Decomposition analysis of tourism CO₂ emissions for sustainable development: A case study of China

The tourism industry is a nonnegligible contributor to global CO 2 emissions, and formulating policy around emission reduction for sustainable tourism requires understanding the drivers contributing to the growth of tourism CO 2 emissions. This paper develops an alternative decomposition technique that uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) and distance functions to examine the sources of change in tourism CO 2 emissions; this method offers advantages in measuring the contribution of factor inputs to CO 2 emissions change and has flexible data requirements. An empirical application using provincial panel data from China's tourism industry during the 2005–2016 period is performed. The results indicate the following: The scale effect induced by economic growth in tourism was the largest factor driving CO 2 emissions growth; technical change played a dominant role in reducing CO 2 emissions, and technical efficiency change exerted a negligible positive effect on the CO 2 emissions increment; the emissions indices associated with labour, capital, and attractive resources generated significant promoting effects on CO 2 emissions growth; and the emissions index associated with energy had a minor inhibitory effect. In addition, the drivers of tourism CO 2 emissions clearly varied by region and province, and three driving modes of change in provincial CO 2 emissions were summarized. This study extends the application of decomposition techniques in the field of tourism studies, and our results provide valuable insights for policymakers and business entities aiming to adopt measures to curb tourism CO 2 emissions and promote sustainable tourism.