Evaluating the impact of air transportation, railway transportation, and trade openness on inbound and outbound tourism in BRI countries

This study investigates the effect of air transportation, railway transportation, and trade openness on inbound and outbound tourism in 140 Belt and Road Initiative countries from 1996 to 2020. Principal Component Analysis was utilized to generate inbound and outbound tourism indexes. For long-run estimation, fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic common correlated effects were utilized. The findings revealed that air and railway transportation, including trade openness, positively affect inbound and outbound tourism in the long run. Granger causality test confirmed a bidirectional relationship exists between inbound tourism with air transportation, railway transportation, travel services, and trade openness. However, a unidirectional relationship exists between inbound tourism and transport services. Outbound tourism has a bidirectional linkage with air transportation, railway transportation, travel services, transport services, and trade. This paper recommends that the BRI countries need to take advantage of the trade route for tourism development and transportation services for easy accessibility.