How international students affect inbound tourism? Empirical evidence from 269 cities in China

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation and mechanism between international students and inbound tourism. Design/methodology/approach Taking 269 prefecture-level cities in China as a sample, bringing international students and inbound tourism into the same analytical framework, the paper applies the fixed-effects model, instrumental variables model and mediating effects model to investigate the impact of international students on inbound tourism. Findings International students significantly contribute to the increase in inbound tourists and tourism revenue in China, which remain valid after a series of robustness tests. When the relocation data of Chinese urban universities and faculties in the 1950s are used as an instrumental variable for the potential endogenous problems of international students, the results are still valid. Heterogeneity research shows that the impact of international students on inbound tourism has heterogeneous effects in different regions. In addition, the mechanism analysis shows that international students promote China’s inbound tourism mainly through two channels: the economic growth effect and the human capital effect. Research limitations/implications This paper provides evidence of the correlation between international students and inbound tourism in developing countries. However, as the data for the study are all from China, caution should be taken when applying the findings of this paper to other regions. Practical implications This paper provides evidence on the causal relationship between international students and inbound tourism in developing countries. However, as the data for the study are all from China, caution should be taken when applying the findings of this paper to other regions. Social implications This paper creatively finds out the instrumental variables of international students with academic education to deal with the potential endogenous problems, and then identifies the causal relationship between international students and inbound tourism. Originality/value This paper creatively finds out the instrumental variables of international students to deal with the potential endogenous problems and then identifies the correlation between international students and inbound tourism.