Debates on the intricacies of tourism’s potential contribution to economic growth remain imperative and unsettled in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Employing dynamic models and multiple robust estimation techniques, this article empirically tests the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH) in the case of SSA. Further investigations on how countries’ geographical locations influence the TLGH are conducted. With panel data – spanning from the year 2000 through 2016 – on 40 SSA countries, which were regrouped into coastal, landlocked and islands, the study establishes evidence in support of the TLGH for the full sample. After geographical classifications, tourism’s impact on economic growth is, however, observed to be significantly positive for only landlocked and coastal countries. Surprisingly, the impact of tourism on economic growth is significantly negative for islands within the subregion. The findings hold policy implications for the pursuit of tourism-led growth in the SSA region.

关于旅游业对经济增长的潜在贡献的复杂性的争论在撒哈拉以南非洲 (SSA) 仍然势在必行，而且尚未解决。本文采用动态模型和多种稳健的估计技术，在 SSA 的情况下实证检验了旅游主导的增长假设 (TLGH)。正在进一步调查国家的地理位置如何影响 TLGH。该研究利用 2000 年至 2016 年 40 个 SSA 国家的面板数据，将这些国家重新分组为沿海、内陆和岛屿，为整个样本提供了支持 TLGH 的证据。然而，在地理分类之后，只有内陆和沿海国家才能观察到旅游业对经济增长的影响是显着的。出奇，旅游业对经济增长的影响对该次区域内的岛屿具有显着的负面影响。研究结果对追求 SSA 地区以旅游业为主导的增长具有政策意义。