ABSTRACT This study investigates the role of the tourism industry in driving product diversification within creative industries. To achieve this objective, we constructed baskets of creative products for 110 countries, including 242 six‐digit Harmonized System codes. We then measured the level of diversification of creative products within the baskets using the Herfindahl–Hirschman concentration index, the Theil, the Between‐Theil and Within‐Theil inequality indices, and the number of active (exported) products. The tourism industry development level was represented by foreign tourist arrivals and tourism receipts. By specifying a dynamic panel data model estimated via the system GMM estimator and panel quantile regression method, we found that the tourism industry development spurs creative product diversification by fostering engagement with creative industries and improving the productive capabilities. The results remained robust across econometric methods, country subsamples, and the measurements of creative product diversification and tourism industry development.
Chang et al. (2026) studied this question.