The effects of tourism market diversification on CO₂ emissions: evidence from Australia

For the first time in the tourism and environment literature, this study investigates the CO₂ emissions effect of the market diversification of tourist arrivals. Theoretically, tourism market diversification has two opposite potential effects on CO₂ emissions, depending on its scale and composition effect. It may increase CO₂ emissions by expanding the scale of tourism-related activities or decrease CO₂ emissions by expanding the share of developed/less-polluted source countries in the destination. By utilizing the econometrics of time series data, we tested the impact of tourism market diversification on CO₂ emissions in Australia over the period 1976–2019. Our findings show that tourism market diversification has pro-CO₂ emissions effects in the long run for Australia. These findings contribute to our understanding of the environmental impacts of tourism market diversification and help in policy formulations in Australia.