The migration–tourism nexus in the EU28

Abstract

This study explores the nexus between tourism and migration on an intra-European scale over the period 2000–2015. Complex-network analysis and gravity models were the investigation methods preferred. For each year under study, we built two country-to-country networks to map and reveal the connections between states as shaped by migration stocks and tourism flows, respectively. Then, the main determinants of the correlation patterns between the two networks were investigated by several econometric analysis. Results point to a quite similar topological structure for the tourism and migration networks as well as to a significant and reciprocal direct influence between tourism and migration movements inside the European Union. No relevant indirect causal relationship is present in the tourism–migration nexus instead.