Nonlinear Impact of Air Quality on Tourist Arrivals: New Proposal and Evidence

This study makes a novel contribution to the tourism literature by proposing an inverted U–shaped impact of air quality on tourist arrivals and examining this relationship using 58 major tourist cities in China from 2004 to 2015. The estimation of linear and nonlinear dynamic panel regression tests is based on the system generalized method of moments. The linear test results show that air quality measured by the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has a significantly negative impact on both inbound and domestic tourist arrivals. The nonlinear test results validate an inverted U–shaped link between air quality and both inbound and domestic tourist arrivals.