PurposeThe digital economy has become a key force supporting the high-quality development of tourism. This paper discusses the coupling coordination relationship and spatiotemporal evolution path of digital economy and tourism in China's provinces.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the entropy method to measure the development level of digital economy and tourism, and establishes coupling coordination model and spatial autocorrelation model to study the interaction between the two industries.FindingsResults show that the development levels of the two industries are rising, which spatially show a progressively decreasing pattern of east-middle-northeast-west. The coupling coordination degrees of the two industries have increased steadily, but the overall level is still near maladjusted. Spatially, the positive correlation is increasing, but the incongruity of spatial agglomeration is still significant. The coupling coordination evolution path in the provinces shows differentiated characteristics. The migration path is mainly concentrated in Zones I and II. The eastern region has an obvious trend of extending to Zone III, where the tourism industry was the most affected by the pandemic.Practical implicationsThe study helps clarify the industrial coupling and coordination relationship in various regions and formulate regional tourism digital transformation strategies to promote the high-quality development of China's tourism industry.Originality/valueThis paper enriches the research on the relationship between digital economy and tourism from the perspective of industrial integration. The development commonality of China's tourism digital transformation summarized provides theoretical reference and demonstration for the coordinated development of China's tourism.