Optimizing tourism-led growth in West Africa: A regional political economy and institutional perspective

Tourism is increasingly recognized as a viable pathway for economic diversification, employment creation, and foreign exchange generation in developing regions. In West Africa, however, tourism’s growth potential remains constrained by weak infrastructure, fragmented policy frameworks, governance deficiencies, and limited regional coordination. This study examines how a regionally coordinated political economy and institutional framework can optimize tourism-led growth across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Drawing on political economy theory, institutional economics, and destination competitiveness models, the study adopts a mixed-methods approach combining panel data analysis for 2010–2023, exploratory cluster analysis, and qualitative comparative case studies. The results demonstrate that infrastructure development, governance quality, and digital readiness exert statistically significant positive effects on tourism outcomes. Regional integration further enhances these effects when embedded within credible institutional arrangements. Governance quality plays a critical moderating role, amplifying the returns to both infrastructure investment and digital transformation. By contrast, weak institutions dilute these gains and limit the effectiveness of regional initiatives. The study advances the literature by conceptualizing tourism development as a regional public good within an integrated economic space. It proposes an empirically grounded framework that links national enabling conditions with supranational coordination mechanisms. The findings provide policy-relevant insights for ECOWAS and African policymakers, highlighting the importance of institutional reform, regionally coordinated infrastructure planning, digital integration, and collective tourism governance. More broadly, the study contributes to debates on tourism-led growth, regional development, and institutional capacity in Africa and other developing regional blocs, with clear implications for sustainable inclusive development.