The Impact of Transport Infrastructure on International Inbound Tourism – A Gravity Model for Poland
Justyna Majewska
International Journal of Contemporary Management, Numer 17(4), 2018, s. 135-154
https://doi.org/10.4467/24498939IJCM.18.040.10026Background. Development of the tourism sector depends on the infrastructure and an efficient transportation system. A better transport infrastructure results in lower transportation costs and thus lower variable costs of trading, and shortens the distance between origin and destination countries, which can stimulate international tourism flows. Significant improvements in the accessibility of general transport infrastructure (road and air) in Poland within other factors have potentially their effect on foreign inbound tourism.
Research aims. The aim of this article is to determine the importance of transport infrastructure among other classical factors of a gravity model influencing foreign inbound tourism to Poland (such as geographic and economic distance from tourism origin countries, or perceived risk factors in the origin countries, like terrorism and economic crises).
Methodology. The study is based on panel data of bilateral tourism flows in the period 2008–2016 from 33 countries trading with Poland. We applied a gravity model for international tourism flows considering four different sub-panels (disaggregated by countries and time) in order to control the role of infrastructure in various data sets.
Key findings. The results show that the level of transport infrastructure development – measured both directly and indirectly – has a significant impact on foreign inbound tourism to Poland.
JEL Codes: F14, F13, L83, R15, R41