The Impact of Tourism Industry Agglomeration on the High-Quality Development of China's Tourism Economy: Testing Based on the Spatial Durbin and Threshold Models

Abstract: Promoting the high-quality development of the tourism economy has become an important challenge. Based on panel data on 31 provinces in China during 2009–2019, this study uses spatial econometric and threshold regression models to analyze the spatial spillover effects and threshold characteristics of tourism industry agglomeration on the high-quality development of the tourism economy. The results show that the overall level of high-quality development of China's tourism economy shows an upward trend, with differences between different regions. The agglomeration of tourism industry has a significant positive impact on the high-quality development of the tourism economy and shows strong spatial spillover effects. Further, the level of agglomeration has a double-threshold effect on the high-quality development of the tourism economy. Based on these results, we propose countermeasures to promote the coordinated and linked development of the tourism industry in different regions, providing important insights for further enhancing the high-quality development of the tourism economy in China.