Coordination between Tourism and Ecological Environment and High-Quality development: Based on the Study of the Yellow River Basin

The coordinated development of tourism and EE (ecological environment) is of practical significance to the HQD (high-quality development) of the YRB (Yellow River Basin), and the excellent EE provides a strong guarantee for the sustainable and healthy development of the tourism industry. Objective. To explore the coupling relationship between tourism and EE coordination and HQD in the YRB. Methods. This paper uses the improved soil moisture weight method to quantitatively measure the coupling CT (coordination between tourism) and EE and HQD in the YRB from 2014 to 2020. The results show that from 2014 to 2020, on the whole, the evaluation values of tourism economy and EE in the YRB show an increasing trend, but the growth trend of tourism economy is obviously stronger than that of EE. From the perspective of eco-environmental quality index, the overall increase of eco-environmental quality index of the YRB from 2014 to 2020 is small, and the eco-environmental quality of the YRB has improved to some extent in the recent years, but the effect is not significant. And they all passed the significance test at 1% level. During 2014–2020, the overall Moran index of the coordinated development level of tourism and EE and HQD in the YRB showed a wave-like fluctuation, and the fluctuation range increased gradually, and the overall trend was decreasing. Government control, industrial structure (proportion of tertiary industry), population size, and people’s living standard have significant positive effects on the coupling and coordination of local tourism economy and EE, while industrial R&D investors have significant negative effects on the coupling and coordination of local tourism economy and EE, while natural disasters have no significant effects on the coupling and coordination of local tourism economy and EE. Conclusion. The HQD of tourism in the YRB should establish the idea of giving priority to EE, construct the mechanism of regional coordinated development, and implement the driving strategy of scientific and technological innovation and the development model of culture + ecology + tourism.