Abstract: This paper studies the impact of local environmental quality on international tourism demand based on a panel data set of tourist arrivals from ten foreign countries in 18 typical provinces in China over the period of 1999-2010. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) with different specifications show that the growth of pollution has a negative and significant influence on the international tourism demand. More specifically, the air quality plays a crucial role in this relationship, whereas the water quality does not. In addition, similar results can be found after addressing the potential endogeneity between environmental quality and tourism with the use of the two-stags least squares (2SLS) technique in the study. Our empirical findings suggest that better environmental conservation policies by Chinese government are necessary to promote foreign tourism demand – an important element of economic growth in China.
","abstract_html":"<p>Abstract: This paper studies the impact of local environmental quality on international tourism demand based on a panel data set of tourist arrivals from ten foreign countries in 18 typical provinces in China over the period of 1999-2010. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) with different specifications show that the growth of pollution has a negative and significant influence on the international tourism demand. More specifically, the air quality plays a crucial role in this relationship, whereas the water quality does not. In addition, similar results can be found after addressing the potential endogeneity between environmental quality and tourism with the use of the two-stags least squares (2SLS) technique in the study. Our empirical findings suggest that better environmental conservation policies by Chinese government are necessary to promote foreign tourism demand – an important element of economic growth in China.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Huang, Cong"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Prof. Sunny Wong"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-05-18T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-05-18T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:42:35Z","subjects":["tourism industry","local environmental quality","China","Economics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/21","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Prof. Sunny Wong"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Huang, Cong"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2012-05-11T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["tourism industry","local environmental quality","China","Economics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/21"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Abstract: This paper studies the impact of local environmental quality on international tourism demand based on a panel data set of tourist arrivals from ten foreign countries in 18 typical provinces in China over the period of 1999-2010. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) with different specifications show that the growth of pollution has a negative and significant influence on the international tourism demand. More specifically, the air quality plays a crucial role in this relationship, whereas the water quality does not. In addition, similar results can be found after addressing the potential endogeneity between environmental quality and tourism with the use of the two-stags least squares (2SLS) technique in the study. Our empirical findings suggest that better environmental conservation policies by Chinese government are necessary to promote foreign tourism demand – an important element of economic growth in China.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Impact of Local Environmental Quality on International Tourism Demand: The Case of China"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Prof. Sunny Wong"],"dc:creator":["Huang, Cong"],"dc:date.available":["2012-05-11T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Abstract: This paper studies the impact of local environmental quality on international tourism demand based on a panel data set of tourist arrivals from ten foreign countries in 18 typical provinces in China over the period of 1999-2010. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) with different specifications show that the growth of pollution has a negative and significant influence on the international tourism demand. More specifically, the air quality plays a crucial role in this relationship, whereas the water quality does not. In addition, similar results can be found after addressing the potential endogeneity between environmental quality and tourism with the use of the two-stags least squares (2SLS) technique in the study. Our empirical findings suggest that better environmental conservation policies by Chinese government are necessary to promote foreign tourism demand – an important element of economic growth in China.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/21"],"dc:subject":["tourism industry","local environmental quality","China","Economics"],"dc:title":["The Impact of Local Environmental Quality on International Tourism Demand: The Case of China"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:42:35Z"}