The ICT Impact on Inbound and Outbound Tourism Demand in the EU

Abstract

Research question: This paper investigation whether a relationship exists between ICT as well as between the Internet and tourism demand (inbound and outbound) in EU. Motivation: Our goal was to explore if there exists a strong link between observed determinants. The paper draws on research of Garin-Munoz and Perez-Amaral (2011). Their research indicates the positive relationship between the use of Internet and travels abroad. As well, the paper is based on the research of Ramos and Rodrigues (2013), Bethapudi (2013) and Pulido-Fernandez, Cardenas-Garcua, & Carrukki-Hidalgo (2017). Idea: Because the ICT has a significant impact on tourism demand the core idea of this paper was to explore if there exists the strongest relationship between the use of Internet and outbound tourism demand than relationship between the use of Internet and outbound tourism demand. Data: Research information base has included the ITU 2016, Measuring the Information Society Report 2016, as well as the data about tourism expenditure and total population from Eurostat Database (European Commission, 2017). Tools: The following methods are used in the paper: regression and correlation analysis. Regression analysis has examined the impact of the ICT on the tourism demand. Correlation analysis has examined the relationship between the use of the Internet and tourism demand. Findings: Results of the correlation analyses indicate that there is not a statistically significant correlation between the level of development ICT and tourism expenditure per capita, while that there is a statistically significant correlation between the application of Internet and tourism expenditure per capita. The regression analysis indicates that subindexes of ICT Development Index ( IDI) influence on tourism expenditure per capita. It can be concluded that the ICT and the Internet presents one of the most important determinants of tourism demand. Contribution: In the paper special attention was paid to the ICT as well as Internet as the most important determinants of tourism expenditure on macro level.