IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i4p1456-d321138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating the Impact of Air Pollution on China’s Inbound Tourism: A Gravity Model Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Boyang Xu

    (School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China)

  • Daxin Dong

    (School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China)

Abstract

China’s inbound tourism grew very slowly in recent years. This study modelled China’s inbound tourism based on a gravity model with province-level inbound tourist arrivals data from 13 countries of origin between 2010 and 2016. It was found that air pollution in tourist destinations and origin regions both had significant negative impacts on China’s inbound tourism. On average, if the concentration of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM 2.5 ) in China and foreign countries increased by 1 μ g/m 3 , inbound tourist arrivals would decline by approximately 1.7% and 3.8%, respectively. The effect of pollution in destination regions is explained by the importance of clean air as a favored characteristic of tourist attractions. The effect of pollution in tourist origin countries is explained by more awareness of and concern about air pollution by potential tourists if they live in more polluted countries. Further analysis showed that the impact of air pollution in destination regions was larger for tourists coming from more polluted and Asian countries, and visiting less polluted and more popular destinations. This study has a clear policy implication: improving air quality can be considered as a straightforward and effective way to promote inbound tourism in China. If air quality in China can be substantially improved in the future, inbound tourist arrivals have the potential to rise by at least tens of millions of person-times.

Suggested Citation

  • Boyang Xu & Daxin Dong, 2020. "Evaluating the Impact of Air Pollution on China’s Inbound Tourism: A Gravity Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1456-:d:321138
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1456/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1456/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ana-Maria Săndică & Monica Dudian & Aurelia Ştefănescu, 2018. "Air Pollution and Human Development in Europe: A New Index Using Principal Component Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, January.
    2. Zhang, Lei & Gao, Jing, 2016. "Exploring the effects of international tourism on China's economic growth, energy consumption and environmental pollution: Evidence from a regional panel analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 225-234.
    3. Morley, Clive & Rosselló, Jaume & Santana-Gallego, Maria, 2014. "Gravity models for tourism demand: theory and use," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-10.
    4. Chun-Hung Lee & Han-Shen Chen & Gwo-Bao Liou & Bi-Kun Tsai & Chi-Ming Hsieh, 2018. "Evaluating International Tourists’ Perceptions on Cultural Distance and Recreation Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, November.
    5. Marie-Louise Mangion & Ramesh Durbarry & M. Thea Sinclair, 2005. "Tourism Competitiveness: Price and Quality," Tourism Economics, , vol. 11(1), pages 45-68, March.
    6. Boopen Seetanah & Raja Sannassee & Sawkut Rojid, 2015. "The impact of relative prices on tourism demand for Mauritius: An empirical analysis," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3), pages 363-376, May.
    7. Fabio Gaetano Santeramo & Mariangela Morelli, 2016. "Modelling tourism flows through gravity models: a quantile regression approach," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(11), pages 1077-1083, September.
    8. Daxin Dong & Xiaowei Xu & Yat Fung Wong, 2019. "Estimating the Impact of Air Pollution on Inbound Tourism in China: An Analysis Based on Regression Discontinuity Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Zhang, Hong & Gu, Chao-lin & Gu, Lu-wen & Zhang, Yan, 2011. "The evaluation of tourism destination competitiveness by TOPSIS & information entropy – A case in the Yangtze River Delta of China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 443-451.
    10. Moffatt, Suzanne & Phillimore, Peter & Bhopal, Raj & Foy, Christopher, 1995. "'If this is what it's doing to our washing, what is it doing to our lungs?' Industrial pollution and public understanding in North-East England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 883-891, September.
    11. Lizhi Xu & Shouyang Wang & Jingjing Li & Ling Tang & Yanmin Shao, 2019. "Modelling international tourism flows to China: A panel data analysis with the gravity model," Tourism Economics, , vol. 25(7), pages 1047-1069, November.
    12. Neelam C. Poudyal & Bamadev Paudel & Gary T. Green, 2013. "Estimating the Impact of Impaired Visibility on the Demand for Visits to National Parks," Tourism Economics, , vol. 19(2), pages 433-452, April.
    13. Aiping Zhang & Linsheng Zhong & Yong Xu & Hui Wang & Lijuan Dang, 2015. "Tourists’ Perception of Haze Pollution and the Potential Impacts on Travel: Reshaping the Features of Tourism Seasonality in Beijing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-18, February.
    14. Chenyu Lu & Wenlei Li & Min Pang & Bing Xue & Hong Miao, 2018. "Quantifying the Economy-Environment Interactions in Tourism: Case of Gansu Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, March.
    15. Qiuxia Zheng & Yaoqiu Kuang & Ningsheng Huang, 2016. "Coordinated Development between Urban Tourism Economy and Transport in the Pearl River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-15, December.
    16. Luca Zamparini & Anna Serena Vergori & Serena Arima, 2017. "Assessing the determinants of local tourism demand," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(5), pages 981-992, August.
    17. Jianjun Liu & Haili Pan & Shiyong Zheng, 2019. "Tourism Development, Environment and Policies: Differences between Domestic and International Tourists," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-15, March.
    18. Shawn Arita & Christopher Edmonds & Sumner La Croix & James Mak, 2011. "Impact of Approved Destination Status on Chinese Travel Abroad: An Econometric Analysis," Tourism Economics, , vol. 17(5), pages 983-996, October.
