Tourism, FDI, and environmental sustainability nexus in South Asia

Abstract South Asia is rapidly becoming a leading tourist hotspot and has played a significant role in the region’s growth. However, unexpected tourism and intensive energy-consuming development continue to pose increasing threats to environmental sustainability. This study examines the impacts of tourism, foreign direct investment, trade openness, and energy consumption on the environmental quality of six South Asian countries from 1995 to 2024, using the ecological footprint as a holistic measure of environmental sustainability. Using a panel quantile regression model, with the complement of augmented mean group, common correlated effects mean group, and system generalized method of moment estimation methods, the heterogeneous effects among the different countries and environmental conditions are captured. The results indicate that an increase of 1%…