Is the Tourism-led Growth Hypothesis Valid for Malaysia? A View, from Disaggregated Tourism Markets

This research note attempts to re-investigate the validity of tourism-led growth hypothesis for Malaysia based on the data set of 12 different tourism markets from January 1995 to February 2009. The error-correction modelling-based cointegration test shows that economic growth and international tourist arrivals are cointegrated for all tourism markets. Nevertheless, the Granger causality results demonstrate that not all international tourism markets Granger-cause economic growth. Therefore, identification of potential tourism markets is vital for implementing effective tourism marketing policies. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.