The Relationship between Income and Tourism Demand: Old Findings and New Research

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review the main findings regarding the income/tourism demand relationship and discuss the development of this relationship over time as well as its impact on tourism growth. The paper draws significant findings regarding the income elasticity of tourism demand, highlighting themost recent research on this topic and examines future aspects of the income/tourism demand relationship. A literature review along with unwto and imf reports was studied and assessed to discuss the income elasticity research in recent decades as well as more recent developments in this area. Income elasticity of tourism demand is today lower than in the past due, firstly, to the long-term growth of tourismdemand leading to demand saturation and stagnation of some tourism products, and, secondly, fluctuations across the business cycle. The paper summarizes the main findings and contributions of studies on the income elasticity of tourism demand thus far and reflects tourism demand sensitiveness to income as a tourism growth driver. Keywords: income elasticity, tourism demand, luxury product, necessity https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.67-73