How does air quality affect tourist travel volume and destination preference? An analysis based on mobile tracking data

ABSTRACT

There is increasing research regarding the effect of air quality on tourism. This study used the Negative Binomial Model (N) to explore the relationship between air quality and travel volume and preference based on the air quality in the place of origin. From the perspective of both tourist origin and destination air quality, based on the push–pull theory, the Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) was then used to explore the relationship of air quality and tourism between tourist origin and destination. Daily mobile tracking data were used to conduct the research. The study shows that within cities, declining air quality levels in the place of origin have a negative impact on travel, while between cities, when air quality in the place of origin declines, the public will travel to areas with superior air quality, indicating that declining air quality levels in the place of origin can promote long-distance tourism activities. The impact of declining air quality levels on different types of tourists varies, with nature-based tourists being most affected by air quality levels, followed by leisure, culture, and entertainment.

KEYWORDS:

• Air quality
• tourist travel volume
• destination preference
• impact
• mobile tracking data

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 41771163]; Social Science Project of Sichuan Province [grant number SC20B047]; Research Fund of Sichuan University [grant number 2021CXC16]; Regional History and Frontier Studies of Sichuan University; and Sichuan University Research Fund.