Estimating demand elasticities for Australia's international outbound tourism

In spite of the vast and growing literature on tourism demand, outbound tourism remains relatively under-researched. This paper highlights the usefulness of examining determinants of outbound tourism and develops a comprehensive dynamic demand model for international travel from Australia using the panel data cointegration technique. The data represent 47 destinations for the period 1991-2008. The aim is to compute robust demand elasticities. One of the contributions of the paper is that it demonstrates the role immigration plays in determining international tourist departures from Australia. The estimated short-run and long-run immigration elasticities are 0.2 and 0.6, respectively.