: 10.56472/25835238/IRJEMS-V4I5P147Andhalia Liza Marie, Regi Muzio Ponziani. "Does Forecasting Using Regression Fare Better Than Other Methods?" International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 374-381, 2025.
This research aims to find the best model to forecast the number of tourists visiting Indonesia among various methods, including multiple regression. The research period was from January 2017 until August 2024. Therefore, the period of the pandemic was covered in this research. The models tested were exponential smoothing, double exponential smoothing, multiple regression, and moving average. The research found that the moving average with the order of 2 is the best-performing model with an error percentage of around 6%. The regression model performs fairly well, with a MAPE of around 16%. The parameters in the regression are all significant, with an adjusted R-squared of 84.49%. This means we can control COVID in the regression model to have a MAPE score below 20%. The second and third best models are exponential smoothing with α of 0.8 and double exponential smoothing with α and β of 0.8. Since the MAPE for exponential and double exponential smoothing does not vary widely, we can infer that the trend component in exponential smoothing does not contribute much to the forecasting accuracy. Future research can include a more established regression, such as ridge regression or lasso regression, for forecasting purposes and compare their performance with machine learning/deep learning models. This will shed light on the efficacy of time series econometrics performance, especially compared to the recent machine learning/deep learning development.
[1] Abu, N., Taib, S. A., Zainal, N. A., Ramli, N. A., & Go, C. K. (2025). Time Series Forecasting for the Tourism Industry in Malaysia. Advances and Applications in Statistics, 92(1), 77-87. doi:https://doi.org/10.17654/0972361725004
[2] Alcala-Ordonez, A., & Segarra, V. (2023). Tourism and Economic Development: A Literature Review to Highlight Main Empirical Findings. Tourism Economics, 31(1), 76-103. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/13548166231219638
[3] Anisa, M. P., Irawan, H., & Widiyanesti, S. (2021). Forecasting Demand Factors of Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia's Tourism Industry Using Recurrent Neural Network. IOC Conf. Series: Materials Science Engineering, 1077. doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1077/1/012035
[4] Azizurrohman, M., Hartarto, R. B., Lin, Y. M., & Nahar, F. H. (2021). The Role of Foreign Tourists in Economic Growth: Evidence from Indonesia. Jurnal Ekonomi & Studi Pembangunan, 22(2), 313-322. doi:https://journal.umy.ac.id/index.php/esp/article/view/11591
[5] Ernawati, D. P. (2019). Development of the Tourism Industry as the Motor of Economic Growth in Indonesia. International Journal of Science and Society (IJSOC), 1(4), 145-153. doi:https://doi.org/10.54783/ijsoc.v1i4.30
[6] Hsiao, W. C., Chiang, H. C., & N, A. (2024). The Study of Economic Growth and Tourism Industry in Thailand. European Journal of Development Studies, 4(4), 62-68. doi:https://doi.org/10.24018/ejdevelop.2024.4.4.370
[7] Hutama, D. A., & Suliswanto, M. S. (2023). The Influence of the Tourism Sector on Economic Growth and Labor Absorption in the Province of Bali. Journal of Indonesian Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 6(1), 15-26. doi:https://doi.org/10.17509/jithor.v6i1.54589
[8] Khusna, H., Mashuri, M., Ahsan, M., Wibawati, W., Aksioma, D. F., & Suhermi, N. (2024). Forecasting Number of International Tourist Arrivals Using Multi-Input Intervention ARIMA Model. BAREKENG: Journal of Mathematics and Its Application, 18(3), 1539-1549. doi:https://doi.org/10.30598/barekengvol18iss3pp1539-1548
[9] Kurtulay, Z., & Kizilirmak, I. (2024). Forecasting Turkiye's International Tourism Demand. Journal of Global Tourism and Technology Research, 5(1), 12-26. doi:10.54493/jgttr.1408566
[10] Naseem, S. (2021). The Role of Tourism in Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Saudi Arabia. Economies, 9(3). doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/economies9030117
[11] Nguyen, P. C., Schinckus, C., Chong, F. H., Nguyen, B. Q., & Tran, D. L. (2025). Tourism and Contribution to Employment: Global Evidence. Journal of Economics and Development, 27(1), 22-37. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/JED-07-2024-0269
[12] Nurhasanah, D., Salsabila, A. M., & Kartikasari, M. D. (2022). Forecasting International Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia Using the SARIMA Model. International Journal of Statistics and Data Science, 2(1), 19-25. doi:https://doi.org/10.20885/enthusiastic.vol2.iss1.art3
[13] Paudel, T., Li, W., & Dhakal, T. (2024). Forecasting Tourist Arrivals in Nepal: A Comparative Analysis of Seasonal Models and Implications. Journal of Statistical Theory and Applications, 23, 206-223. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s44199-024-00079-7
[14] Purnomo, S. D. (2022). The Effect of Tourism on Economic Growth: Empirical Study in Eastern Indonesia. E-Jurnal Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Udayana, 11(8), 959-968.
[15] Ramadhani, A., Wahyuningsih, S., & Siringoringo, M. (2022). Forecasting the Number of Foreign Tourist Visits to Indonesia Using Intervention Analysis with Step Function. Jurnal Matematika, Statistika dan Komputasi, 19(1), 146-162. doi:https://doi.org/10.20956/j.v19i1.21607
[16] Rasool, H., Maqbool, S., & Tarique, M. (2021). The Relationship Between Tourism and Economic Growth Among BRICS Countries: A Panel Cointegration Analysis. Future Business Journal, 7.
[17] Rianda, F., & Usman, H. (2023). Forecasting Tourism Demand DUring the COVID Pandemic: ARIMAX and Intervention Modelling Approaches. BAREKENG: Journal of Mathematics and Its Applications, 17(1), 285-294. doi:https://doi.org/10.30598/barekengvol17iss1pp0285-0294
[18] Rotar, L. J., Gricar, S., & Bojnec, S. (2023). The Relationship Between Tourism and Employment: Evidence from the Alps-Adriatic Country. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istrazivanja, 36. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2022.2080737
[19] Saputra, Z., Sartiyah, S., & Seftarita, C. (2022). The Impact of Tourism on Economic Growth: Evidence from Aceh Province, Indonesia. International Journal of Global Optimization and Its Application, 1(3), 223-228. doi:https://doi.org/10.56225/ijgoia.v1i3.74
[20] Simorangkir, C. O., Ramadhan, G., Sukran, M. A., & Manalu, T. (2024). Tourism Development Impact on Economic Growth and Poverty Alleviation in West Java. Jurnal Kepariwisataan Indonesia, 18(2), 175-196. doi:https://doi.org/10.47608/jki.v18i22024.175–196
[21] Suhel, S., & Bashir, A. (2018). The Role of Tourism Toward Economic Growth in the Local Economy. Economic Journal of Emerging Markets, 10(1), 32-39. doi:10.20885/ejem.vol10.iss1.art4
[22] Upadhayaya, R. P. (2021). Forecasting International Tourists Arrival to Nepal Using Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA). Janapriya Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 10(1), 107-117. doi:https://doi.org/10.3126/jjis.v10i01.42614
Double Exponential Smoothing, Exponential Smoothing, Forecasting, Moving Average, Regression.