Escape from air pollution: How does air quality in the place of residence shape tourism consumption?

Abstract

Air quality has been demonstrated to be an important determinant influencing tourist decision making. In this paper, we investigate the effect of air quality in the place of origin on a resident’s tourism consumption and the moderating effect of household income on this relationship. We develop a conceptual framework to rationalize the effect and empirically examine it at the household level using China Labor-force Dynamics Survey data from 2016. The results show that poor ambient air quality increases tourism consumption. Furthermore, this relationship becomes stronger for the higher-income group: One standard deviation increase in the Air Quality Index would increase tourism expenditure as much as a 22.56% increase in family income. The methods of instrumental variable and functional-coefficient regression were employed for robustness analysis. These findings contribute to the literature by providing a new perspective for tourism demand studies and direct implications for tourism management and policy making.

Tourism during health disasters: Exploring the role of health system quality, transport infrastructure, and environmental expenditures in the revival of the global tourism industry

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Assessment of changes in environmental factors in a tourism-oriented Island

“…Recently, creating perfect urban facilities and services that guarantee smooth tourism activities has gathered increased attention, and an excellent tourism environment can enhance tourists' satisfaction and loyalty to the destination ( 11 – 13 ). However, rapid urbanization has also caused noticeable negative impacts, such as reduction of marine biodiversity, increased urban heat island effect, destruction of the ecological environment, and a decline in air quality ( 14 – 18 ). Furthermore, some studies have shown that the efficacy of tourism urbanization is affected by spatial planning ( 19 ).…”