The Study Of Domestic Tourism’s Impacts On Urban-rural Income Inequality And Its Channels

The development of domestic tourism can be a potential tool for narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas and between regions.China’s domestic tourism industry has developed rapidly and has become a pillar industry for economic development;however,the problem of urban and rural income inequality is still severe,bringing severe challenges to the goal of common prosperity and stable economic development.Therefore,to clarify the impact of domestic tourism on urban-rural income inequality is essential to individual,regional and even the whole economic development.The existing literature on tourism and income gap mainly studies the impact of inbound tourism or the overall tourism industry,focusing on the income gap between countries,provinces,cities,or entire regions.The research on the impact of domestic tourism on urban and rural income inequality is still insufficient.In order to explore effective ways to use domestic tourism to alleviate the urban-rural income inequality,this article focuses on answering the five questions.First,can domestic tourism alleviate the urban-rural income inequality? Second,what is the spatial spillover effect of domestic tourism on the urban-rural income inequality? Third,how does domestic tourism alleviate the urban-rural income inequality by separately influencing the income of urban residents and rural residents? Fourth,after confirming that domestic tourism has significantly increased the income of rural residents,what are the channels for its influence? What is the direction and size? Fifth,based on the basic analysis of the channels of domestic tourism’s influence on rural residents’ income,how does capital adjust each channel of influence? Answering the above questions is of practical significance and will help seek effective ways to alleviate the urban-rural income inequality from the development of domestic tourism.Firstly,this paper,by using the instrumental variable method,makes causal inference of domestic tourism on urban-rural income inequality.The results show that,on the whole,domestic tourism can effectively alleviate the urban-rural income inequality.The endogenous problem is not serious.Considering the degree of regional income differentiation,the results show that the effect of domestic tourism on alleviating the urban-rural income inequality is only significant in areas with largeer urban-rural income inequality,areas with higher imcome of urban residents,and areas with lower income of rural residents.After distinguishing the degree of differentiation of regional tourism and economic development,the resustls show that the effect of domestic tourism on alleviating urban-rural income inequality is only significant for regions with less-derdeveloped domestic tourism economy,less-derdeveloped inbound tourism economy,and less-derdeveloped overall economy.Second,this paper thoroughly examines the spatial spillover effects of domestic tourism in local areas on the urban-rural income inequality in other areas.This analysis adopts a variety of spatial weighting matrices based on geographic location and the shortest railway time constructing principles,considers substitution variables for domestic tourism development,compares spillover effects in eastern,central and western China,and decomposes domestic tourism income.The results show if neighboring provinces do not belong to a same region,domestic tourism development in neighboring provinces may improve local urban-rural income inequality;if neighboring provinces belong to a same,the improvement effect may disappear.In the eastern,central,and western regions,an increase in the number of domestic tourists from neighboring provinces will intensify,alleviate,and not affect urban-rural income inequality of the local province.An increase in consumption levels of domestic tourists in neighboring provinces will exacerbate urban-rural income inequality in the local province.Thirdly,this article separately explores the causal influence of domestic tourism on urban-rural income inequality.The results show that domestic tourism can significantly increase the income of rural residents without affecting the income of urban residents.This result once again confirms that domestic tourism is an effective tool to alleviate the urban-rural income inequality.Moreover,this tool increases the income of rural residents,without damage the income of urban residents.Therefore,domestic tourism is a safe tool to alleviate the urban-rural income inequality.Fourth,this paper examines how domestic tourism affects the income of rural residents through income growth channels,income redistribution channels,and price channels.Using sub-category income data of rural residents,income growth channels examine wage income,operating income,and net property income;income redistribution channels examine transfer net income;price channels examine rural residents’ consumpiton on seven categories,including clothing,food,housing,transportation,medical care,education,and household equipment.The income growth channel results show that domestic tourism can significantly increase rural residents’ wage income and agricultural,husbandry,social service,transportation,transportation,and post and telecommunications operating income;however,it will significantly reduce rural residents’ operating income from fisheries and construction.The results of income redistribution show that domestic tourism can significantly increase the net transfer income of rural residents.According to price channels,the development of domestic tourism has increased the rural residents’ per capita consumption of clothing,food,housing,transportation,education,and household equipment;the growth of expenditure will be significantly higher than its actual expenditure on corresponding consumption per capita of urban residents.Finally,this paper examines the moderating effects of human,financial and material capital on income growth channel and income distribution channel.The role of capital adjustment in income growth channels shows that,compared with areas with higher corresponding capital,domestic tourism development can significantly increase rural residents’(1)wage income in areas with lower human capital,(2)wage income from non-enterprise organizations and operating income from husbandry,transportation,transportation and post and telecommunications in areas with lower enterprise investment capital,(3)operating income from traffic,transportation and post and telecommunications in areas with lower public institution investment capital,and(4)operationg income from husbandry,transportation,transportation and post and telecommunications and net property income in areas with lower farmers investment capiral.The role of capital adjustment in income redistribution channels shows that domestic tourism dividends tend to be distributed to rural areas with lower human and financial resources.