RESEARCH ARTICLE Dynamic linkages between tourism, energy, environment, and economic growth: evidence from top 10 tourism-induced countries Kanwal Shaheen 1 & Khalid Zaman 1 & Rubeena Batool 2 & Muhammad Adnan Khurshid 3 & Alamzeb Aamir 4 & Alaa Mohamd Shoukry 5 & Mohamed A. Sharkawy 6 & Fares Aldeek 7 & Jameel Khader 7 & Showkat Gani 7 Received: 23 May 2019 /Accepted: 16 August 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract The importance of sustainable tourism in environmental literature is well documented, while there is a need to explore its different socio-economic and environmental factors that are helpful to promote sustainable development across countries. The objective of the study is to investigate the relationship between international tourism (ITOUR), energy demand (ED), carbon dioxide emissions (CO 2 ), and economic growth (EG) by using a panel data of top 10 tourism-induced countries for the period of 1995–2016. The findings confirmed the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the panel of top 10 countries. Moreover, the results show that FDI inflows negatively influenced natural environment in the form of high mass carbon emissions, which supported “pollution haven hypothesis (PHH).” The energy demand escalates carbon emissions across coun- tries. The study confirmed the feedback relationship between (i) tourism income (TI) and ED, and (ii) CO 2 emissions and international tourism departures (ITD), while study supported the growth-led tourism income across countries. The study concludes that government(s) should have to focus on ecotourism policies and energy resources in a way to mitigate carbon emissions that is imperative for sustainable development across countries. Keywords International tourism . Energy demand . CO 2 emissions . Trade openness . EKC hypothesis . Pollution haven hypothesis . Panel cointegration Introduction International tourism played a vital role in promoting the country’ s economic growth, and it provides foreign revenue to the country (Oh 2005). Tourism increases economic growth, and it has a multiplier effect on the economy. Tourism industry is composite of public-private agencies, or- ganizations, and businesses that jointly work for the promo- tion of tourist’ s destinations and tourists welfare in order to balance energy prices and supply chain activities globally. International tourism is broadly defined as an economic activ- ity that is associated with inbound and outbound tourists, which seeks destination points in order to spend healthy time. The national funds are allocated for the promotion of tourism to generate sufficient revenue for sustained economic growth (Tourism Council 2018). Tourism industry created opportuni- ties for the economic agents, and it generates viable economic opportunities to sustained long-term growth (Bennett 2014). Tourism industry improves balance of payments and has a positive effect on trade (Phiri 2015). In the first half of the Responsible editor: Muhammad Shahbaz * Khalid Zaman Khalid_zaman786@yahoo.com 1 Department of Economics, University of Wah, Quaid Avenue, Wah Cantt, Pakistan 2 Gender and Development Studies Department, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan 3 Department of Business Administration, Sindh Madressatul Islam University, Karachi, Pakistan 4 Department of Management Sciences, FATA University, FR Kohat, Pakistan 5 Arriyadh Community College, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 6 Department of Administrative Science, KSA Workers University, Mansoura, Egypt 7 College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Al-Muzahimiyah, Saudi Arabia Environmental Science and Pollution Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06252-1