The Impact of Length of Stay on Visitor Spending During The 2034 World Cup: An Instrumental ‎Variable

  • Authors

    • Walaa Ahmed Hamdi Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
    https://doi.org/10.14419/qba7wx64

    Received date: March 23, 2026

    Accepted date: April 28, 2026

    Published date: May 10, 2026

  • Causal effect; FIFA World Cup; Instrumental Variable; Length of Stay; Tourism Economics; Two-Stage Least Squares

  • Abstract

    This study examines the causal effect of stay length on visitor spending during the 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Using a large-scale simulated dataset informed by FIFA projections, the analysis employs Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) regression to address potential endogeneity and compare with Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). Package tour participation serves as the instrument, and the age group is included as a control. The results indicate a strong, statistically significant positive effect of length of stay on visitor spending for both methods. The instrumental variable estimates further confirm the robustness of this relationship. These findings underscore the economic importance of encouraging longer visitor stays and provide methodological insights for analyzing the impacts of mega-events under data constraints.

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