Impact of severe smog on travel demand of residents in tourist generating places: a case study of Beijing

China and some other countries have suffered from severe smog over the past few years. Impacts of smog pollution on tourism have received attention from the academic community. However, the majority of existing researches have been conducted from the angle of travel destination places. Little attention is paid to its impact on tourism from the perspective of tourist generating places. In this study, the authors, by employing Structure Equation Modelling and taking Beijing as the case, have examined severe smog’s impact on tourism. It is found that (1) Beijing residents have a strong perception of the negative impacts of smog, and there existed significant group differences in their perception by demographic attributes; (2) Severe smog plays dual roles in stimulating more travel demand. On the one hand, it can strengthen the ‘push force’; on the other hand, it makes those clean-air destinations have stronger ‘pull force’; (3) impacts of severe smog on tourism should be regarded dialectically. It does bring forth perceivable negative impact on the image of travel destination. However, from the perspective of tourist generating place, it can stimulate more travel demand and therefore can play a positive role in promoting tourism development in its neighboured places with good air quality.