To Utilize Structural Equation Modelling to Investigate the Impact of Cross-border Tourism on Regional Cooperation: The Mediating Effect of Community Support

Tourism plays an important role in encouraging cooperation and peace between the partitioned countries. The current study aims to investigate the influence of cross-border tourism on bilateral trade and cooperation between India and Myanmar. Further, the paper identifies the role of community support as a mediator between exogenous and endogenous variables. An onsite questionnaire is distributed among the residents of Indian border areas close to the neighboring border of Myanmar. The SEM is employed to reject the null hypotheses and test the proposed model empirically. The findings reveal that all the proposed hypotheses are supported. The cross-border cooperation is positively influenced by cross-border tourism development and trade between India and Myanmar. Moreover, community support mediates the relationship between cross-border tourism, bilateral trade, and cooperation. An important consideration from this paper is that tourism supported by border communities can act as a catalyst for promoting cooperation among hostile countries. India and Myanmar being close neighbors, have huge scope to support each other through different cross-border programs, projects, and bilateral trade. The study provides valuable insights for both countries to adopt tourism initiatives as a tool to ameliorate their relationships and develop the economic conditions of border communities.