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eISSN: 2083-5906
ISSN: 1230-1485
ISSN: 1230-1485
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Unveiling China's Tourism Carbon Footprint:
A Comprehensive Analysis of Measurement,
Drivers, and Regional Dynamics
1
School of Economics & Management, Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Hangzhou, China
2
School-of-Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America, PA 19104
3
School of Economics, Zhejiang GongShang University, Hangzhou, China
Submission date: 2024-10-17
Final revision date: 2025-05-27
Acceptance date: 2025-06-12
Online publication date: 2025-10-13
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This paper uses provincial panel data from 2005 to 2017 to measure the carbon footprint of China's
tourism industry, and based on an extended mixing model, explores the spatiotemporal evolution
characteristics of the tourism industry and analyzes the key influencing factors of China's tourism
industry carbon footprint. The results indicate that, firstly, the carbon footprint of China's tourism
industry has increased approximately threefold over the study period, with an average annual growth
rate of 12.25%. The total carbon footprint has exhibited a steady upward trend over time and a pattern of
increasing, then decreasing, and subsequently increasing from west to east spatially. Secondly, there is
an environmental Kuznets curve relationship between the carbon footprint of China's tourism industry
and economic growth. Thirdly, the energy structure and industrial structure of the tourism industry
have a significant positive impact on the carbon footprint of tourism, while technological progress does
not demonstrate a green effect within the industry. Fourthly, there is significant regional and sectoral
heterogeneity in the influencing factors of China's tourism industry carbon footprint, with varying
driving factors across different regions and sectors. The conclusions of this study offer valuable insights
for the formulation of low-carbon development strategies for the tourism industry.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
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