Exploring Tourism Efficiency and Its Drivers to Understand the Backwardness of the Tourism Industry in Gansu, China

Dan Xue, Xianzong Li (), Fayyaz Ahmad (), Nabila Abid and Zulqarnain Mushtaq
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Dan Xue: School of Business, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Xianzong Li: Institute of Urban and Rural Civilization, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Fayyaz Ahmad: School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Nabila Abid: Department of Economia Aziendale, University of Gabriele D’Annunzio Cheiti-Pescara, 65127 Pescara, Italy
Zulqarnain Mushtaq: School of Economics and Finance, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-15

Abstract: Gansu Province is rich in tourism resources, and it is the hometown of the “copper galloping horse”, which is the logo of China’s tourism. However, the scale and revenues of tourism in Gansu province are still at a low level. This paper first evaluated the tourism efficiency of 14 cities and prefectures of Gansu Province in China from 2011 to 2019 using the super-slack-based measure (Super-SBM) and then investigated the internal driving mechanism of the efficiency change through the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index and its decomposition, and finally analyzed the external influencing elements of tourist efficiency by the Tobit model. The results revealed that the tourism efficiency of Gansu Province had increased rapidly during the study period, especially after 2016, the rising range increased. From 2011 to 2019, the cumulative changes in GML index, technological change (TC), and efficiency change (EC) of tourism efficiency in Gansu Province were 5.053, 4.145 and 1.160, respectively, indicating that the improvement of tourism efficiency in Gansu province is mainly due to technological progress. The regression results of the Tobit model show that the status of the tourism industry, trade openness, information level, and technological innovation level can significantly promote tourism efficiency in the province. At the same time, upgrading the industrial structure and the improvement of greening coverage inhibit tourism efficiency. However, the impact of the economic development level on the tourism efficiency of Gansu Province is not apparent. According to the research results, this paper puts forward corresponding suggestions to promote the development of tourism in Gansu Province. This study is crucial for hospitality, tourism, and policy sectors to understand the underlying factors and promote the healthy development of the tourism industry in Gansu Province.

Keywords: tourism efficiency; Super-SBM; Tobit model; influencing factors; Gansu Province (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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