Tourism contribution to regional development: Best practice in Macedonia

Abstract

As one of the greatest sources for development, tourism is detected by many undeveloped and developing countries as the only way-out for economic prosperity. This research aims to investigate tourism contribution to regional development in Macedonia, highlighting the South-West region as the best practice. In particular, the paper makes an attempt to explore and compare eight planning regions from tourism prospective, pointing to the best one according to up-to-date results. For this purpose, it reports on analyses based on stylized facts obtained from secondary data spreading over a sample period from 2004- 2011. The outcomes point to the fact that the South-West region is the leading statistical region in Macedonia when referring tourism and regional development issues. So, the paper strongly recommends this empirical evidence as good example for boosting regional development through tourism application. Furthermore, it urges the need for identifying effective framework for mitigating modest results and creating sound public policies. Additionally, the contribution of this paper lies in the fact that it enriches the poorly-developed empirical academic work within this scientific area in Macedonia.