Mobile Internet Penetration's Influence On Outbound Tourism

This research aims to empirically examine the influence of mobile Internet penetration and other factors on outbound tourism and their different function between developed and developing countries.The model includes following factors: mobile Internet adoption,income,price,relative price,social and demographic.In the model,outbound tourism is measured by tourist departure per capita,while explanatory variables are mobile Internet penetration rate,GDP per capita,exchange rate,inflation rate,trade openness,demographic(working age population rate).The applied panel data for the period 1997 to 2015 comprises data from 55 countries.The findings of this research are as follows:(1)Mobile Internet penetration has a significantly positive influence on developed countries' outbound tourism and has a insignificantly negative influence on developing countries' outbound tourism.(2)Income level and relative price have an important positive influence on both developed and developing countries' outbound tourism.(3)Other factors(price,social and demographic)have certain influence on developed and developing countries' outbound tourism.Income,relative price and trade openness have a more significant influence on developing countries,while demographic and price have a more significant influence on developed countries.