Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Tourism Revenue in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration Region during 2001–2019

Green development is a solution to achieve sustainable development, while tourism development is one of the best approaches to realize a green economy. As the most rapid economic development region in China, the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) has also witnessed rapid changes in its tourism economy during 2001–2019. Here, we analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of its tourism revenue, and further identified contributions from multiple socio-economic factors using spatial analysis tools and regression models. The total tourism revenue increased 14.35 fold, with an annual increase rate of 79.73% during 2001–2019. The proportion of tourism revenue to the GDP continuously increased from 11.57% in 2001 to 18.89% in 2019. Tourism revenue increased for all cities, with the least increasing rates in the metropolitan cities including Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the largest increase rates in Ma’anshan, Hefei, Huzhou and Zhoushan. A regression and causality test indicated that different socioeconomic factors controlled the spatiotemporal variation patterns in different cities. The economic structure in the YRDUA has undergone significant shifts, with an increasing importance of tourism revenue in the GDP for most cities and a reducing discrepancy of tourism revenue among cities. Our study can enable the policy makers to be aware of the magnitude, temporal variation patterns, differences among cities and controlling factors for tourism development, and thus take suitable measures to further promote green tourism development in the YRDUA region.