Tourism development in the context of ecological transformation: the role of governments’ environmental protection attention

In the context of ecological transformation, governments that pay high attention to environmental protection tend to strengthen governance measures to improve environmental quality, which may attract tourists and promote tourism development. Therefore, this paper takes the Chinese tourism market as an example to explore the influence of governments’ environmental protection attention on tourism development by constructing a multidimensional attention indicator system. The results indicate that greater government attention significantly promotes the development of tourism, especially domestic tourism. This effect comes from enhanced regional green innovation capabilities and improved environmental quality. Furthermore, this effect is stronger in tourism cities, cities with greater government attention to tourism, lower promotion pressure on officials, stricter environmental regulations and policies, and areas that have undergone central eco-environmental inspections. The findings reveal the central role governments play in advancing tourism development while providing valuable practical guidance for policymakers striving to balance environmental conservation with tourism growth.