TOURISM AND GROWTH IN SINGAPORE: NEW EXTENSION FROM BOUNDS TEST TO LEVEL RELATIONSHIPS AND CONDITIONAL GRANGER CAUSALITY TESTS

Abstract

This paper empirically investigates the tourism-led growth (TLG) hypothesis in the case of Singapore by employing the bounds test to cointegration, error correction models and Granger causality tests using annual data from 1960 to 2007. Results confirm the existence of long-term equilibrium relationship between international tourism and economic growth in the case of Singapore; real income growth converges to its long-term equilibrium level significantly by 51.4% in the TLG model. The major finding of this study is that the TLG hypothesis is confirmed for the Singaporean economy in the long-term as a result of conditional Granger causality tests.