IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0345770.html

Spatial proximity to national 5A tourist attractions and corporate environmental governance: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiancheng Xiong
  • Chen Zhong

Abstract

Tourism development is increasingly linked to both regional economic activity and environmental outcomes. However, empirical evidence remains limited on whether and through which channels proximity to major tourist attractions is associated with the environmental governance of industrial enterprises. Using enterprise-level data and geocoded locations of China’s national 5A tourist attractions in 2014, we examine the relationship between firms’ spatial proximity to 5A attractions and corporate environmental governance. We find that (1) proximity to 5A attractions is positively related to the environmental governance of nearby firms, and the results are robust across alternative specifications and a range of robustness checks, including IV-based estimates; (2) proximity is associated with lower operating costs, consistent with shared transportation infrastructure and environmental facilities, and with higher fixed-asset intensity that is linked to stronger environmental governance; and (3) the positive relationship is more pronounced for natural-landscape attractions and less pronounced in cities with higher innovation or marketization. These findings provide evidence consistent with positive environmental spillovers associated with tourism and underscore the potential value of coordinating tourism development strategies with industrial environmental governance policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiancheng Xiong & Chen Zhong, 2026. "Spatial proximity to national 5A tourist attractions and corporate environmental governance: Evidence from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 21(3), pages 1-31, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0345770
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0345770
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0345770
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0345770&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0345770?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fu, Tong & Chang, Dongfeng & Miao, Chenglin, 2022. "Fuel regulation in a developing country: An interventional perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    2. Jian Wang & Zhihui Song & Yuzhen Zhang & Rana Yassir Hussain, 2023. "Can low-carbon pilot policies improve the efficiency of urban carbon emissions?——A quasi-natural experiment based on 282 prefecture-level cities across China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(2), pages 1-21, February.
    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. Bei Liu & Jinmin Wang & Xinle Tong & Zhihua Zhou & Zhaoxuan Qiu, 2024. "Institutional investor shareholding and the quality of corporate innovation: Moderating effects based on internal and external environment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(1), pages 326-338, January.
    2. Junping Zhang & Ping Li, 2024. "Share pledging: Measuring margin call pressure and its influence on liquidity commonality," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(6), pages 3897-3914, September.
    3. Lianying Hong & Xujun Liu & Bei Liu & Kewei Cao & Qiu Xia, 2025. "The impact of reducing trade barriers on enterprises' pollution emissions: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2190-2205, June.
    4. Jinwei Li & Qian Wei & Tianshu Jiang, 2025. "Impacts of supply and demand shocks on abnormal fluctuation of stock price: An analysis of US–China trade friction," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2206-2223, June.
    5. Chen, Ming & Liu, Xiucai & Xiong, Xiancheng & Wu, Jiao, 2023. "Has the opening of high-speed rail narrowed the inter-county economic gap? The perspective of China's state-designated poor counties," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-13.
    6. Yan, Kai & Chen, Zhiwu & Wang, Jingang & Wang, Peipei & Liang, Weiming, 2023. "The power from folk monitoring: Leading Officials’ Natural Resources Accountability Audit (NRAA) and corporate ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    7. Liwen Liu & Sisi Zhou, 2024. "Environmental regulation, public environmental concern, and pollution reduction," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(8), pages 5231-5248, December.
    8. Wenqin Zhong & Ligang Ren & Mengyi Wang, 2025. "Regulating unproductive contract adaptation: A payment deduction mechanism," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2237-2248, June.
    9. Qianghua Guo & Yidan Wei, 2025. "Confucianism and corporate environmental protection investment: Evidence from heavily polluting listed companies in China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 1973-1992, June.
    10. Fu, Tong & Yang, Yang & Zhang, Hongru & Mao, Zhenxing (Eddie), 2023. "Risk culture as a blessing in tourism development: Long-run effects of epidemic disasters," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Yunqing Tao & Yongwei Ye & Wanyue Hou, 2025. "Corruption‐induced bank nonperforming loans," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2014-2028, June.
    12. Xing Yi & Jinghe Zhang & Hong Yan & Lei Zhou, 2025. "Vocational education reform and corporate skilled human capital: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2086-2102, June.
    13. Fu, Tong & Li, Zijun & Qiu, Zhaoxuan & Tong, Xinle, 2024. "The policy gap between finance and economy: Evidence from China's green finance policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    14. Xiong, Xiancheng & Ming Chen, & Chen, Chen, 2024. "Corporate governance matters: How do reduced state-owned shares lower firms’ market power in a developing country?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 211-224.
    15. Geng Huang & Xi Lin & Shuying Xu & Junyu Wang & Ling‐Yun He, 2025. "Trade policy uncertainty, export destination, and firm's pollution emissions: Analysis from theoretical perspective," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2181-2189, June.
    16. Yuanlin Feng & Fei Wang & Lingyun He, 2025. "Collusion and corporate tax burden: Firm‐level evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 1956-1972, June.
    17. Xiong Zheng & Lingling Li & Zhanjie Wang & Mengni Cao, 2025. "Solid Waste Governance Action and Corporate ESG Performance: Evidence from China’s “Zero-Waste City” Pilot Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-21, April.
    18. Lu & Pollitt, M. G. & Wang, K. & Wei, Y-M., 2023. "The Incremental Impact of China's Carbon," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2349, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    19. Zhihui Gu & Rui Zhang, 2025. "Management behaviour in Confucian culture," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2249-2253, June.
    20. Hongzhang Chen & Suchen Ai & Xiancheng Xiong & Dawei Feng, 2025. "Big data analytics and corporate financing constraints: Evidence from a developing country," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2224-2236, June.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0345770. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.