Bilateral trade and tourism relations between the EU and BSEC countries

  • Received May 2, 2018;
    Accepted June 23, 2018;
    Published October 26, 2018
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  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.16(4).2018.09
  • Article Info
    Volume 16 2018, Issue #4, pp. 91-101
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The European Union and the Black Sea Economics Cooperation countries are geographical neighbors and important trade partners. Greece, Bulgaria and Romania have a cross-membership in both organizations. The paper analyzes trends and structure of trade relations of the EU and BSEC countries. The EU trade with the 12 BSEC countries is about 640 billion dollars. The BSEC countries with the EU membership or a custom union with the EU have more intra-industry trade with the EU than other BSEC countries. International tourism is an important component of the trade in services between the regions. Following the review of the factors of international tourism demand, a gravity model for tourism arrivals is presented. The model considers demand in the country of origin, international tourism capacities in destination countries and distance. The analysis helps to determine under-traded and competitive destinations in the BSEC countries for the EU travelers. Greece is the most efficient in attracting the EU tourists. Finally, country-specific differences in demand factors are considered.

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    • Table 1. The EU exports of goods to the BSEC, billion euros
    • Table 2. The EU imports of goods from the BSEC, billion euros
    • Table 3. Structure of the EU merchandise trade with the BSEC countries (2016)
    • Table 4. Geographical structure of the EU trade in services and travel services with the BSEC countries (2016), million euros
    • Table 5. Trends in the EU trade in services and travel services with the BSEC countries, million euros
    • Table 6. Regression results for number of trips of the EU residents to the 6 BSEC countries
    • Table 7. International tourism specialization and underexploited tourism potential in BSEC countries
    • Table 8. Correlations between trips to the 6 BSEC countries and their factors, by country of origin of travelers