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Karen Jackson INTRODUCTION Today, the business volume of tourism equals or even surpasses that of oil exports, food products or automobiles. Tourism has become one of the major players in international commerce, and represents at the same time one of the main income sources for many developing countries. (United Nations World Tourism Organization) The importance of tourism in terms of income to both developing and developed countries is without question. Therefore it is unsurprising that the body of literature considering the determinants of demand for tourism is vast. Income, price, exchange rate and transport costs are considered to be of particular significance. However, there are challenges in the construction of a number of variables. Problems arise in defining and measuring different types of tourism and marketing effort. This chapter outlines key findings from previous research with a specific focus on the role of trade and regionalism in demand for tourism. Since the creation of the Silk Road – a network of trans-continental trade routes – trade and tourism have been inexplicably linked. However, there is a limited empirical literature that considers the relationship between tourism and trade. Recent studies have called into question the results from the earlier literature, which either ignore the effect of trade or inappropriately attempt to measure the impact by estimating single equations. Since the Second World War there has also been a huge expansion of regionalism, which may impact on tourism through trade as well as a range of other dimensions. However, the empirical literature almost completely...