How far can air pollution affect tourism in China? Evidence from panel unconditional quantile regressions

Previous studies provide empirical evidence for the connection between air pollution and tourism. However, many of them take the nexus as a linear one. It remains unexplored whether any thresholds are required for the nexus to materialize. This study systematically investigates whether PM2.5 concent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2024-06, Vol.19 (6), p.e0304315
Main Authors: Xiao, Yuxuan, Qiang, Will W, Chan, Chung-Shing, Yim, Steve H L, Lee, Harry F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Pollutants - adverse effects
Air Pollutants - analysis
Air pollution
Air Pollution - adverse effects
Air Pollution - analysis
Air pollution effects
Analysis
China
Cities
Correlation
Earth Sciences
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Economic growth
Engineering and Technology
Environmental indicators
GDP
Generalized method of moments
Gross Domestic Product
Humans
Macroeconomics
Mongolia
Natural resources
Outdoor air quality
Particulate matter
Particulate Matter - adverse effects
Particulate Matter - analysis
Physical Sciences
Quantiles
Regression Analysis
Smog
Social Sciences
Statistical analysis
Sustainable tourism
Tourism
Tourism development
Tourist attractions
Travel industry
Variables
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Summary:Previous studies provide empirical evidence for the connection between air pollution and tourism. However, many of them take the nexus as a linear one. It remains unexplored whether any thresholds are required for the nexus to materialize. This study systematically investigates whether PM2.5 concentrations-an essential indicator of air pollution-affect tourism in China at various tourism development levels. We analyze 284 Chinese cities from 2008 to 2018 using the Unconditional Quantile Regression method. Our statistical results reveal that air pollution positively influences tourism (regarding tourist visits and tourism revenue) in areas with low tourism development levels. However, a complex correlation between air pollution and tourism emerges when tourism development has reached a certain level. The correlation is initially negative, then positive, and finally disappears. But, the overall correlation remains negative. The effects of the interaction between air pollution and tourism resources on tourism are inverted U-shaped, implying that tourism resources can mitigate the negative effects of air pollution on tourism only when tourism development has reached a certain level. Based on the above findings, the associated policy implications are discussed.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0304315