Modelling Sustainable Non-Renewable and Renewable Energy Based on the EKC Hypothesis for Africa’s Ten Most Popular Tourist Destinations

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine how tourism, GDP, renewable energy, and fossil fuels cause environmental damage. This study examined ten African countries between 1997 and 2021 to test the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory. Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia, Mauritius, Ghana, Uganda, and Nigeria are the ten African countries with the most tourists. In this paper, the augmented mean group (AMG), mean group (MG), and common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) models were used to deal with slope heterogeneity (SH), cross-sectional dependence (CSD), and a mix of first-differenced and level stationary variables. Though the inverted U-shaped exists, the findings are significant only for MG. The impact of renewable energy is favorable for the environment and significant for the AMG estimator. Inversely, impact of tourist arrivals and fossil fuels are detrimental for environment and significant. Based on the findings for each country, the tourism-based EKC theory only works for Kenya, Egypt, and Tanzania. The research found that using more renewable energy minimizes CO2 emissions more effectively in almost all countries except Morocco and Ghana. Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda’s CO2 emissions increase when more tourists come from other countries. For the sake of both tourism and the environment, the government must reconsider its tourism policies and implement ones that include renewable energy. The findings of this study assist in the transition to clean energy, aiding in sustainable tourism growth. As a result, selected countries should develop a new tourism plan that focuses on renewable energy sources and protects the environment.