Research on the Relationship between Transportation Infrastructure and Regional Tourism Economy

School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

^* Corresponding author: 19120735@bjtu.edu.cn

Abstract

This paper selects panel data from 30 provinces in mainland China from 2003 to 2017, and empirically explores the role and impact of transportation infrastructure on regional tourism economic development. The results found that the national tourism economy was significantly negatively related to railway density and positively related to highway density, but not significant; the number of employees in travel agencies had little effect on the tourism economy; the urbanization rate, industrial structure, and per capita GDP were significantly positively related to the tourism economy. In terms of different regions, the tourism economy in the western region has a significant negative correlation with railway density and a significant positive correlation with highway density. The regression results of the core explanatory variables in the eastern and central regions are not significant. To promote the development of tourism economy, attention should be paid to the multi-factor synergy that affects regional tourism economic growths; transportation development planning should be integrated with regional macro development planning and the overall tourism development planning; promote urbanization development, upgrade the industrial structure to stimulate the level of tourism consumption and give play to its space spillover effect to promote regional cooperation.