5A Tourist attractions and China’s regional tourism growth

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the linear and non-linear effects of two 5A tourist attractions (5ATA) sub-groups: cultural tourist attractions (5ACTA) and natural tourist attractions (5ANTA) on China’s domestic tourist arrivals (DTA) and inbound tourist arrivals (ITA). The test results reveal a positive relationship between 5ATA and regional tourism growth, mainly, 5ATA have a more significant effect on DTA than on ITA, and the impact of 5ACTA on regional tourism growth is stronger than that of 5ANTA. This study further identifies an inverse U-shaped association between 5ATA and tourist arrivals, indicating the relationship follows the law of diminishing marginal utility.

KEYWORDS:

• 5A tourist attraction
• inbound tourist arrivals
• domestic tourist arrivals
• cultural tourist attraction
• natural tourist attraction
• the law of diminishing marginal utility
• dynamic panel
• nonlinear relationship
• regional tourism economy
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number: 71774135] and China Scholarship Council is gratefully acknowledged.