Spatial-Temporal Characteristics and Driving Factors of the Eco-Efficiency of Tourist Hotels in China

Duoxun Ba, Jing Zhang, Suocheng Dong (), Bing Xia () and Lin Mu
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Duoxun Ba: Tourism College, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Jing Zhang: Tourism College, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Suocheng Dong: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Bing Xia: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Lin Mu: Management Institute of The People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Culture and Tourism Quality Supervision, Beijing 100740, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-24

Abstract: At present, COVID-19 is seriously affecting the economic development of the hotel industry, and at the same time, the world is vigorously calling for “carbon emission mitigation”. Under these two factors, tourist hotels are in urgent need of effective tools to balance economic and social contributions with ecological and environmental impacts. Therefore, this paper takes Chinese tourist hotels as the research object and constructs a research framework for Chinese tourist hotels by constructing a Super-SBM Non-Oriented model. We measured the economic efficiency and eco-efficiency of Chinese tourist hotels from 2000 to 2019; explored spatial-temporal evolution patterns of their income, carbon emissions, eco-efficiency, and economic efficiency through spatial hotspot analysis and center of gravity analysis; and identified the spatial agglomeration characteristics of such hotels through the econometric panel Tobit model to identify the different driving factors inside and outside the tourist hotel system. The following results were obtained: (1) the eco-efficiency of China’s tourist hotels is higher than the economic efficiency, which is in line with the overall Kuznets curve theory, but the income and carbon emissions have not yet been decoupled; (2) most of China’s tourist hotels are crudely developed with much room for improving the economic efficiency, and most of the provincial and regional tourist hotels are at a low-income level, but the carbon emissions are still on the increase; and (3) income, labor, carbon emissions, waste emissions, and water consumption are the internal drivers of China’s tourist hotels, while industrial structure, urbanization rate, energy efficiency, and information technology are the external drivers of China’s tourist hotels. The research results provide a clear path for the reduction in carbon emissions and the improvement of the eco-efficiency of Chinese tourist hotels. Under the backdrop of global climate change and the post-COVID-19 era, the research framework and conclusions provide references for countries with new economies similar to China and countries that need to quickly restore the hotel industry.

Keywords: tourist hotel; eco-efficiency; carbon emissions; Super-SBM Non-Oriented; driving factors; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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