Policies to increase business tourism income: A dynamic panel data model

ABSTRACT

This article aims to identify the determinants that influence business tourism income and that may be controlled by economic agents and policy makers of destination countries. For the development of the empirical study, a dynamic panel model by the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) was estimated using the Gretl 2016a software, and a sample of 122 countries for the period 2002–2013 (12 years) was used. The study reveals that, for the development of policies to stimulate the growth in the short and long-term of business tourism income, countries should develop measures that encourage capital investment in tourism and foreign direct investment.

KEYWORDS:

• Business tourism
• convention tourism
• meeting tourism
• planning policy

Notes

1 Available at http://www.wttc.org/datagateway/.

2 The degree of hospitality of the community in general can be understood, according to King (1995), as the interpersonal relationship and service delivery skills held by residents, namely courtesy, cordiality and tact in relationships, which can be seen as skills acquired by the population. For Cukier (2002), the existence of a higher or lower level of competences of the population in the field of tourism is associated with the level of investment of countries in formal education (general and specific, in the areas of tourism and entrepreneurship).

3 Several authors consider that there is a high approximation between the basket purchase acquired by international tourists and the basket purchase acquired by families (Crouch, 1992; Kulendran & Witt, 2003).

4 Available at http://data.worldbank.org/indicator

5 Accessibility associated with transport infrastructures and public transport services.

6 Available at http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.asp

7 According to WTTC (2015), the capital investment account allows to measure the investment made by all sectors of the economic activity in the tourism industry, namely investment in accommodation, transport equipment and cultural, sports and entertainment equipment.

8 As reported by Mochón (1993), the GDP deflator is the closest to the concept of general price index.

9 In the operationalization of the Safety category, aspects related to natural hazards should be excluded, for example, earthquakes, tsunamis or hurricanes.

10 For Kaufmann, Kraay, and Mastruzzi (2010), the regulatory quality is a variable that captures the (quality) perception of government policies and regulations that promote private sector development and, in turn, determine economic, commercial, and urban regeneration.

11 Available at http://www.wttc.org/datagateway/

12 As claimed by Keith (2007), in international trade, there are commercial transactions (exports and imports of products and services) and financial transactions (namely income obtained in foreign countries and foreign investment). According to the author, in foreign direct investment, the investor seeks to take an active role in managing the business and maintaining long-term relationships and, therefore, participates in international meetings.