Examining tourism-induced environmental Kuznets Curves in South Asia

This paper analyzes the non-linear tourism-environmental degradation nexus in the selected South Asian countries using a modified Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. While previous literature has shown inconclusive results, this paper applies the Cross-Sectional Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) method to examine tourism-induced EKCs from 1990 to 2021. Findings reveal a valid N-shaped EKC for the selected South Asian countries. Country-level estimates show that Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka exhibit N-shaped tourism-induced EKC. However, Nepal and Bhutan show inverse tourism-induced U-shaped EKC. The paper suggests policy measures to address the tourism-environmental degradation nexus, including promoting private sustainable investment, enacting eco-friendly policies, raising public awareness, and encouraging sustainable tourism in the region.