Exploring the N-shaped EKC in the top tourist destinations. Empirical evidence from cross-country analysis

Abstract
Tourism, energy consumption, economic growth, and financial
development (FD) have serious consequences on environmental
quality, which have gained attention of researchers.
This research study attempts to highlight the impact of
these variables on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the
Asian top-four tourism countries, namely, Thailand, Singapore,
Malaysia and Hong Kong. To achieve these objectives,
the study applied Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares
(FMOLS) econometric technique to estimate the long-run
relationship, using annual data. Moreover, the study also
applied the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test to identify
the direction of the causality. The findings of the study
show that energy consumption and trade openness have a
negative impact on CO2 emissions. Moreover, tourism and
FDI affect carbon emissions positively. Moreover, the study
also validated the N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve in
these countries, indicating that economic growth positively
influences carbon emissions in the early stages. However, in
the middle stage, economic growth positively affects CO2
emissions, while in the later stage, it affects positively. Further,
a unidirectional causality has been found from trade,
economic growth and tourist arrivals to FD. Furthermore,
based on empirical findings, the study suggests various policy
implications for the government of the top-four Asian tourist

Title

International Social Science Journal

Publisher

wileyonlinelibrary

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

1.0

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

--

Year

2023

Pages

1-19