IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v102y2025ics1059056025004575.html

Can the integration of cultural and tourism development narrow the regional income gap? The role of foreign direct investment

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Lixue
  • Li, Tiequan
  • Peng, Xinle
  • Liu, Rui

Abstract

This paper relies on provincial panel data from China between 2010 and 2023 to systematically examine the mechanism linking the integrated development of the cultural tourism industry with the dynamic equilibrium of income disparities between urban and rural residents. It further investigates the moderating effect of foreign direct investment in this process. The econometric analysis results indicate that the integration of the cultural and tourism industries significantly suppresses the income gap between urban and rural residents. Foreign direct investment plays a notable moderating role in the relationship between the integration of cultural tourism and income disparities, exhibiting significant regional heterogeneity. Further spatial heterogeneity tests reveal that the impact of cultural tourism integration on income disparities shows pronounced differences across various regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Lixue & Li, Tiequan & Peng, Xinle & Liu, Rui, 2025. "Can the integration of cultural and tourism development narrow the regional income gap? The role of foreign direct investment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:102:y:2025:i:c:s1059056025004575
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2025.104294
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056025004575
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2025.104294?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xu, Yujie & Wang, Yinan, 2023. "Has financial development made income more equal? – From the perspective of regional development imbalance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Emara, Noha & El Said, Ayah, 2021. "Financial inclusion and economic growth: The role of governance in selected MENA countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 34-54.
    3. Wang, Sheng & Wu, Chao & Fu, Boyu, 2024. "The dual effects of digital inclusive finance on the urban-rural income gap: An empirical investigation in China's Yangtze River Delta region," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    4. Ziyu Jia & Yan Jiao & Wei Zhang & Zheng Chen, 2022. "Rural Tourism Competitiveness and Development Mode, a Case Study from Chinese Township Scale Using Integrated Multi-Source Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Jianchun Fang & Giray Gozgor & Sudharshan Reddy Paramati & Wanshan Wu, 2021. "The impact of tourism growth on income inequality: Evidence from developing and developed economies," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(8), pages 1669-1691, December.
    6. Hong He & Shouheng Tuo & Kewei Lei & Aixiong Gao, 2024. "Assessing quality tourism development in China: an analysis based on the degree of mismatch and its influencing factors," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 9525-9552, April.
    7. Muyan Tang & Hongzhang Xu, 2023. "Cultural Integration and Rural Tourism Development: A Scoping Literature Review," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-16, February.
    8. Yan, Youliang & Xu, Xixiong & Lai, Jieji, 2021. "Does Confucian culture influence corporate R&D investment? Evidence from Chinese private firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    9. Kai-di Liu & Minghui Jin & Liang Cheng, 2025. "County green transformation: how does gross ecosystem product assessment promote common prosperity?," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Yi Lu, 2022. "The Measurement of High-Quality Development Level of Tourism: Based on the Perspective of Industrial Integration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    11. Xiuling Chen & Jie Li, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Facilitating Knowledge-Driven Economic and Social Development: the Significance of Demographic Transformation in Tourism Villages in China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 13890-13918, September.
    12. Xianghong Zhou & Weiwei Chen, 2021. "The Impact of Informatization on the Relationship between the Tourism Industry and Regional Economic Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-23, August.
    13. Okafor, Luke Emeka & Hassan, M. Kabir & Rashid, Mamunur & Prabu, Darniya & Sabit, Ahmed, 2022. "Risk dimensions, risk clusters, and foreign direct investments in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 636-649.
    14. Chen, Xiao & Wu, Rui, 2025. "How can rural industrial revitalization and rural education level reduce the urban–rural income gap?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    15. Jiaxin Tan & Kai Wang & Chang Gan & Xuefeng Ma, 2023. "The Impacts of Tourism Development on Urban–Rural Integration: An Empirical Study Undertaken in the Yangtze River Delta Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, July.
    16. Zhao, Xue & Xie, Chengyuan & Huang, Lu & Wang, Yaru & Han, Tongyun, 2023. "How digitalization promotes the sustainable integration of culture and tourism for economic recovery," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 988-1000.
