Does country with multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society induce tourist arrivals? Worldwide evidence
The tourism sector contributes foreign exchange earnings to the nation; tax revenue to the government; and provide jobs to the population as well as open-up business opportunities to the communities. Thus, international tourist arrivals play a central role in stimulating economic growth by ensurin...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2018
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/19628/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/19628/1/jeko_521-9.pdf |
| Summary: | The tourism sector contributes foreign exchange earnings to the nation; tax revenue to the government; and provide
jobs to the population as well as open-up business opportunities to the communities. Thus, international tourist
arrivals play a central role in stimulating economic growth by ensuring substantial export income in the form of
international tourist expenditures to a destination country. A fundamental question that relates international visitors
and the destination country is: “Does diversity play an important role in promoting tourism?” Studies have found
that ethno-linguistic diversity affect a country’s tourism competitiveness negatively. This is because high levels of
ethnic diversity tend to be associated with low investment, poor governance as a result of poor communication, low
collective action and weak cohesion due to differences in ethnic groups’ value system. In this study, using a sample
of 126 countries, our results suggest that ethnic, linguistic, and religious fractionalization negatively affected the
destination choice of international tourist arrivals. Nevertheless, national income and safety of a country have
positive impact on tourist arrivals, but air pollution affects negatively tourist arrivals to a destination country.
Some policy implications that would promote tourism are that a country needs to promote and portray multi-racial
country that are safe, peoples enjoy diversity in culture and lived in harmony; good facilities and infrastructure
related to tourism; and less pollution. |
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