Eco-Efficiency and Its Drivers in Tourism Sectors with Respect to Carbon Emissions from the Supply Chain: An Integrated EEIO and DEA Approach

Abstract

Eco-efficiency analysis can provide useful information about sustainability in the tourism industry, which has an important role in both global economy recovery and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), generating considerable indirect carbon emissions with respect to the supply chain due to its significant connections to other industries. This study, from the perspective of tourism sectors, including tourism hotels, travel agencies, and scenic spots, integrated the environmentally extended input–output analysis (EEIO) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to develop a research framework, analyzing the indirect carbon emissions of the tourism supply chain, evaluating eco-efficiency with respect to both direct carbon emissions and total carbon emissions (including direct and indirect parts), and exploring the driving factors of eco-efficiency of tourism sectors using Tobit regression models. This study took Gansu as a case, a province in China characterized by higher carbon intensity, an underdeveloped economy, and rapid tourism growth. The results demonstrate that (1) tourism hotels contribute the most carbon emissions in tourism sectors, especially indirectly due to the supply chain, with carbon emissions mainly resulting from the manufacturing of food and tobacco; (2) the eco-efficiency of tourism sectors in Gansu presents a U-shaped curve, which is consistent with Kuznets’ theory; and (3) energy technology is key to improving the eco-efficiency of tourism sectors. The research results provide a clear path for the reduction of carbon emissions and the improvement of eco-efficiency in Gansu tourism sectors. Against the backdrop of global climate change and the post-COVID-19 era, our research framework and findings provide a reference for similar regions and countries who are in urgent need of rapid tourism development to effect economic recovery.

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics and Driving Factors of the Eco-Efficiency of Tourist Hotels in China

“…Both studies found that the tourism activity effect, energy over fixed capital, and capital over labor productivity all have significant impacts on the accommodation industry. When studying the eco-efficiency of tourism [ 5 ], it is found that energy technology is the key to improving the eco-efficiency, which is consistent with the internal research of the star-rated hotel system in this paper; that is, excessive energy consumption and capital investment have a negative impact on the eco-efficiency of star-rated hotels. At the same time, according to the input–output process of star-rated hotels, some factors often do not directly affect the eco-efficiency of hotels.…”

“…As a developing country with the largest carbon emissions in the world, China’s carbon emissions caused by the continuous expansion of the tourism and hotel industry cannot be ignored [ 4 ]. The hotel industry is facing the dual contradiction of positive economic and social impacts and pressure on the ecological environment [ 5 ].…”

Spatial spillover and determinants of tourism efficiency: A low carbon emission perspective

“…Several scholars have applied DEA to research tourism efficiency (Chaabouni, 2019; Corne, 2015; Niavis and Tsiotas, 2019; Yi and Liang, 2015); however, they have focused on expected production outputs, and have not considered unexpected outputs or those that could produce a negative environmental byproduct, such as CO 2 emissions (Li et al, 2022; Xia et al, 2022; Zha et al, 2020; Zhang et al, 2021). Given that people are increasingly concerned about environmental issues, Gössling et al (2005) proposed the idea of eco-efficiency, which is a ratio method of tourism eco-efficiency that divides CO 2 emissions by tourism revenue.…”

Mobilising big data analytics capabilities to improve performance of tourism supply chains: the moderating role of dynamic capabilities

“…BDAC improves environmental decision-making by providing timely and accurate information. It provides relevant information to customers and helps them select environmentally friendly products (Xia et al, 2022). BDAC was argued to be a crucial source for improving the channel of distribution and helped in the rapid recovery of supply chain disruptions (Dubey et al, 2019a).…”