Rural Residents' Income Structure, Population Aging and Tourism Consumption: Evidence from China

Income is a major factor affecting the willingness to travel of rural residents. Against the background of increasing population aging, the level of tourism consumption of rural residents in China has become significantly weaker than that of urban residents. To explore the upgrading paths of rural residents' tourism consumption, the influence mechanism of their income structure and population aging on tourism consumption was analyzed using a fixed-effects model, random-effects model, and panel data of 30 provincial areas in China from 2010 to 2015. Results show that wage and operating income have significant positive impacts on the tourism consumption of rural residents. However, property and transfer income, which are not the main sources of income among rural residents, have little effect on tourism consumption. The different effects show significant regional differences. In addition, population aging has a significant negative moderating effect on the relationships between wage income and tourism consumption, and between operating income and tourism consumption. Findings provide a theoretical basis and decision-making reference for the government to formulate appropriate rural residents' income-increasing policies and optimize income structure policies.