The role of tourism development in India's environmental degradation: evidence from ARDL and wavelet coherence approaches

Purpose This empirical study explores the role of tourism development (TD) in India's environmental degradation. Since sustainable eco-tourism is essential for India, whose long-term economic prosperity also depends on robust tourism growth. Hence, this study offers specific policy proposals for sustainable tourism based on the simulated outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The study employed the quarterly data from 1995Q1-2018Q4 for empirical validation. Moreover, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach, Toda and Yamamoto (TY) causality model and wavelet coherence are also used to analyse the role of TD in India's environmental degradation. Findings The ARDL bounds test confirms the long-run relationship between the series. The long-run results from the ARDL model also indicate the driving role of TD in India's environmental degradation. In addition, the usage of the wavelet coherence method confirms the changes in TD that leads to changes in India's pollution level at different frequencies and periods, especially in the long run. Research limitations/implications Since this analysis is India-specific, these findings may lack generalizability to other developing economies. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to examine the impact of tourism growth on the natural environment in other countries either in a panel or time-series framework. Practical implications This study suggests crucial implications for checking the pollution sands from TD without sacrificing tourism-led economic growth. This would be possible if the usage of green energy in India's transport sector is promoted. Originality/value This is the first study that analyzes the impact of TD on environmental degradation in the ARDL, wavelet coherence, TY frameworks for enabling the Indian economy for a sustainable tourism practice.