s income, and the destination’s income. Balanced panels for the period 1995–2017 and 2002–2017 are used for mobile and broadband subscriptions, respectively. The pooled mean group approach is used for estimation. The results indicate a 1% increase in mobile subscriptions and broadband would increase international visitor arrivals by 0.04% and 0.11%, respectively. The elasticity coefficients of price and income are −0.71 and 1.58, respectively, based on the mobile subscription model, and −0.88 and 1.83, respectively, based on broadband subscription. The destination’s income has only a short-run positive association with tourism demand. The causality results indicate that ICT cause tourism demand, and support for technology-led growth hypothesis in the major tourist destinations.