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Greening through Tourism

Author

Listed:
  • Zhu, Mingying
  • Chen, Bo
  • Hu, Zhiren
  • Du, Wei

Abstract

This paper investigates whether productivity growth in the service sector can improve environmental quality. Using the expansion of China's national 5A-level tourist attraction list as a natural experiment, we find that when a city obtains its first nationally recognized "best" tourist attraction, the PM2.5 concentration declines by about 5.1% over the following decade. The improvement in air quality is driven by structural transformation resulting from the reallocation of capital and labor toward the service sector, rather than strengthened environmental regulations. The air quality improvement generated an additional USD 3.1 billion in revenue for China's tourism sector over the decade.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Mingying & Chen, Bo & Hu, Zhiren & Du, Wei, 2025. "Greening through Tourism," 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2025, Denver, CO 360758, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea25:360758
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.360758
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