An Analysis of the Relationship between Transport Capital and Tourism Development in a Dynamic Framework

This paper investigates the contribution of transportation capital, an often neglected element in the overall attractiveness of Mauritius as a tourist destination. To gauge its effect, the study extends a classical demand for international tourism function to include a proxy of transport infrastructure. Accounting for the possibility of endogeneity and dynamism in tourism modelling, cointegration analysis in a vector autoregressive model is employed to assess the hypothesized link. Results from the analysis show that the stock of transport capital has contributed positively to the number of tourist arrivals in both the short run and the long run. The study thus highlights the importance of transport capital in adding to the value of tourism service and experience.