Does the Digital Economy Improve Urban Tourism Development? An Examination of the Chinese Case

The digital economy, a new economic form based on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), has profoundly changed the tourism industry. Based on a theoretical analysis framework, this paper measured the digital economy index and urban tourism development index. It empirically tested the impact of the digital economy on urban tourism development through the benchmark regression model, panel threshold model (PTM), and spatial Durbin model (SDM) according to panel data of 284 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2011 to 2019. The results show that the digital economy can directly drive urban tourism development. The positive impact in mid-western, non-tourist, key urban agglomerations, and low-level cities is more fully realised. Moreover, the digital economy has positive, nonlinear effects on urban tourism development, and the marginal effects are increasing. Additionally, the impact of the digital economy on the tourism development of neighbouring cities can be realised through spatial spillover effects, which are more dependent on inclusive digital finance; this impact has a boundary effect, reaching a maximum at 300 km. Furthermore, the conclusions are still valid after a robustness test and quasi-natural implementation based on smart cities. Finally, specific recommendations are proposed for the digital economy to improve urban tourism development according to the above findings.