A Gravity Model Analysis on Determinants of Tourism Flow to Iran

Due to increasing number of international tourists and the enhancing role of tourism in economies of countries and competing environment, recognizing determinants in attracting international tourists seems very essential than ever before. Public and private sectors need to examine determinants and forecast tourism demand. The primary aim of this study is using econometric techniques to analyzing determinants of attracting international tourists to Iran and estimating tourism demand function by the gravity model and panel data techniques. Our dependent variable is the number of inbound tourists to Iran from countries of origin in 2009-2013. Explanatory variables are Per capita GDP, population of countries of origin, geographical distance, real exchange rate based on 2010 data, and numbers of hotels’ bed, UNESCO world heritage sites and the country brand index which their data acquired from national and international authorities and examined in Eviews 7 software. The results estimated by fixed effects shows that national brand index of Iran has the most positive effect on tourism demand (18.19) and hotels’ beds stand is the second important factor (1.89). But existing UNESCO heritage sites doesn’t have any impact on attracting tourists to Iran.