Intra-Industry Trade in International Tourism Services

This paper is the first study of the determinants of intra-industry trade (IIT) in internationaf tourism services for the United States with Grubel-Lloyd IIT index. The empirical results indicate that the difference in per capita income, market concentration, the trade imbalance, the difference of market openness and the difference of tourism resources are very significant contributors to the volume of IIT in international tourism service trade. These empirical findings confirm the central status of the U.S. in the whole world, and confirm new theoretical trade models, in contrast to the traditional trade theory.