Economic policy uncertainty (EPU) has various implications for financial markets. This study examines the effects of EPU on stock prices of listed tourism companies in Turkey for the time period of 2002–2013. We show that EPU in Europe and Turkey has significant negative effects on tourism index returns. The finding reflects that stock returns of the Turkish tourism companies apparently depend on domestic and international economic uncertainty. Among the included macroeconomic variables, consumer confidence index is the only factor which has an impact on stock returns.

This article aims to evaluate the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the STOXX Europe 600 Travel & Leisure Price Index by utilizing a monthly data set for 20 years through 1997–2016. It is found that both the European and the global EPU have significant negative effects on the stock returns of travel and leisure companies. We demonstrate the significantly superior forecasting power of EPU measures on tourism and leisure stock returns, relative to a rather weak forecasting power of various macroeconomic variables.