Tourism Impact the Economic Growth of ASEAN Countries. Lesson Learned for Post-Pandemic Covid-19 Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has had the greatest impact on the travel and tourism industry. ASEAN, which is one of the most visited regions, has seen a significant drop in visitors. This study examined the performance of tourism contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in ASEAN countries to learn about economic recovery after a pandemic using tourism indicators such as tourist arrival, tourism receipt, tourist expenditure, and exchange rate of nine out of ten ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar. A quantitative method based on secondary data from 2009 to 2018. The World Bank, the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Census and Economic Information Centre (CEIC), and Statista provided the data for this study. To test the hypotheses, data were analyzed using a Multiple Regression Model. The result shows tourism receipts and tourist expenditure have a significant positive effect, whereas tourist arrivals have a significant negative effect, and the exchange rate has no significant effect on GDP. The result also shows all variables contribute to 72.9 percent of GDP in ASEAN countries. Tourist expenditure was discovered to be the most important variable among all variables. As a result, the governments of ASEAN countries should pay more attention to tourist spending and attract higher spenders.