Regional economic development and tourism: A literature review to highlight future directions for regional tourism research

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on regional economics and economic geography, in connection with tourism to identify theoretical models, attempting to explain the role of tourism in regional development and growth, and their empirical applications. The review finds that in their early days, theories of regional development did not include tourism, mainly because the regional economics and location research community did not consider tourism significant enough to influence economic development but also because regional science researchers tend to give priority to manufacturing above services, while development planners tend to prioritize urban above rural. This neglect of tourism as a research field in its own right has led the tourism sector to develop its own scholarly agenda suitable to their own business needs, such as destination competitiveness and tourism promotion. The literature review here concludes upon suggested future directions required to further develop regional tourism research as a study based on economic development and growth.