The determinants of international academic tourism demand in Europe

More and more students in Europe are willing to travel abroad for their higher education. This student mobility is considered as a type of tourist activity and the term 'international academic tourism' is applied to it. This paper presents an empirical analysis, using the system generalized method of moments estimator for dynamic panel data models. The purpose is to analyse the economic and other determinants of tourism demand in the European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (Erasmus) based on inbound student and work placement mobility data during the exchange period from 2000 to 2010. The econometric results suggest that tourism demand is mainly driven by factors that are not strictly economic, such as relevant aspects of the destination chosen and preferences related to travel, the role of the tertiary education sector and the contribution of the Erasmus student mobility programme in the destination country. These findings have important implications for tourism policymakers.