ABSTRACT

Tourism is one of the important service sectors of a country, enabling it to earn the gain in economic, social and cultural fields. For this reason, especially the relationship between tourism and the growth has been an important research area for researchers. In this study, the tourism-led growth hypothesis, which defense the thesis of tourism sector’s impact on economic growth, will be under investigation. In tourism-led growth hypothesis are given reasons that tourism development is important determinant for the long-term economic growth. This study is examining whether this hypothesis is valid for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus or not, by using data over the period 1977-2008 through the bounds test and the TodaYamamoto causality test. The results obtained show that the tourism-led growth hypothesis is not valid for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.