Investigating the Air Travel-Tourism Relationship Using Granger Causality Analysis: The Case of Turkish Destinations

Abstract

One of the main benefits of air transport is that it allows people to travel quickly from one place to another. This allows people to reach their destinations faster than other modes of transport for purposes such as tourism, business and education. The aim of this study is to investigate the causality relationships between air travel and tourism demand by each market segment. The causality relationship between the number of domestic passengers, international passengers and total number of passengers and the number of domestic tourists, international tourists and total number of tourists is analyzed on a monthly basis for the period 2017–2021 in Turkey with Granger causality analysis. The findings revealed a two-way causal relationship between the number of domestic travelers and the demand for domestic tourism, as well as a two-way relationship between the demand for total travelers and the demand for total tourism. There is a unidirectional causal connection between the demand for inbound tourists and the quantity of international travelers. The research is expected to add to the body of work on the outcomes. It will also have implications for those who make decisions about infrastructure and policy.