Visa Restrictions and Bilateral Travel

The vast majority of states impose visa restrictions on travelers from some foreign countries. Such restrictions are likely to deter foreign visitors from affected countries. They will therefore reduce the flow of tourists, businesspeople, and other travelers and thereby damage a country's tourism industry, reduce its trade, and affect its scientific, cultural, and other exchanges with foreign countries. This study estimates the damaging effect exerted by visa restrictions on bilateral travel in a country dyad data set covering the period from 1995 to 2005. It finds that, depending on the exact model specification chosen, visa restrictions reduce such travel by on average between 52 and 63 percent but with substantial regional variation. Given this large detrimental effect of visa restrictions on bilateral travel, the article discusses the determinants of why states impose such restrictions.