Visa Waivers, Multilateral Resistance and International Tourism: Some Evidence from Israel

Konferenzbeitrag

This paper tests the visa-led tourism hypothesis (VTH) which contends that easing of visa restrictions increases international tourism. Israel acts as a natural laboratory in this case with clear before and after junctures in visa restrictions. We use panel data on tourism to Israel from 60 countries during 1994-2012. In contrast to previous work we take account of non-stationarity in the data and test for the effect of multilateral resistance on tourism. Partial waivers of visa restrictions are estimated to increase tourism by 48 percent and complete waivers increase tourism by 118 percent. Other results include the adverse effect of Israel?s security situation on tourism, the beneficial effect of real devaluation on tourism, and the fact that the elasticity of tourism to Israel with respect to tourism to all destinations is very small.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: 55th Congress of the European Regional Science Association: "World Renaissance: Changing roles for people and places", 25-28 August 2015, Lisbon, Portugal

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models ; Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
• Subject: International tourism ; visa arrangements ; multilateral resistance ; panel data

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Felsenstein, Daniel ; Beenstock, Michael ; Rubin, Ziv
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): European Regional Science Association (ERSA)
• (where): Louvain-la-Neuve
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/124586
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET