Ethnic reunion and cultural affinity

Ethnic reunion is the propensity of tourists to travel to regions where their ancestors originate from, while cultural affinity is the propensity of tourists to travel to regions with a shared cultural identity. This paper uses a “world migration matrix”, which records the year-1500 origins of the current populations of 159 countries, in a standard tourism gravity equation to provide the first empirical evidence of the existence of both these tourism traits at the global level. Our results remain robust even when controlling for other historical links, such as colonial legacy and regional trade agreements. By controlling for trade flows, we also show that this impact is unique to tourism. Ethnic reunion and cultural affinity are thus important – and neglected – constituents of tourism patterns (and of research), with important policy implications.

► Hypothesis: Tourists travel more to regions that share cultural similarities. ► We test this using an historical migration dataset in a tourism gravity equation. ► We find strong evidence of historical migration causing tourism today. ► This is true even if we control for trade flows, and other historical linkages. ► Our methodology shows that cultural affinity and ethnic reunion are globally valid.