IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i13p10379-d1184342.html

Decoupling Analysis of Water Consumption and Economic Growth in Tourism in Arid Areas: Case of Xinjiang, China

Author

Listed:
  • Shanshan Cao

    (School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China)

  • Zhaoli He

    (School of Business Administration, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing 210003, China)

  • Songmao Wang

    (School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200437, China
    School of Economics and Management, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271002, China)

  • Jinlan Niu

    (School of Economics and Management, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271002, China)

Abstract

In recent years, the rapid development of tourism in China’s arid areas has led to a continuous increase in water consumption, heightening the tension between water supply and demand in the region. For this reason, drought-type tourist destinations require a method for estimating the tourism water demand and analyzing the sustainable state of water resources. Existing studies focus on the impact of tourism development on the water resources and environment of tourist destinations. However, few scholars have paid attention to whether tourism development is decoupled from the tourism water footprint. Using an analysis of the tourism water footprint based on the TWF-LCA model and Tapio decoupling theory, this study investigates the relationship between the tourism water footprint and tourism economic growth in Xinjiang from 2003 to 2021. The results show that from 2003 to 2021, the water consumption footprint of the tourism industry in Xinjiang was generally on the rise, and the virtual water consumption of tourists was 3.5 times that of direct water consumption. S-WF is the largest contributor to the total TWF, accounting for 46.13% on average, followed by C-WF, V-WF, Tr-WF, and finally, A-WF, which has the smallest share (less than 5%). The decoupling model shows that, in most years, the tourism water consumption and economy have been in a weak decoupling state, and the growth rate of the tourism water footprint is smaller than the growth rate of the tourism economy. However, in 2007 and 2016, the two were in an expansionary negative decoupling state, that is, the growth rate of the tourism water footprint was greater than the growth rate of the tourism economy. In 2008 and 2019, they were in a weak negative decoupling state, that is, the decline rate of the tourism water footprint was less than the tourism economic recession rate. In 2013, the growth rate of the tourism economy and tourism water footprint declined. Our analysis enriches the literature on tourists’ WF and the impact of tourism activities on water resources, providing a reference for estimating the WF of drought-type tourism and analyzing the sustainability of tourism water resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Shanshan Cao & Zhaoli He & Songmao Wang & Jinlan Niu, 2023. "Decoupling Analysis of Water Consumption and Economic Growth in Tourism in Arid Areas: Case of Xinjiang, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10379-:d:1184342
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10379/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10379/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ayres, Andrew, 2014. "Germany’s water footprint of transport fuels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1746-1751.
    2. Farhani, Sahbi & Solarin, Sakiru Adebola, 2017. "Financial development and energy demand in the United States: New evidence from combined cointegration and asymmetric causality tests," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 1029-1037.
    3. Carlos J. Baños & María Hernández & Antonio M. Rico & Jorge Olcina, 2019. "The Hydrosocial Cycle in Coastal Tourist Destinations in Alicante, Spain: Increasing Resilience to Drought," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Okadera, Tomohiro & Chontanawat, Jaruwan & Gheewala, Shabbir H., 2014. "Water footprint for energy production and supply in Thailand," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 49-56.
    5. Ignacio Cazcarro & Rosa Duarte & Julio Sánchez Chóliz, 2016. "Tracking Water Footprints at the Micro and Meso Scale: An Application to Spanish Tourism by Regions and Municipalities," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(3), pages 446-461, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Yu Zhang & Jin-he Zhang & Qing Tian, 2021. "Virtual Water Trade in the Service Sector: China’s Inbound Tourism as a Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Bakirtas, Tahsin & Akpolat, Ahmet Gokce, 2018. "The relationship between energy consumption, urbanization, and economic growth in new emerging-market countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 110-121.
