The influence and spatial spillover effects of tourism economy on urban green development in China

Ecological priority and green development has become one of China's national strategies. Additionally, the scientific understanding of the green externality of tourism economy and its spatial spillover is still insufficient. Therefore, in terms of theoretical and practical significance, it is necessary to demonstrate whether China's tourism economy can promote green development and reveal its spatial spillover characteristics. On the basis of constructing the spatial spillover mechanism of green development effect of tourism economy, this paper selects green total factor productivity (GTFP) as the evaluation index of urban green development level based on bibliometric analysis; integrates multi-source data and uses EBM-GML model to calculate and decompose the GTFP of 284 cities at prefecture level in China from 2005 to 2016; uses the spatial analysis method to describe the spatio-temporal pattern and spatial clustering of GTFP at prefecture level. Based on the spatial Durbin model, this paper reveals the impact of tourism economy on green development and spatial spillover effect. The results show that: (1) the annual average of GTFP in eastern, central, western and northeastern China showed an overall upward trend. Eastern China has the largest improvement in GTFP (accumulated growth of 48.08%), followed by the western region (accumulated growth of 44.18%) and the northeastern region (accumulated growth of 36.05%), while the central region has the lowest improvement (accumulated growth of 26.56%), so that the "Central Collapse" feature is obvious. Moreover, there is a spatial dislocation between China's GTFP pattern and its economic map at the prefecture level. (2) The tourism economy could significantly promote the growth of local GTFP in tourist destinations by simultaneously promoting green efficiency change (GEC) and green technological change (GTC). (3) The spatial spillover mechanism of tourism economy on green development is reflected in the fact that tourism economy can significantly improve the GEC in neighboring cities, but it cannot significantly promote the GTC in neighboring cities. (4) In terms of policy, it is necessary to strengthen the linkage development of tourism economy within the region, and build an innovative spillover mechanism for tourism destinations. In addition, it is feasible to promote the coordinated development of tourism destinations and neighboring industries, and create a regional industrial ecosystem and complex with deep participation in the tourism industry. © 2021, Science Press. All right reserved.