Can immigration moderate the adverse effects of political instability on international tourism? A case study of Australia

Abstract

We estimate the impact of political instability and the population of immigrants in Australia on the flow of international tourist arrivals. We hypothesize that political instability has a short-term negative effect while the population of immigrants in Australia may have a positive or negative effect depending on time span. Moreover, we postulate that the population of immigrants resorbs in the short run partially or totally the adverse effect of political instability. Our empirical strategy takes into consideration potential heterogeneity among cross-sections and differentiates between short-term and long-term effects. For this purpose, we use the Pooled Mean Group estimator in a panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag model. Findings from the pooled estimations suggest that, in the short run, the population of immigrants in Australia reduces the negative effect of political instability on international tourism flows. However, its effect is negative in the long run. We also find evidence for heterogeneity across countries.