Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/316216 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. TI 2025-031/VIII
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
This meta-analysis summarizes and explains the variation in the deterring effect of distance on tourism flows by analyzing 870 estimates from 139 primary studies utilizing data covering the last 25 years. We find substantial heterogeneity among studies that mostly correlates with (unobserved) study characteristics, estimation methods, and locations of origin and destination. We confirm previous findings that the mean total distance-decay effect, using preferred methods and datastructures, is close to a unit elasticity in absolute value (-0.99). However, when controlling for mediator variables, we find that the direct, physical, distance-decay effect is significantly lower (-0.83). This distance-decay effect is remarkably stable over the last 25 years and reveals a positive relation between distance and the total amount of tourists.
Subjects: 
meta-analysis
distance-decay
tourism flows
gravity models
JEL: 
R11
Z32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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