ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOURISM INCOME AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

The tourism sector takes an important place in the processes of growth and development of the country’s economy. Its positive effects in the economic and financial sphere can generally be considered as an increase in income, ensuring the inflow of foreign currency, closing the current account deficit, increasing tax revenues, and increasing employment and production. At the same time, the tourism sector is an important service sector for economic growth due to its positive influence on other sectors of the economy. Due to these positive effects, it is considered as a catalyst for the economic development and renewal process of countries, and it is important to study the interaction of the sector with other industries. The purpose of this article is to empirically analyze the relationship between tourism revenues and economic growth in Kazakhstan. In the empirical analysis, first, the unit root test was conducted using the ADF test. The long-run relationship between the variables was examined by Johansen cointegration analysis and a long-run relationship was found between tourism revenues and growth. Therefore, the direction of causality was investigated with the Granger causality test based on the Vector Error Correction Model, and a unidirectional causality relationship was found from tourism income to economic growth in the long run. As a result, it was found that the increase in income from tourism positively contributes to the growth of the economy of Kazakhstan in the long term. In this context, it is necessary to increase support for the tourism industry in Kazakhstan, reveal alternative tourism opportunities, and form a policy to increase investment in the tourism industry.