The paper studies the demand for international tourism, in the Mediterranea
n region. First a review of the most important attempts to model econometri
cally the demand for international tourism in the past is given, followed b
y a formal presentation of the proposed theoretical model. In particular, a
version of the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) is adopted and a descript
ion of the variables involved and their sources, together with the estimati
on procedure, are provided. The diagrammatic analysis performed contributes
to a better understanding of the evolution of the dependent variable over
time. The results with respect to the expenditure as well as to the own- an
d cross-price elasticities may be regarded as econometrically satisfactory
and a reasonable economic explanation is given.