Measurement and Spatial Variation of Green Total Factor Productivity of the Tourism Industry in China

Xingming Li, Pengfei Shi, Yazhi Han, Aimin Deng and Duan Liu
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Xingming Li: Key Laboratory for Geographical Process Analysis & Simulation Hubei Province, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Pengfei Shi: School of Economics and Management, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Yazhi Han: Key Laboratory for Geographical Process Analysis & Simulation Hubei Province, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Aimin Deng: School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Duan Liu: School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Promoting tourism in China using sustainable practices has become a very important issue. In order to analyze temporal characteristics and spatial regularities of green total factor productivity (GTFP), carbon emissions and the consumption of energy related to tourism in China were estimated using a "bottom-up" method. The construction of a measurement framework (including carbon emissions and energy consumption) of GTFP for the tourism industry was also undertaken. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) model and the Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) index were used to measure and calculate tourism GTFP in China between 2007 and 2018, as well as analyze spatio-temporal differences. Results indicate that: (1) carbon emissions and the consumption of energy are increasing, and they have not yet peaked, with traffic associated with tourism accounting for the largest proportion among tourism sectors; the spatial distribution of carbon emissions and the consumption of energy is not balanced; (2) green development of tourism in China has achieved a good level of performance during the study period, driven by technical efficiency. Since 2014, pure technical efficiency (PE) has been >1, indicating that the tourism industry in China has entered a stage of change and promotion; (3) significant spatial differences exist in tourism GTFP in China. For example, the overall pattern of being strongest in the east and weakest in the west has not changed. Currently, eastern, central, and western regions in China rely on different dynamic mechanisms to promote tourism green development. In addition, some provinces have become the core or secondary growth poles of tourism green development in China.

Keywords: tourism industry; green total factor productivity; measurement; spatial variation; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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