How does high-speed rail affect tourism development? The case of the Sichuan-Chongqing Economic Circle

•We explore the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on tourism development in the Sichuan-Chongqing Economic Circle.•Our findings show that HSR significantly promotes the development of urban tourism.•The empirical results show there exists a positive spatial spillover effect on tourism flows.•The substitution effect between HSR and air transport are empirically proved.•The impact of HSR on tourism increases by year, peaking in the third year. Using a panel data set of 36 cities in the Sichuan-Chongqing Economic Circle in China from 2011 to 2019, this study adopts a spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model to analyze the effect of high-speed rail (HSR) on urban tourism development. The results show that HSR operation can significantly promote the development of urban tourism. The spatial autoregressive parameter is 0.3, indicating a positive spatial spillover effect on tourism flows. Our conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests, including using the PSM-SDID model and placebo test. Second, we find that the impact of HSR on tourism increases by year, peaking in the third year. Third, HSR has a greater impact on cities with less developed road transport and immature tertiary industries. Finally, we confirm the substitution effect between HSR and air transport.