    3. Luo, Heng & Sun, Ying & Tao, Xiaosha & Tan, Wenwu & Kamarudin, Fakarudin, 2024. "Effects of global value chains on energy efficiency in G20 countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    4. Holmatov, B. & Hoekstra, A.Y. & Krol, M.S., 2019. "Land, water and carbon footprints of circular bioenergy production systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 224-235.
    5. Sun, Xiaoqi & Liu, Xiaojia, 2020. "Decomposition analysis of debt’s impact on China’s energy consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    6. Ana Luiza Fontenelle & Erik Nilsson & Ieda Geriberto Hidalgo & Cintia B. Uvo & Drielli Peyerl, 2022. "Temporal Understanding of the Water–Energy Nexus: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-21, April.
    7. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Arvin, Mak B. & Nair, Mahendhiran & Bennett, Sara E. & Hall, John H., 2018. "The dynamics between energy consumption patterns, financial sector development and economic growth in Financial Action Task Force (FATF) countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 42-53.
    8. Shiwen Liu & Hongyuan Li, 2020. "Does Financial Development Increase Urban Electricity Consumption? Evidence from Spatial and Heterogeneity Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.
    9. Wenxia Shi & Danish & Burcu ozcan & Salahuddin khan, 2026. "Economic Policy Uncertainty, Financial Development, and Renewable Energy Consumption in BRIC," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 17(2), pages 4120-4139, April.
    10. Muhammad Mehedi Masud & Abu Hanifa Md. Noman & Rulia Akhtar & Sonia Kumari A/P Selvarajan & Abdullah Al‐Mamun, 2024. "Does credit growth mitigate emission intensity in ASEAN countries?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 1324-1349, March.
    11. Xiaoxin Ma & Qiang Fu, 2020. "The Influence of Financial Development on Energy Consumption: Worldwide Evidence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-15, February.
    12. Wojciech Chmielewski & Marta Postuła & Przemysław Dubel, 2023. "The Impact of Expenditure on Research and Development on Selected Energy Factors in the European Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-18, April.
    13. Chen, Zhongfei & Huang, Wanjing & Zheng, Xian, 2019. "The decline in energy intensity: Does financial development matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    14. Okadera, Tomohiro & Geng, Yong & Fujita, Tsuyoshi & Dong, Huijuan & Liu, Zhu & Yoshida, Noboru & Kanazawa, Takaaki, 2015. "Evaluating the water footprint of the energy supply of Liaoning Province, China: A regional input–output analysis approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 148-157.
    15. Zhao, Rongqin & Liu, Ying & Tian, Mengmeng & Ding, Minglei & Cao, Lianhai & Zhang, Zhanping & Chuai, Xiaowei & Xiao, Liangang & Yao, Lunguang, 2018. "Impacts of water and land resources exploitation on agricultural carbon emissions: The water-land-energy-carbon nexus," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 480-492.
    16. Biyun Guo & Taiping Xie & M.V. Subrahmanyam, 2019. "The Impact of China’s Grain for Green Program on Rural Economy and Precipitation: A Case Study of Yan River Basin in the Loess Plateau," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-18, September.
    17. Weicheng Xu & Meng Wang, 2024. "How Do Financial Development and Industrial Structure Affect Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency: Evidence from China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-26, January.
    18. Le Thanh Ha, 2025. "Financial development and renewable energy consumption in Vietnam: evidence from a wavelet approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(9), pages 20861-20885, September.
    19. Ghasemi, Mostafa & Wan Daud, Wan Ramli & Alam, Javed & Ilbeygi, Hamid & Sedighi, Mehdi & Ismail, Ahmad Fauzi & Yazdi, Mohammad H. & Aljlil, Saad A., 2016. "Treatment of two different water resources in desalination and microbial fuel cell processes by poly sulfone/Sulfonated poly ether ether ketone hybrid membrane," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 303-313.
    20. Yu Zhang & Qing Tian & Huan Hu & Miao Yu, 2019. "Water Footprint of Food Consumption by Chinese Residents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-15, October.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10379-:d:1184342. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.