Abstract
Foreign direct investment (FDI) and tourism are listed as essential components of economic growth in many countries. However, empirical evidence remains controversial and ambiguous. This paper investigates the long-run effects of international tourism and FDI inflows on the rate of economic growth in Spain as an economy with a great GDP share of tourism and FDI. By employing a non-linear ARDL analysis, this study suggests that although international tourism development improves the economic growth rate, it might be wishful thinking to improve this rate by increasing the current rate of FDI in this country if the quality of FDI and its rate of return is as low as in the past. The reasons and solutions are explored in detail, and policy implications are provided.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).