Journal of Tourism and Development

Journal of Tourism and Development

Simultaneous Effect of Economic Variables on Income and Number of Tourists in Selected Islamic Countries

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Soheila Kaghazian 1
Yazdan Naghdi 2
Farshid Efati baran 3
1 Assistant Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 Assistant Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
3 PhD of Economics, Firuzkooh, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/jtd.2023.405523.2793
Abstract
In recent years, the tourism industry, especially Islamic tourism, has received attention in many countries. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the simultaneous effect of economic variables on the income and number of tourists in 10 Muslim countries with the highest Islamic Tourism Index (GMTI: Global Muslim Travel Index:) during the years 2020-2015. For this purpose, the variables of the number of doctors, the number of places to stay, the quality of airlines, the Muslim tourism index, the global inflation, the political stability index and the exchange rate of countries have been used. The equation estimation method is apparently unrelated regression in panel data (Panel-SURE).
The results of the estimation of the model indicate that the increase in the exchange rate, the increase in the number of doctors and the increase in the political stability of the countries have a positive and significant effect on the income from tourists and the number of tourists in Islamic countries. In addition, the findings of this study show that the quality of airlines and the number of accommodation places have a positive and significant effect on the Muslim tourism index.
It is interesting that among the variables affecting the number of tourists and income from tourists entering Islamic countries, the variable of the number of doctors or the existence of better health services had the greatest impact on the number of tourists to these countries
Keywords
Muslim tourism index
income from tourists
number of tourists
seemingly unrelated regression in panel data (Panel-SURE). JEL Classification: Z32
C23
E60
 
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