Demonstration of exponential random graph models in tourism studies: Is tourism a means of global peace or the bottom line?

Most social network analyses conducted in hospitality and tourism studies are merely descriptive. Despite the recent popularity of exponential-family of random graph models (ERGMs) in various scientific investigations, no studies have utilized these inferential methods of network analysis in hospitality and tourism studies. In some contexts, the power of these methods is undeniably superior to those of conventional statistical tests. Accordingly, in the current study, by using the controversial subject of tourism-peace, I demonstrated how ERGMs can be used in hypotheses testing and statistical modeling in hospitality and tourism context. The results of this study suggest that a change of perspective in tourism-peace discourse from tourism as a peacemaker to tourism as a peacekeeper can be a valid approach concerning the long-lasting debates on the relationship between tourism and peace.