ECONOMIC FACTOR OF DISTRIBUTION OF INBOUND TOURIST FLOWS

Abstract

The research is based on the use of the statistics and methodology of the World Bank and the World Tourism  Organization, as well as methods of mathematical statistics. The purpose of this research is to study the influence of the economic factor on the distribution of inbound tourist flows by a particular country of the world. So, the index of inbound tourist attractiveness is calculated as a measure of the intensity of inbound tourist flows, and compared with the socio-economic indicator of the country of destination as the density of consumption expenditures of the residents. As a result, it was established that the countries with the highest tourist attractiveness were those where the consumption expenditures of the residents was the largest on 1 km2 of the territory. The relationship between these features turned out to be very close – the correlation index i=0.87. This is explained by the fact that the high density of consumption expenditures of the residents predetermines the developed tourist infrastructure, which attracts tourists. Comparison of these expenditures with specific (in km2) capital investments in the tourism industry of a particular country showed a very close relationship, in particular, with a specific consumption expenditure of the local population of less than 1,7 million US$/km2 (in 1996 prices), the correlation coefficient r=0.91, and at large – capital investment in tourism did not increase and fluctuated around 50 thousand US$/km2 . That is, in such countries the tourist infrastructure is formed and developed, and it attracts international tourists even to countries without “sea, sun and sand”.