Macro-Regional Evaluation of the Impact of Environmental Policy Stringency on Tourist Inflows

The Alpine region employs a macro-regional governance framework to address environmental challenges, prominently featuring ecological protection through initiatives such as the Alpine Convention and EU Strategy for the Alpine Region. Although these policies effectively curb anthropogenic environmental damage, they may unintentionally harm the tourism sector. This study examines the impact of stringent environmental policies, measured using the ecological policy stringency index, on tourism inflows to the Alps from 1995 to 2020. Advanced econometric methods, including fully modified cointegrating regression and asymmetric panel Granger causality, reveal that a 1% increase in environmental costs (e.g. taxes or penalties) reduces tourist inflows by 0.247%. This study contributes to the environment-tourism literature and offers policy recommendations to balance ecological protection with sustainable tourism.