Institutional quality, political risk and tourism

This paper applies the gravity model to investigate the impacts of institutional quality coupled with political risks, distance, and socio-economic factors on tourist flow. We find that institutional quality and absence of conflict are driving factors in fostering tourism flows for both source and destination countries. Our findings suggest that institutional reform can help boost the economies of countries with low-quality institutions. While institutional change is a positive development in its own right, our results suggest that it can also have important additional economic benefits for countries that are highly dependent on tourism.