HOW DID COVID-19 PANDEMIC AFFECT THE TOURISM INDEX IN BORSA ISTANBUL?

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Turkey's tourism sector. In the study, for the period 12 March 2020 - 31 August 2020 the daily data of the BIST tourism stock index and Covid-19 case and death counts in Turkey were used. The cointegration relationship between the Covid-19 pandemic and the BIST tourism index was investigated with the ARDL bound test. In addition, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the BIST tourism index was tested with the FMOLS regression method. As a result of the ARDL bound test, it was determined that there is a long-term cointegration relationship between the Covid-19 case and death numbers and the BIST tourism index. According to the FMOLS regression model results, it is seen that the deaths of Covid 19 significantly affect the tourism index. A 1% increase in the number of deaths causes the BIST tourism index to decrease by 0.08%. The coefficient of the number of Covid-19 cases is not significant, showing that the number of cases does not have a sufficient effect on the tourism index.