Low-altitude technological innovation (LATI) represents an emerging strategic driver of transformation in cultural tourism, yet its firm-level effects and mechanisms remain understudied. Using panel data for 215 Chinese listed cultural tourism enterprises from 2007 to 2024, this study constructs a regional LATI index based on 187,190 patents and employs two-way fixed effects models to examine its impact on firm resilience. Results show that LATI significantly enhances enterprise resilience through two mechanisms: efficiency gains in resource allocation and operational management, and risk diversification via business boundary expansion. Instrumental variable estimation using regional wind speed addresses endogeneity concerns and confirms causal effects. Heterogeneity analysis reveals stronger effects in regions with greater cultural investment and larger tourism markets, for technologically capable firms and small to medium enterprises, and for patents filed by institutions and universities rather than individuals or enterprises. These findings highlight the critical role of external knowledge networks in firm resilience enhancement and provide policy implications for low-altitude economy development and tourism industry upgrading.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.