The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive literature review on the temporal relationship between tourism and economic growth. Specifically, the role of a such economic activity, as a promoter of short and long run economic growth, is investigated by assessing the so-called Tourism Led Growth Hypothesis (TLGH). To this aim, various methodological approaches have been used, such as VAR, VECM, ARDL, ARCH, GARCH, cross section and panel data. The cointegrating relationship of the economic variables allows one to test the short and long run Granger no-causality. Overall, the empirical findings, emerging from the existing literature, provide evidence that indeed tourism activity drives economic development in all the countries analysed. This outcome further supports the well-established contribution that international tourism has to the economic development.