How does the integration of cultural and tourism industries impact the value added to tourism value chain: Evidences from Jiangsu Province of China

Abstract

China has been fully implementing the policy of the cultural and tourism industrial integration since 2018. However, the value-added benefits of this policy are not prominent, and the relationship between industrial integration and the value added to the tourism value chain was seldom addressed by researchers. In the context of China’s high-quality development, it is necessary to conduct the impact of the integration of cultural and tourism industries on the value added to tourism value chain. This paper proposed four theoretical hypotheses and the corresponding econometric models based on the panel data from 2013 to 2020 in China’s Jiangsu Province. According to empirical results, the integration of cultural and tourism industries is spatially unbalanced, with notable imbalances between the south and the north. This paper identified a new connection between cultural and tourism integration and the tourism value chain. It is found that the integration of cultural and tourism industries can enhance the value added to tourism value chain either directly or indirectly through the information technology, with the direct effect being positively moderated by tourism agglomeration. Moreover, this paper may overturn how people generally think about the integration between cultural and tourism industries. It reveals a single-threshold effect that only when the integration of cultural and tourism industries reached a high level will it exert a positive effect. To be more specific, not all Chinese cities are suitable for implementing cultural and tourism integration, because the integration is likely to be ineffective in regions where the cultural industry is substantially less developed than the tourism industry.

The Impact of the Integration of the Culture Industry and Tourism on Regional Green Development: Empirical Evidence from China

“…Second, the integration of the culture industry and tourism is predicated on technological amalgamation. The technological fusion within the culture and tourism industries enhances the resource development efficiency while simultaneously driving output towards high-value-added domains, such as creativity [56]. Meanwhile, the integration of the two major industries continuously facilitates the enhancement and optimization of products and services, thereby fostering economies of scale and ultimately bolstering the total productivity factor of the tourism industry.…”

How policy promotes the integration of culture and tourism? A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis based on the Policy Instrument Theory

“…The commercialization process could introduce detrimental impacts on cultural aspects [ 46 ]. According to Zeng, Shen and Gu’s latest research findings [ 47 ], there is a single-threshold effect, indicating that a positive impact is only evident when the integration of culture and tourism reaches an elevated level. Currently, the conceptual scope and industrial boundaries of culture and tourism continue to expand, leading to new requirements for measuring and evaluating the integration level.…”

“…Recently, researchers have paid increasing attention to the empirical evaluation of policies on the integration of culture and tourism [ 8 ]. A study from China demonstrates that not all cities are suitable for implementing the policy of culture-tourism integration, as the policy performance may be poor in regions where the cultural industry is significantly less developed than the tourism industry [ 47 ].…”

Does the selection of high-quality scenic spots promote the growth of tourism economy? evidence from China’s 5A-rated tourist attractions

“…Additionally, research into the impact of Swiss official development assistance on the number of visits and hotel accommodations from recipient countries found that international aid favorably boosts tourism numbers and expenditure in the aid-giving country [ 29 ]. Moreover, policies concerning climate [ 30 ], ecological preservation [ 31 ], economics[ 26 , 27 , 32 – 34 ], openness [ 35 , 36 ], public affairs [ 26 , 37 ], cultural-tourism integration [ 38 , 39 ], and high-speed rail commencement [ 40 , 41 ] have also been proven to influence tourism demand and economics. As the most rigorous and highest standard of selection policy in China, the study of the relationship and underlying mechanisms between the 5ATAs selection and tourism economics holds significant implications for the development of China’s tourism industry.…”