Investigating the influence of Tourism on Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from Hainan Island, China

Tourist-related activities continuously increase the competition for water, food, land, natural resources and the associated energy consumption. The input of per capita energy consumption boosts economic growth which also increases the greenhouse effect and global warming. While extensive research efforts have been devoted to exploring the future growth of tourism-related emissions, little attention has been given to evaluating the dynamic linkages among tourism development, CO2 emissions, and economic growth in a region where tourism is a pillar industry. This exploratory study selects Hainan Island, China, where tourism significantly contributes to the economic growth of the Island as an example. Data were obtained from the official statistics during the period 1986 to 2014. During that period of time period, Hainan has seen a faster growth in foreign and domestic tourism. The study aims at validating the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and investigating the relationship between tourism-related economic growth and CO2 emissions by applying a bivariate vector autoregressive (VAR) model. The results of this study showed that there is no direct evidence to support the inverted-U relationship between tourism-related economic growth and CO2 emissions in this Island area. The specific implications for future research are also discussed.