The purpose of this current study is to assess the effect of tourism density on the environmental
performance index on 10 ASEAN countries from 2002 to 2017. This study adopted panel data
regressions with the Driscoll and Kraay standard. This method accounts for cross-sectional
dependence, heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, and the possible correlation between countries
when observing the environmental performance index and tourism density. Empirical results
found a statistically significant and negative relationship between the tourism density index and
the environmental performance index in 10 ASEAN countries. This result implied that an increase
in the tourism density index will deteriorate the environmental performance index. The results of
this study underline the need for sustainable tourism policies and practices in tourism destinations
to be executed by the local stakeholders and policymaker to accelerating the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) in ASEAN countries. In addition, this study offers justification for
the policymaker to give careful attention to the carrying capacity of a tourist destination.
Keywords
Tourism density index; Environmental performance index; ASEAN; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)