Tourism Product Life-Cycle, Growth, and Environmental Sustainability

Gerassimos Bertsatos, Nicholas Tsounis () and Antonis Tsitouras
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Gerassimos Bertsatos: Laboratory of Applied Economics, Department of Economics, University of Western Macedonia, 53100 Florina, Greece
Nicholas Tsounis: Laboratory of Applied Economics, Department of Economics, University of Western Macedonia, 53100 Florina, Greece
Antonis Tsitouras: Laboratory of Applied Economics, Department of Economics, University of Western Macedonia, 53100 Florina, Greece

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and gross domestic product (GDP) in the tourism industry, using annual time series data from 1955 to 2019 for Greece and 1930 to 2019 for Italy. The Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) model was used to determine the threshold point at which the tourism-induced Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) emerges in each stage of tourism, as indicated by the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model. The existence and direction of causality between CO 2 emissions, GDP, and tourist arrivals was determined using the Toda–Yamamoto Granger causality test. The analysis emphasizes the complex relationship between economic growth, environmental degradation, and the tourism industry. The EKC hypothesis is supported by empirical findings that show a strong long-term cointegration between tourist arrivals, GDP, and CO 2 emissions. This suggests that, while tourism growth initially contributes to environmental degradation, it also fosters conditions for sustainable development as economies progress, providing critical insights for policy-makers seeking to promote environmentally sustainable tourism.

Keywords: environmental sustainability; tourism product life-cycle; autoregressive distributed lag; environmental Kuznets curve; Greece; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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