Achieving Balanced Regional Development in China: Is Domestic or International Tourism More Efficacious?

Carey Goh, Hengyun Li and Qiu Zhang
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Carey Goh: School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Hengyun Li: School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, University of South Carolina, 701 Assenbly Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
Qiu Zhang: School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Tourism Economics, 2015, vol. 21, issue 2, 369-386

Abstract: Many developing countries are now suffering from rather large regional development gaps. Can tourism promote balanced regional development (BRD) and so narrow such gaps? This study empirically examines and compares the impact of both international and domestic tourism on China's regional development using the Gini coefficient method and the Granger causality test. The results indicate that the spatial distribution of the total tourism industry is more unbalanced than that of the regional economy. However, the imbalance in the spatial distribution is decreasing more rapidly than the imbalance in the regional economy. The Gini coefficient decomposition analysis shows that declining tourism spatial distribution imbalances are mainly and increasingly caused by domestic tourism. Granger causality tests show that tourism development will promote BRD through domestic tourism rather than international tourism. Finally, the authors draw out the policy implications for China's tourism industry and BRD.

Keywords: regional development; domestic tourism; international tourism; Granger causality test; Gini coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:toueco:v:21:y:2015:i:2:p:369-386

DOI: 10.5367/te.2013.0353

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