Tourism Activities in the Context of Ecological Footprint: Panel Data Analysis for Mediterranean Countries

Tourism is seen as one of the important sources of economic growth in developing countries. It makes positive contributions to the country's economy, with national income, foreign currency inflow and employment created. While the basis of investments in the tourism sector is primarily to achieve economic gains, today is the sustainable tourism concept emerged and the effects of tourism on the environment have come to the fore. Sustainability in tourism emerges as a new tourism approach that takes environmental damage into consideration. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between tourism activities and ecological footprint in countries bordering the Mediterranean, using annual data for the period 2001-2021. In the analysis; Generalized Moment Method (GMM), system GMM, constant effects model and random effects models were used. The results of the analysis showed that tourism activities have a significant and positive impact on the ecological footprint of countries bordering the Mediterranean. The findings obtained from the study confirm the expectations that tourism activities increase the ecological footprint by causing environmental degradation.