Introduction

For many economies, international tourism earnings is a significant source of foreign

exchange. In many circumstances, it aids in the elimination of current account deficits
and negative payment balances. The tourism industry contributes to economic growth in
a beneficial way (McKinnon, 1964; Oh, 2005; Kim & Chen, 2006). The usefulness of
analyzing the tourist sector's case of convergence is that it gives a means of monitoring
and evaluating the successful execution of marketing tactics. According to Shan and
Wilson (2001), some fields in this type of study are still missing and need to be
investigated further. The case of 'convergence' in the tourism business has piqued
people's interest. When visitor arrivals from a certain nation of origin converge with total
visitor arrivals in the host country, it means that this market contributes significantly to
the overall increase in visitor numbers.
If a government is attempting to target smaller tourist markets, it is critical to understand
whether visitor arrivals from these smaller markets converge. The confirmation of
convergence shows that initiatives aimed towards smaller markets, such as cheaper
vacation packages, will increase overall arrivals. For 2017, Greece is experiencing a
two-speed tourism, with good and negative performance in several areas. The
destabilization of Turkey is a source of concern for the tourism industry, as it is not a
long-term positive development. The study's goal is to investigate the issue of
convergence in Greece's tourist sector based on visitor arrivals from various
destinations. It aims to identify the converging countries on which the Greek tourism
product's policies should be focused, so that Greece can reap the full benefits of
development.

Literature Review
2.1 The role of tourism in an economy
Tourism has been seen as a modern driving force and a sector capable of speeding
global economic recovery. Tourism generates a redistribution of income across sectors
and firms involved in tourism, which helps to deepen foreign exchange reserves and
enhance the balance. Tourism causes a redistribution of income both at the country
level and within countries. An economy must spend a significant amount of money on
tourism, which has a detrimental impact on economic growth at first.
As a result, there is a pressing need for a strategy and policy that supports the host
countries' expenses of payments. Depending on whether the effects are short-term or
long-term, tourism can have both direct and indirect effects on the economy. Direct
effects on the host economy come from increased visitor spending on products and
services at the first level. On a second level, tourism helps to generate new money,
jobs, and tax revenues.
Tourism is thought to be a labor-intensive sector. It makes a significant contribution to
job generation, albeit seasonal jobs. The requirement for imports and the use of foreign
exchange have an impact on the balance of payments. Tourism has had a favorable
impact on many other sectors on a local level. Tourism has socio-cultural and socio-
economic effects on a country's economy, in addition to economic ones. There is a
change in society's structure, which is particularly obvious in isolated locations. Tourism
expansion necessitates the construction of new infrastructure, which has an impact on
the environment's equilibrium.

2.2 The convergence theory and tourism

The importance of convergence control is to evaluate the success of existing tourism
promotion techniques. The increase in arrivals from these markets has a favorable
impact on total international visitor arrivals in the host market. As a result, measures
aimed at increasing the number of tourists from the converging market boost overall
foreign arrivals. Tourism may contribute to a country's economic development in a
favorable way. Large urban locations have benefited from the growth of thematic sorts
of tourism. Tourism, according to Swarbrooke (2000), revitalizes economies that have
lost their competitive edge in traditional industries.
The ability of tourism enterprises to offer value to each economy contributes to the
convergence of growth rates. If this value is lower than the value provided by other
financial activities, poorer nations will be unable to compete with wealthier economies
(Narayan, 2005a, 2005b). DTAi,t is the logarithmic difference between the country's
total arrivals and those from the tourist market in question. Tourism appears to establish
a wealth distribution network from north to south, as well as from richer to poorer states,
adding to the rconvergence process.

2.3 Review of the literature

The study of the tourism sector has a number of expansions in the literature. Other
scholars have been interested in the nature of problems in tourism indicators. However,
just a few studies have looked at how tourism and the economy intersect in terms of
revenue and market share. The convergence case for Malaysia was investigated by
Narayan, Lean, and Smyth (2008). They discovered that each of Malaysia's 10 tourist
markets contributed to the country's increased tourist arrivals.
Lorde and Moore (2008) evaluated the case for twenty-two tourist markets in the United
States. For the years 1977 to 2004, the Caribbean. The findings revealed that in
Singapore, there is convergence between the markets of the United States, Oceania,
and Asia. Over the first period, there was a discrepancy in foreign visitor arrivals in
Singapore from Asia and Europe, but this gap narrowed during the second era.
Because Asia accounted for 70% of international tourist arrivals in Singapore, it was a
crucial point of reference for the study.
The convergence case for Turkey's tourist markets was examined by Tang (2011) and
Yilanci and Eris (2012). Five of the studied markets showed evidence of convergence,
according to the findings. Existing tourism marketing policies, according to these
studies, are ineffective in some markets. When structural changes are taken into
consideration, convergence was detected on 80% of tourist marketplaces (Tan and Tan,
2013). In 13 of the 15 tourist markets, there was no convergence. To enhance the
number of markets converging for the same period, tourism policies must be modified.

