The Impact of the “Belt and Road” Initiative on Tourism Economic Development in Chinese Regions along the Route—An Empirical Analysis Based on DID Model

Abstract

As an important component of modern service industry, tourism is regarded as a “green” driver to regional economic growth and industrial upgrading. Applying the “quasi-natural experiment” advocated by the “The Belt and Road” initiative, this paper, based on the method of DID, assessed the influence of this initiative on regional tourism development by analyzing panel data collected from 286 prefecture-level cities in China over the period of 2007–2018. It is found that the “The Belt and Road” initiative has stimulated market dynamics and promoted tourism development in the regions along the route and has significantly improved indicators such as per capita domestic and inbound tourism revenue and per capita domestic and inbound tourist receipt. Also, the degree of contribution of domestic tourists to the tourism economy of the regions where the policy has been implemented is stronger than that of inbound tourists. In sum, the results of this paper not only confirm that the “The Belt and Road” initiative has significantly contributed to the high-quality tourism development of Chinese provinces along the routes but also provide important policy enlightenment for the upgrading of regional tourism industry and regional economic balance.