This study explores the nexus between tourism and economic growth in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea while controlling for foreign direct investment and domestic credits as additional variables within a multivariate panel framework. Empirical evidence is based on annual data from 1995 to 2016 for a panel of 14 selected countries around the Mediterranean Sea region. The findings from the bootstrap panel cointegration test proposed by Westerlund (2007) confirm the long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables under inspection. Subsequently, the Panel Pooled Mean Group Autoregressive Distributed model (PMG-ARDL) estimations suggest positively significant relationships between tourism and economic growth both in short-term, and long-term periods. Thus, this study joins the group of studies that lend support to the tourism-led growth hypothesis. This result was further substantiated by the results of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) causality analysis, as feedback causality was observed between tourism and economic growth, while unidirectional causality was seen from foreign direct investment to economic growth. That is in support of the foreign direct investment-driven economic growth hypothesis. Strikingly, no causal relationship was observed between domestic credits and economic growth.

中文翻译：

---

旅游业，外国直接投资，国内信贷和经济增长之间的因果关系：来自某些地中海国家的证据

这项研究探索了地中海沿岸国家旅游业与经济增长之间的联系，同时在多变量面板框架内将外国直接投资和国内信贷作为附加变量进行控制。经验证据基于1995年至2016年的年度数据，该数据来自地中海地区14个选定国家的面板。Westerlund（2007）提出的自举面板协整检验的结果证实了所考察变量之间的长期均衡关系。随后，面板汇集的均值组自回归分布模型（PMG-ARDL）估计表明，短期和长期内旅游业与经济增长之间存在正相关关系。从而，本研究与为旅游主导的增长假说提供支持的一组研究相结合。Dumitrescu和Hurlin（2012）因果关系分析的结果进一步证实了这一结果，因为在旅游业和经济增长之间观察到反馈因果关系，而从外国直接投资到经济增长则看到了单向因果关系。这支持了外国直接投资驱动的经济增长假说。令人惊讶的是，国内信贷与经济增长之间没有因果关系。这支持了外国直接投资驱动的经济增长假说。令人惊讶的是，国内信贷与经济增长之间没有因果关系。这支持了外国直接投资驱动的经济增长假说。令人惊讶的是，国内信贷与经济增长之间没有因果关系。