Digital tourism: mobile phones, internet and tourism in Africa

This study examines the linear and nonlinear effects of mobile phones and internet on tourism in Africa for the period 1996-2017 using system general method of moments which accounts for cross-sectional dependence. The study shows that mobile penetration and internet usage have significant negative effects on tourism while squared mobile penetration and squared internet usage have significant positive effects. The empirical findings are consistent with a non-linear (or quadratic) relationship between mobile penetration, internet usage and tourism, where mobile penetration and internet usage have significant negative relationship with tourism only to a certain point, after which they become a boost for tourism. The causality analyses suggest the existence of uni-directional causality from mobile penetration to tourism and bidirectional causality between squared mobile penetration and tourism. Also, there is bi-directional causality between internet usage, squared internet usage, and tourism. This indicates that mobile penetration and internet usage stimulate tourism which, in turn, boosts internet usage even further in these countries.