Digital Economy’s Impact on Tourism Eco-Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Cities

The tourism industry’s strong integration with the digital economy has recognized as a development trend. Tourism eco-efficiency is a useful indicator of the industry’s capacity for sustainable development. More thorough research is required to determine how the degree of digital economy development affects tourism eco-efficiency in the backdrop of the sustainable tourism development. In order to evaluate the tourism eco-efficiency of 275 Chinese prefecture-level cities, this study builds a super-SBM model with unexpected output. We empirically determine the impact of the comprehensive development of the digital economy on eco-efficiency with a panel model (2011–2017). The analysis findings show the following: (1) Eco-efficiency in China is consistently maintained at the level of 0.5, with a gradient that puts the east ahead of the central, northeastern, and western regions. (2) Urban eco-efficiency is significantly inhibited by China’s digital economy, with notable regional variation. (3) The inhibiting effect of the degree of digital economic development on TEE can be mitigated by environmental quality. Strategic policy ideas for improving urban tourism eco-efficiency are included in the paper’s conclusion.