124 © 2022 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. NEXUS BETWEEN FDI AND TOURISM: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM ASIAN COUNTRIES Sujan Chandra Paul 1+ Santus Kumar Deb 2 Md. Abir Hossain 3 Mallika Saha 4 1,4 Department of Accounting and Information Systems, University of Barishal, Bangladesh. 1 Email: sujan9099@gmail.com 4 Email: mallikasaha.bu@gmail.com 2 Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2 Email: santus@du.ac.bd 3 Department of Management Studies, University of Barishal, Bangladesh. 3 Email: mahossain@bu.ac.bd (+ Corresponding author) ABSTRACT Article History Received: 30 March 2022 Revised: 11 May 2022 Accepted: 1 June 2022 Published: 16 June 2022 Keywords FDI International tourism Expenditures Receipts Arrivals Departures Passenger Travel. This research aims to look into the impact of foreign direct investment on tourism. Panel data from 46 Asian countries between 1998 and 2018 were collated for this study. The OLS, POLS, 2SLS, and GMM models were used in this study. A substantial correlation was found between between foreign direct investment and the number of international tourist departures in all models except the POLS model, and with the exception of the GMM model, there was a significant negative association between foreign direct investment and international tourism spending. In the POLS model, there is a significant positive relationship between foreign direct investment and international tourism receipts for passenger transport items, as well as expenditures for passenger transport items and international tourism receipts, and a significant negative relationship between foreign direct investment and international tourism receipts for passenger transport items. In the 2SLS model, there is a significant positive relationship with international tourism receipt. In the GMM model, there is a significant positive relationship between foreign direct investment and international tourism and a significant negative relationship between foreign direct investment and international tourism receipt, expressed in percentage of total exports. Contribution/ Originality: This study contributes to look at the impact of foreign direct investment on tourism. Panel data from 46 Asian countries was gathered for this study, which spanned the years 1991 to 2018. The OLS, POLS, 2SLS, and GMM models were used in this study. 1. INTRODUCTION Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) broadens the tourist sector by supplying the essential funds and expertise to invest in assets such as land, infrastructure, and structures (Selvanathan, Selvanathan, & Viswanathan, 2012), as well as knowledge, capital, and access to international marketing and distribution systems (Samimi et al., 2013). Such wealth of import potential makes the tourism industry crucial in transferring skills, product knowledge, and processes to nations with a presence (Blomström & Sjöholm, 1999; Markusen, 1995). Aside from directly generating employment in the tourist business, growth in this sector also contributes to job creation in other parts of the economy, found in McCatty & Serju, (2006). Furthermore, international tourism helps rise in revenue by increasing efficiency and encouraging competition between firms and other worldwide tourist destinations (Helpman & Krugman, 1985; Krueger, 1980; Samimi, Sadeghi, & Sadeghi, 2013). Asian Journal of Economic Modelling ISSN(e): 2312-3656 ISSN(p): 2313-2884 DOI: 10.55493/5009.v10i2.4520 Vol. 10, No. 2, 124-135. © 2022 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. URL: www.aessweb.com