The Impact of Tourism on D-8 Countrie's Income Distribution

Tourism is seen as the biggest service sector in the world interm of income in such a way that its development has inspired significant social and economic changes. The development of the tourism industry is of great importance for developing countries that are faced with challenges such as low income per capita, inappropriate distribution of income, significant misery index (combination of unemployment and inflation indexes), limited currencies, and single-product economy. This paper aims to investigate the impacts of tourism on the distribution of income. For this purpose, the panel data for the set of countries called D-8 (including Iran) during 2000-2013 have been used. Findings of the study, based on an estimation of panel data model, indicate that tourism and trade openness have a positive impact on the distribution of income in D-8 countries. According to these findings, economy openness, particularly in tourism that has significant impacts on income within tourism destinations, and could help the improvement of income distribution in the countries. On the other hand, based on other findings in this study, the misery index and global economic crisis increase income inequalities. Overall, although development of tourism and trade openness could improve the distribution of income, enhancing the economic resistance against domestic and international economic crises is essential.