The pattern of international travel and tourism demand, and its change over time, is quite pronounced. The determinants of this pattern are potentially many and varied, as evidenced by the large number of empirical studies which have been undertaken over the last three decades. Diestinations atempt to influence this pattern through their promotional activities in foreign countries. Many countries have substantially increased their spending on such promotions in recent years as international tourism has become much more lucrative and competitive. However, the empirical evidence of the impact of promotion remains sketchy. Few studies have attempted to evaluate the promotional impact empirically, and those which have, have generally produced inconclusive and varied results. To investigate this variability, 197 marketing expenditure elasticities of demand from among five empirical studies were examined meta-analytically. The results indicate that there exists an underlying pattern which explains, in part, some of the variability. The results therefore provide stronger evidence of the link between promotion and demand in international tourism than has been previously the case.
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