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

The concept of “green development” has garnered increasing recognition and prominence in recent years, attracting the attention of various countries and regions. How to achieve green development has become a pressing issue for the government. The integration of the culture industry and tourism has had a profound impact on regional green development. This paper employs the entropy method to assess the level of regional green development, and it employs the coupling coordination model to evaluate the degree of integration of the culture industry and tourism across 30 provincial administrative regions in China from 2011 to 2021. Additionally, an econometric model is constructed to empirically examine the impact of the integration of the culture industry and tourism on regional green development, as well as its underlying mechanism. The findings of this study indicate the following: (1) The integration of the culture industry and tourism significantly enhances regional green development. (2) With the improvement in the regional green development level, the integration of the culture industry and tourism is playing a gradually stronger role in promoting regional green development. (3) Further analysis of the mechanism reveals that the integration of the culture industry and tourism enhances regional green development by facilitating the upgrading of the tourism industrial structure. (4) Environmental regulation policies reinforce the role of the integration of the culture industry and tourism in promoting regional green development. These research findings contribute to enhancing our understanding of the impact of the integration of the culture industry and tourism on regional green development, providing empirical evidence and policy recommendations for the government to facilitate the integration of the culture industry and tourism and further promote green development.