The effects of distance on international tourist arrivals in ASEAN countries

This research aims to investigate the effects ofdistance on international tourist arrivals in ASEAN nations. Based onthe study ofDow and Karanuratna (2006), wehypothesize that cultural distance, political distanceand geographical distance have negative effects on tourist flow to ASEAN. The study utilizes data fromTourismStatistic Officesof five countries including Viet Nam, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippinesand Malaysia to test the proposed hypotheses. OLS regressionsindicate that political distance and geographical distanceare negatively correlated to international tourist flow while cultural distance is positively correlated to that.