DOES REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION FACILITATE THE HIGH-QUALITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY? EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

The regional economic integration strategy facilitates not only interconnection between provinces and cities in a region but also the rapid growth of China's tourism economy. Nevertheless, the questions of how the rapid growth of the tourism industry affects the ecological environment and whether it is conducive to the high-quality development of the tourism industry in China remain unanswered Examining these questions can help to summarise the internal motivations of the regional economic integration strategy to facilitate the high-quality development of the tourism industry. To determine how to resolve the issues in the high-quality development of the tourism industry, using data front provincial statistical yearbooks of China, statistical bulletins. and the CSMAR database front 2001 to 2019. the influence of regional economic integration on the development quality of the tourism industry was analysed empirically. Results show that regional economic integration restrains the high-quality development of tourism in China's Yangtze River Delta. A certain degree of conflict exists between regional economic integration and the ecological environment. The influence of regional economic integration on the high-quality development of the tourism industry in different provinces and cities varies. Regional economic integration significantly restrains the overall high-quality development of the tourism industry in the Yangtze River Delta. However, this influence is not significant in the provinces and cities in the region. Therefore, considerable attention should be paid to the conflict risks between regional economic integration and the ecological environment. The different provinces and cities are encouraged to strengthen their communication and cooperation and promote regional economic integration development and ecological environmental improvement simultaneously to realise the sustainable and high-quality development of the tourism industry. This study provides a reference for the policy practice of regional economic integration and the high-quality development of the tourism industry in China.