Tourism, trade, energy, and economic development: Drivers of ecological footprint in the World’s top tourist destinations

Abdul Waaje, Md Mustaqim Roshid, Sohidul Islam, Reday Chandra Bhowmik, Muhammad Abdur Rahaman and Md Mahedi Hassan

Innovation and Green Development, 2025, vol. 4, issue 3

Abstract: Ecological sustainability, energy consumption, tourism, and economic growth interact in complex ways, a pressing concern for modern policy and study. Using data from 1999 to 2023, this study looks at the top 10 tourist destinations to see how these variables relate to their environmental impact. The primary regression analysis employs the Driscoll-Kraay Standard Errors (DKSE) approach, while Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) and Panel-Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) are used for robustness checks. The DKSE results show that a 1 ​% increase in economic development reduces the ecological footprint by 0.775 ​%. Similarly, renewable energy minimizes the EFP by 0.140 ​%, and trade openness shows the most substantial effect, reducing it by 1.503 ​%. On the contrary, tourism and gross fixed capital formation raise EFP by 0.003 ​% and 0.905 ​%, respectively. All results are statistically significant at the 1 ​% level and verified by FGLS and PCSE robustness checks. The findings highlight the importance of sustainable trade policy, energy-efficient technology adoption, and sustainable tourist practices to reduce negative environmental consequences without sacrificing economic development.

Keywords: Ecological footprint; Renewable energy; Sustainability; Economic growth; Tourism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ingrde:v:4:y:2025:i:3:s2949753125000463

DOI: 10.1016/j.igd.2025.100249

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