Tourism eco-efficiency is an essential indicator to measure the level of green and sustainable development of tourism. Based on the data of nine provinces in the Yellow River Basin, from 2011 to 2020, this article estimates the changes in tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin and explores its internal drivers by establishing multiple input-output index systems using the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index method. Finally, a panel stochastic Tobit model was applied to identify the key external drivers of its eco-efficiency improvement. The analysis shows that with the continuous promotion of the Yellow River Basin’s high-quality development strategy and ecological civilization construction, the tourism eco-efficiency of the Yellow River Basin provinces has been improved in the past decade. Due to the obvious ecological advantages in the upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin and the high level of tourism promotion and economic development in the lower reaches, tourism ecological efficiency in the upstream and downstream areas is commonly higher than in the midstream areas. The improvement of efficiency is the internal core driver of regional tourism eco-efficiency, but the essence of eco-efficiency improvement lies in technological progress. In the analysis of the impact of external drivers on tourism eco-efficiency, tourism economy scale, tourism industry structure, technological innovation, and economic development are the crucial external factors to eco-efficiency enhancement. This work can serve as a guide for the high-level growth of regional tourism industry.

Urban resilience provides the foundation and guarantee for the tourism economy, and the development of the tourism industry provides new opportunities and impetus for urban resilience. The coordinated development of urban resilience (UR) and the tourism economy (TE) contributes to the high-quality development of the regional economy. This study takes 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration as an example. Various analytical techniques, including the entropy method, coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), kernel density estimation, Theil index, and obstacle degree model, are employed to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and influencing factors that affect the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between UR and TE. The findings indicate that: (1) The urban resilience and tourism economy exhibited an increasing trend denoted by “N” and “M”, respectively. (2) The coupling coordination level has undergone a development phase of “Moderate disorder–Bare coordination–Moderate disorder”. (3) The level of coordination has been enhanced, with intra-regional differences identified as the primary source of variation. (4) The number of Internet users, the number of students in institutions of higher learning, per capita public financial expenditure, science and technology expenditures as a share of fiscal expenditures, urban per capita disposable income, foreign exchange earnings from tourism, and the number of inbound tourists is the main factors affecting the CCD of urban resilience and tourism economy.

Analysing the spatial distribution patterns of the urban tourism and leisure industry is crucial for meeting the dual demands of residents and visitors for a better quality of life. Most existing studies on spatial distribution characteristics and the accessibility of leisure tourism have been carried out individually and lack the relationship between the tourism and leisure industry and accessibility. Based on Qingdao’s POI data, spatial visualisation methods and Geodetector are used to explore spatial distribution, accessibility, and influencing factors. (1) It is found that the overall and various types of the tourism and leisure industry in Qingdao exhibit clustered distribution, with an imbalance between coastal and inland areas. (2) There are notable spatial disparities in overall accessibility within Qingdao, with most regions falling within the 70-min isochrone. The spatial distribution of accessibility at the county level aligns with the overall accessibility patterns. (3) Various factors influence the spatial distribution of the tourism and leisure industry. Per capita disposable income is the primary factor affecting the spatial layout of Qingdao’s tourism and leisure industry. After interacting with other factors, GDP per capita and tourist trips become key influencing factors. These findings can promote the sustainable development of urban tourism in Qingdao and provide a valuable reference for other cities.

Air pollution has a significant impact on tourism; however, research in this area is still limited. In this study, we applied grey relational analysis to panel data from 31 provinces in China and evaluated the relationship between air quality and inbound tourist arrivals. The study focused on provincial-level disparities for the different key air quality evaluation standards during 2009–2012 and 2013–2019. For instance, we considered PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂ and the excellent and good ratings of Air Pollution Index (API) during 2009–2012 and the additional PM_2.5, CO, O₃ and the excellent and good ratings of Air Quality Index (AQI) from 2013 to 2019. Results indicate that: (1) Inbound tourist arrivals are significantly and positively affected by ambient air quality, and the impact from 2013 to 2019 was greater than that from 2009 to 2012; (2) there is regional diversity in inbound tourist arrivals, and the impact of the different air quality indicators varies; (3) inbound tourists showed greater sensitivity to air pollution under the AQI standard; (4) the impact of air quality indicators on the inbound tourist arrivals shows grey relational order, and the concentration of PM_2.5, PM₁₀ and SO₂ have less impact than NO₂, CO and O₃ on changes in tourism numbers; (5) consistency in the air quality impact on foreign tourists and compatriot tourists from HK, MO and TW varies by air quality indicators. This study highlights the need for appropriate measures to improve air quality for high-quality and sustainable development of inbound tourism.