Do neighbours shape the tourism spending of rural households? Evidence from China

ABSTRACT

Previous studies on the determinants of household tourism expenditure have assumed that households independently determine their tourism expenditure. However, the possible influence of neighbours on tourism expenditure has been overlooked. This study is the first to apply spatial lag analysis to investigate the neighbour effect in the determination of rural household tourism expenditure. The results indicate that there is a significant neighbour effect on the tourism expenditure of rural households. This neighbour effect varies by region and by household head attributes. This paper suggests that the neighbour effect does help to explain household tourism consumption in rural areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism expenditure
• rural households
• neighbour effect
• spatial lag model
• social multiplier effect

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research is funded by the National Social Science Fund of China [grant number 17BSH122].