Essays on Tourism and its Determinants 
         
                          
         
         
                  Thaana Ghalia 
             Department of Economics and Finance 
           College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences 
              Brunel University London, UK 
                      
                      
              A thesis submitted for the degree of 
                Doctor of Philosophy 
                  February 2016 
         
            
            
           Abstract 
           This  thesis  is  based  on  four  essays  dealing  with  tourism  development  and  its 
           determinants.  Chapter  Two  explores  the  different  definitions  of  ‘tourism’  and 
           ‘tourist’, as well as the factors that influence tourism arrivals. We discuss traditional 
           and more recent theories that underlie the study of the tourism industry. The third 
           chapter  examines  the  effect  of  tourism  upon  economic  growth,  investigating  the 
           effects  of  tourism  specialization  within  tourism-exporting  countries  and  non-
           tourism-exporting countries annually over the period 1995–2007, applying panel-
           data methods in cross-sectional growth regressions. This study finds that tourism 
           does not affect economic growth in either underdeveloped or developed countries. 
           Moreover, tourism might cause Dutch Disease in tourism-exporting countries owing 
           to their over-reliance on the exporting of non-traded goods. 
              Chapter  Four  seeks  to  identify  how  institutional  quality  and  aspects  of 
           infrastructure  (internet  access  measured  by  size  of  country  or  per  100  people) 
           influence tourist arrivals in a whole sample of 131 countries and in sub-samples 
           comprising developed and developing countries (as defined by IMF criteria) using 
           static and dynamic panel data. The findings indicate that internet access enhances the 
           tourism industry, and most interestingly, that good governance is one of the most 
           influential factors for improving and developing tourism. 
              Chapter Five diagnoses the determinants of tourism flows using panel-data 
           sets  including  134  originating  countries  and  31  destination  countries  (selected 
           depending on data availability) focusing on ICRG data for the period 2005–2009. 
           The methodology makes use of basic and augmented gravity equations, together 
           with the Hausman-Taylor and Poisson estimation techniques, whilst comparing the 
           performance of the three gravity-equation methods. The results suggest that lower 
           levels  of  political  risk  contribute  to  an  increase  in  tourism  flows.  Furthermore, 
           common language (positively), common currency (negatively) and political factors 
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           (particularly institutional quality) are the most prominent determinants in promoting 
           (or deterring) tourism. Chapter Six gives concluding remarks. 
            
           Acknowledgements  
             I am grateful to many individuals for their care and support given during my 
           the tumultuous task of completing doctoral studies.   
             First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr Jan 
           Fidrmuc, my supervisor, for his enthusiastic encouragement, insightful advice, and 
           invaluable suggestions. This work would not have been possible without him and his 
           tremendous willingness to indulge thought provoking discussions. He has indeed 
           been an inspiration and a driving force during this time. I am also thankful to Prof 
           João Santos Silva, University of Surrey, and Dr. Maria Santana Gallego, University 
           of Balearic Islands, for their kind help and constructive comments that helped me to 
           conduct the fifth essay in my thesis. My deepest appreciation goes to the World 
           Tourism Organization (WTO) for providing the tourists data for the study of gravity 
           model  in  this  thesis.  The  Brunel  University  Student  Centre  has  also  played  a 
           tremendous role during these past few years. As an overseas student at Brunel, I am 
           deeply indebted to the centre's staff espacilly Mr Jose Sanchez for all the help and 
           care they have shown me and many other students. 
               
             I also would like to thank all the members of staff and my peers, Mohammad 
           Tajik,  Saeideh  Aliakbari,Mohamad  Helmi,  Nahla  Samargand,Francis  Atsu  in  the 
           Department of Economics and Finance at Brunel for their support and help during 
           this  journey.  My  grateful  appreciation  extends  to  Damascus  University  for  the 
           financial support they provided me during my doctoral studies. 
               
             It is without a doubt that my family has always been my inspiration and my 
           rock when I mostly needed support. My heartfelt gratitude goes to the most precious 
           people in my life, my parents for their eternal love and moral support whenever I 
           need  it  during  my  doctoral  studies.  The  spirit  of  my  brother  Mohamed,  who 
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           sacrificed his life defending our country, has always shadowed and looked over me 
           as I completed my journey. To him I say, thank you, I love you, and I hope you are 
           proud of me today. When times were tough, and the PhD cold, my sisters, brothers, 
           sisters and brothers in law were my destination for a quick call at the crazy hours of 
           the night, or to talk to as I had a meal. Thank you for always showing me love, 
           support and encouragement.  I also want to thank my dear friends Maher Alliwa, 
           Kinana  Jammoul,  Osama  Alraheb,  Rami  Younes  ,Hayan  Omran  and  Naima  Al-
           Naami  for their help and support all the time. Last but not least, I would like to 
           express my deepest gratitude to my relative Hind Ali who was there for me all the 
           time. Indeed, no words can express my gratefulness and gratitude to her.  
               
           Thank you all from the bottom of my heart 
              
           Thaana Ghalia         
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