Are shocks to tourist arrivals transitory? Evidence from new panel stationarity tests with structural breaks for 12 MENA countries

This study examines the stationarity properties of the number of tourist arrivals for 12 MENA countries during the 1995-2019 period. We utilize a novel panel stationarity test that utilizes a Fourier approximation to capture gradual structural breaks and other nonlinearities present in the data generating process. Additionally, we apply several new panel stationarity tests that complement the Fourier test. We find strong empirical evidence in favor of the stationarity of tourist arrivals when considering smooth structural breaks, and our results remain unchanged using sharp structural breaks panel tests. Accordingly, we find that shocks to the MENA tourism sector are transitory for the period.