The nexus between tourism and energy eco-efficiency: an empirical analysis based on Chinese cities

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

With the rapid growth of tourism, energy consumption in the sector has increased significantly. However, research on the relationship between city tourism and energy eco-efficiency remains limited. This study applies the Super-efficiency SBM-DEA model and Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM) to analyze the impact of city tourism on energy eco-efficiency and explore its impact mechanism. The key findings are as follows: (1) Energy eco-efficiency exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity across Chinese cities, with higher efficiency in the eastern and central regions, and lower efficiency in the northeastern and northwestern regions. Key tourism cities generally show higher energy eco-efficiency than non-key tourism cities, though there is considerable variation among tourism cities. (2) City tourism industry enhances energy eco-efficiency by promoting economic growth and reducing carbon emissions. Key tourism cities, supported by favorable policies, infrastructure development, public services, and environmental governance, demonstrate a more pronounced improvement in energy eco-efficiency. (3) Industrial restructuring, municipal infrastructure, environmental governance, and public service facilities play significant mediating roles in enhancing energy eco-efficiency driven by tourism. Achieving environmentally sustainable cities requires a focus on these key factors to efficiently manage resource consumption and mitigate environmental pollution.