THE PRICE TAG OF TOURISM: DO SMALL OPEN ECONOMIES DEPENDENT ON TOURISM REVENUES EXPERIENCE HIGHER PRICES OF GOODS AND SERVICES?

Although theoretical models describing the influence of tourism on welfare of the host economy suggest that increase in prices is a direct outcome of intensified tourism activity, so far this outcome has not been put to the empirical test. Therefore, we use panel data models on a data set covering EU new member states and candidate countries (Montenegro and Turkey) in order to investigate the relationship between tourism dependence and the price level. Along with modeling the overall price level, we also separately model the price level of consumer goods, price level of consumer services, and price level of goods and services associated with tourism consumption (hotels and restaurants, recreation and culture, transportation, and food and beverages). Thereby, we control for other factors that commonly influence the price level of an economy, such as income, productivity, trade openness, money and fiscal dominance. Our results suggest that a dominant tourism sector increases the overall price level in the economy. This effect is however much stronger for prices of consumer services, in particular for prices of recreation and culture and hotel and restaurants.