    19. Shawn Arita & Christopher Edmonds & Sumner La Croix & James Mak, 2009. "The Impact of Approved Destination Status on Chinese Travel Abroad: An Economic Analysis," Working Papers 200918, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    20. Williams, Allan Thomas & Rangel-Buitrago, Nelson Guillermo & Anfuso, Giorgio & Cervantes, Omar & Botero, Camilo Mateo, 2016. "Litter impacts on scenery and tourism on the Colombian north Caribbean coast," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 209-224.
    21. Michael Vogt & Chutima Wittayakorn, 1998. "Determinants of the demand for Thailand's exports of tourism," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(6), pages 711-715.
    22. Jun Zhang & Li Cheng, 2019. "Threshold Effect of Tourism Development on Economic Growth Following a Disaster Shock: Evidence from the Wenchuan Earthquake, P.R. China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-22, January.
    23. Annamaria Colacci & Monica Vaccari & Maria Grazia Mascolo & Francesca Rotondo & Elena Morandi & Daniele Quercioli & Stefania Perdichizzi & Cristina Zanzi & Stefania Serra & Vanes Poluzzi & Paola Angel, 2014. "Alternative Testing Methods for Predicting Health Risk from Environmental Exposures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(8), pages 1-19, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wei Zhang & Ziqiang Liu & Yujie Zhang & Elly Yaluk & Li Li, 2021. "The Impact of Air Quality on Inbound Tourist Arrivals over China Based on Grey Relational Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Daxin Dong & Boyang Xu & Ning Shen & Qian He, 2021. "The Adverse Impact of Air Pollution on China’s Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.
    3. Jaume Rosselló Nadal & María Santana Gallego, 2022. "Gravity models for tourism demand modeling: Empirical review and outlook," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1358-1409, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wei Zhang & Ziqiang Liu & Yujie Zhang & Elly Yaluk & Li Li, 2021. "The Impact of Air Quality on Inbound Tourist Arrivals over China Based on Grey Relational Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Zhang, Ning & Ren, Ran & Zhang, Qiong & Zhang, Tao, 2020. "Air pollution and tourism development: An interplay," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Xiaowei Xu & Daxin Dong & Yilun Wang & Shiying Wang, 2019. "The Impacts of Different Air Pollutants on Domestic and Inbound Tourism in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Suharyono Suharyono & Kumba Digdowiseiso, 2021. "The Effects of Environmental Quality on Indonesia s Inbound Tourism," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(1), pages 9-14.
    5. Jaume Rosselló Nadal & María Santana Gallego, 2022. "Gravity models for tourism demand modeling: Empirical review and outlook," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1358-1409, December.
    6. Daxin Dong & Xiaowei Xu & Hong Yu & Yanfang Zhao, 2019. "The Impact of Air Pollution on Domestic Tourism in China: A Spatial Econometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-16, August.
    7. Robaina, M. & Madaleno, M. & Silva, S. & Eusébio, C. & Carneiro, M.J. & Gama, C. & Oliveira, K. & Russo, M.A. & Monteiro, A., 2020. "The relationship between tourism and air quality in five European countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 261-272.
    8. Salvatore Costantino & Maria Francesca Cracolici & J. Paul Elhorst, 2023. "A spatial origin‐destination approach for the analysis of local tourism demand in Italy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(2), pages 393-419, April.
    9. Malaj, Emi & Malaj, Visar, 2023. "Determinants of international tourism: Empirical evidence from three Mediterranean countries," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 66-72.
    10. Bahram Zikirya & Jieyu Wang & Chunshan Zhou, 2021. "The Relationship between CO 2 Emissions, Air Pollution, and Tourism Flows in China: A Panel Data Analysis of Chinese Provinces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-17, October.
    11. James Roumasset & Christopher Wada, 2012. "The Economics of Groundwater," Working Papers 201211, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    12. Aleksandra Łapko & Aleksander Panasiuk & Roma Strulak-Wójcikiewicz & Marek Landowski, 2020. "The State of Air Pollution as a Factor Determining the Assessment of a City’s Tourist Attractiveness—Based on the Opinions of Polish Respondents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    13. Stanislava Pachrová & Eva Janoušková & Jitka Ryšková, 2018. "Disparities in Tourism Demand of UNESCO Destinations," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 20(S12), pages 1040-1040, November.
    14. Donald Lien & Sucharita Ghosh & Steven Yamarik, 2014. "Does the Confucius institute impact international travel to China? A panel data analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(17), pages 1985-1995, June.
    15. Yan Wang & Ranran Zhao, 2024. "Coupling coordination development between eco-investment, tourism, and logistics in Anhui Province, China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Daxin Dong & Xiaowei Xu & Yat Fung Wong, 2019. "Estimating the Impact of Air Pollution on Inbound Tourism in China: An Analysis Based on Regression Discontinuity Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, March.
    17. Shawn Arita & Sumner La Croix & James Mak, 2012. "How Big? The Impact of Approved Destination Status on Mainland Chinese Travel Abroad," Working Papers 201212, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    18. Alessio Baldassarre & Danilo Carullo & Paolo Di Caro & Elisa Fusco & Pasquale Giacobbe & Carlo Orecchia, 2023. "Bilateral Regional Trade Flows in Italy: an Origin-Destination-Commodity GWR-SAR approach," Working Papers wp2023-18, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance.
    19. Shawn Arita & Sumner La Croix & James Mak, 2012. "How China's Approved Destination Status Policy Spurs and Hinders Chinese Travel Abroad," Working Papers 201215, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    20. Daxin Dong & Xiaowei Xu & Wen Xu & Junye Xie, 2019. "The Relationship Between the Actual Level of Air Pollution and Residents’ Concern about Air Pollution: Evidence from Shanghai, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-18, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    inbound tourism; China; air pollution; PM2.5; gravity model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1456-:d:321138. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.