The Impact of Tourism on CO2 Emission: A Case of China

The development of the tourism industry contributes to global greenhouse gases around the world. According to literature, there exists a critical relationship between tourism development and CO
2
emissions. In this context, this paper purposes to investigate how tourism development affects CO
2
emissions in China by applying the panel data model based on provincial data over the period 2010 to 2019. The empirical findings are the following: (i) the increase in the number of visitors leads to a reducing effect on CO
2
emissions; (ii) the increase in tourism revenues enhances to cut down CO
2
emissions. Our results conclude that tourism is considered a green industry in China.