2.4 Empirical studies for Greece

Only a few research on Greek tourism have been discovered. The majority of published
papers on tourism in Greece concentrate on its design and economic aspects. In
Greece, a new tourism map is emerging, with areas specializing in domestic tourism
losing ground. From a political standpoint, the need to internationalize each region's
tourist offering exposes the detrimental repercussions of the Greek economy's crisis.

Methodological Issues
3.1 Stochastic convergence
Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1992) claimed that economies are convergent in the long run,
and that economic differences tend to disappear with time. Bernard and Durlauf (1995)
and Carlino and Mills (1995) were the first to establish econometric analysis (1993).
When an economy's growth rate approaches that of the reference economy, i.e. the
mean per capita income, stochastic convergence occurs. The current study examines
the convergence between relevant tourist arrivals in Greece and overall arrivals in other
destinations, rather than the traditional approach of income convergence.

3.2 Panel unit root tests

The Levin, Lin, and Chu (2002) and Breitung (2000) tests assume that the cross-
sectional units have the same common unit root process. When analyzing time series
data, determining stationarity is an important factor to consider. The ADF test is used to
look at how a panel of variables i=1,...,N integrate with time. It's based on the above-
mentioned relation (4), and the ADF regression can include a constant term and/or a
time trend.
Instead of unit root tests, the Hadri test is the only one that uses stationarity tets. In a
model with diverse trends and short-term dynamics, it generalizes the process. It
demonstrates that the resulting test has a normal distribution and is more powerful than
the Levin Lin and Chu test.The ADF & PP-Fischer Chi-squared test, which combines
probability values with unit root unit tests, is an alternative to the Fisher (1932) test. If pi
is the likelihood of each individual test achieving a cross-sectional unit, the test is
considered trustworthy.
The test is based on the Lagrange-Strazisich test, and it works by detecting structural
change endogenously. Zt = [1,t,D1t,DT1t]′ in the case of a structural change in the
constant term in period TB1. The null hypothesis of a unit root is rejected if the p-value
is less than a set critical value.

Data and Empirical Analysis

4.1 Data
A study of tourism statistics from 1995 to 2015 was done by the World Bank and the
Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises. Albania, Australia, Belgium, France,
Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Netherlands,
Romania, Russia, and the Czech Republic are among the 18 nations that pick Greece
as a tourist destination.

4.2 Results of unit root tests without structural changes

Individual effects and isolated linear trends were tested in 18 sample nations with and
without individual effects. The findings reveal that the differences between tourist and
total arrivals in Greece are stable. Unit root tests presume that the series under
investigation is evolving reasonably smoothly over time, with no substantial changes
affecting the chronological order's evolution. For all of the r countries, the conventional
tests do not confirm the existence of convergence.

4.3. Results of unit root tests with structural changes

Lee and Strazisich (2004) conducted an LM test with a structural modification. This test
is conducted in panels, with results coming in for each country independently. It is
thought to be more trustworthy because it does not have any issues with degrees of
freedom.
The table below indicates which countries reject per 1%, 5%, and 10% of a unit root's
zero point, respectively. This suggests that tourism markets are stochastically
convergent towards Greece.

Conclusions
For this study I looked into whether or not there was convergence in the tourism sector,
with a focus on the Greek tourist market and it was sought to discover which nations are
reconverging, if any, in order to determine whether Greece has an efficient tourist policy
for these countries and the Greece is developing a new tourism map.
This study's was purpose is to see if stochastic convergence is limited to just two
countries: France and the Czech Republic and the second level of study included unit
root checks with a structural change in each country, as well as in a panel and
worldwide context.
For the majority of the countries in the significant structural changes and show evidence
of stochastic convergence, Russia is the only non-converging country observed,
indicating that, while tourist demand from this market has increased, strategy toward
this market appears to be ineffective for the long-term results.
And it is shows for how the flow and importance of the tourism sector for each country.