Evaluation of region tourism efficiency and spatial differences of guangdong province under the background of happiness industry

Based on the indicator system of tourism industry efficiency evaluation under the background of "Happiness Industry", this paper analyzed the tourism efficiency and spatial differences for 21 regions in Guangdong Province during 2014-2016 by using data envelopment analysis and Malmquist Index. The results showed that 70% regions kept a high level of the overall efficiency, technical efficiency and scale efficiency. However there was a wide gap among different regions, and the trend was towards a narrowed gap. Regarding the development stages of different regions, almost 40% regions were in the stage of constant returns to scale and most of them were in the Pearl River Delta, nearly 45% regions were in the stage of decreasing returns to scale and most of them were in the mountains of northern Guangdong. According to the level and increase of tourism efficiency, regions can be divided into four types. The regions which showed "high efficiency, high increase" were mainly in coastal regions of the Pearl River Delta, eastern Guangdong and western Guangdong, and the regions which showed "low efficiency, low increase" were mainly in northern Guangdong. This paper will provide some ideas and inspiration with a view to sustainable and healthy development of tourism industry in Guangdong province.