The main objective of this paper is to estimate the tourism impact
on the economic growth of Iranian provinces over the period of
2000-2010. For achieving this aim, the panel data approach has
been used to the economic growth modeling. The empirical
findings show that tourist receipts have a positive impact on the
economic growth in Iranian provinces. It was found that a 10
percent increase in the spending of tourists leads to a 1 percent
increase in the GDP per capita. In addition, physical and human
capital has positive effects on economic growth, while
unemployment rate and consumer price index have negative effect
on the economic growth. Finally, the results of this study indicate
that the product elasticities are inelastic in Iran during the period of
2000-2010