Islandness and Remoteness as Resources: Evidence from the tourism performance of Small Remote Island Economies (SRIES)

Abstract

Small remote island economies are known to face a number of economic challenges, particularly, in their trade relations. This paper investigates the impact of remoteness and islandness on tourism performance. Remote islands are found to be well-endowed in nature and scenery. The empirical results show that nature positively impacts tourism performance (revealed comparative advantage) and tourism demand. Interestingly, while being distant is detrimental to tourism performance, being both an island and remote is favourable. Tourism demand is negatively affected by being an island, a small country, or a remote country but favoured by being a small or a remote island.