    17. Chuanchuan Yuan & Li Gan & Huili Zhuo, 2022. "Coupling Mechanisms and Development Patterns of Revitalizing Intangible Cultural Heritage by Integrating Cultural Tourism: The Case of Hunan Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiahui Li & Yu Yang & Yuqi Ye, 2025. "Rural Tourism, Economic Growth, and Environmental Sustainability: Empirical Evidence Based on County-Level Data in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-32, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Song, Shaoting & Gong, Yihan & Li, Tiequan & Peng, Xinle & Da, Qiong, 2025. "Rural policies, regional integration, and tourism growth: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of the national tourism poverty alleviation demonstration project," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Yang, Weirong & Fan, Ruigang & Wang, Leiyu, 2025. "Can the integration of culture and tourism promote rural revitalization? Research on the mechanism and policies of green finance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Zhao, Shuhong & Lu, Feixiang & Sun, Liming, 2025. "An empirical investigation into the driving effects of green transformation policies and media governance on high-quality development in tourism enterprises," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Liu, Zhilan & Li, Nan & Zhang, Yuxi, 2025. "The interaction between improvements of business environment, investor attention, and the high-quality development of tourism enterprises," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. Wang, Anbang & Ma, Junqiao & He, Ke, 2026. "Citizenization and urban–rural income inequality: Evidence from the reform of hukou system in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    6. Huang, Huasheng & Xu, Xiaoli & Du, Shilin, 2025. "Can financial innovation and industrial structure upgrading reduce regional criminal activity levels?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Tan, Xianjiao & Kamaruddin, Roslina Binti & Hu, Siyang & Peng, Lishun & Que, Youxiong & Cai, Wenwei, 2025. "Rural revitalization and urban-rural income gap: A perspective from land transfer scale," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    8. Xu, Xiaodan & Yu, Jiaohui, 2025. "The impact of culture and tourism integration on the high-quality development of the tourism industry: An analysis based on heterogeneity and threshold effects," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    9. Dan Liu & Yanhong Jin & Haiyan Deng & Carl E. Pray, 2026. "Bridging and Dividing: The Dual Effects of Digital Inclusive Finance on Income Inequality in China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 70(2), pages 556-572, April.
    10. Fang, Ling & Shen, Ye, 2025. "Digital economy enabling high-quality development of agricultural Enterprises: Interaction, inner mechanism and strategic orientation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Dongjing Chen & Xiaotong Guo, 2023. "Impact of the Digital Economy and Financial Development on Residents’ Consumption Upgrading: Evidence from Mainland China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-25, May.
    12. Shujun Chao & Shanyong Wang & Haidong Li & Shu Yang, 2023. "The power of culture: Does Confucian culture contribute to corporate environmental information disclosure?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2435-2456, September.
    13. Zhao, Yue & Li, Lixin, 2024. "Confucian culture and analysts' earnings forecast accuracy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    14. Xu, Siyun & Bai, Xiaodong & Chen, Xia, 2025. "Corporate environmental, social, and governance performance, investor attention, and corporate development capability—An empirical examination based on moderating and threshold effects," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    15. Hai Nguyen Van & Dinh Quoc, 2025. "Assessing the Impact of Digital Financial Inclusion on Sustainable Development Goals: Analyzing Differences by Financial Development Levels Across Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(4), pages 15140-15163, October.
    16. Ruiyi Zhao & Ling Li, 2024. "Does digitalization always benefit cultural, sports, and tourism enterprises quality? Unveiling the inverted U-shaped relationship from a resource and capability perspective," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Yongjun Tang & Qi Li & Fen Zhou & Mingjia Sun, 2024. "Does Clan Culture Promote Corporate Natural Resource Disclosure? Evidence from Chinese Natural Resource-Based Listed Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 167-190, June.
    18. Qiao, Nan & Xu, Bohan, 2025. "Green credit policy, media pressure, and corporate green innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    19. Song Wang & Yifan Wang & Chaoquan Wang & Liang Dai & Yueqi Li, 2026. "The Coordinated Development of the “Center-Periphery†Structure in Regional Economy: The Dual Driving Force of Technological Innovation and Digital Economy," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 49(1), pages 91-142, January.
    20. Ziyang Li & Yingfan Cui, 2025. "Temporal and Spatial Evolution Patterns of Competitiveness of Big Audiovisual Industry Driven by AIGC and Strategies for Energy Level Upgrading: A Chinese Data Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:102:y:2025:i:c:s1059056025004575. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.