Inclusive green growth and development of the high-quality tourism industry in China: The dependence on imports

Inclusive green growth and dependence on import trade are domestic and international issues that need to be considered in the process of high-quality development of China's tourism industry. Under the complex international environment, it is necessary to explore the regulating effect of import dependence on the impact of inclusive green growth on the high-quality development of the tourism industry. From the perspective of import dependence, this study uses the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces (excluding the Tibet Autonomous Region, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2010 to 2019, and constructs the mechanism of inclusive green growth on the high-quality development of the tourism industry based on the theory of spatial production. The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of import dependence on the mechanism of the inclusive green growth index on the high-quality development of the tourism industry. It is found that inclusive green growth can significantly promote the high quality of the tourism industry. The threshold test results show that import dependence has a significant negative threshold effect in the mechanism of inclusive green growth on the high-quality development of the tourism industry. When import dependence exceeds a single threshold (38.65), the contribution of inclusive green growth to the improvement of high-quality development level of the tourism industry first decreases and then increases. The results show that even if there are favourable conditions such as inclusive green growth, if there is dependence on imported goods, it will have a negative impact on the high-quality development of the tourism industry. This paper enriches the research on the evaluation of high-quality development level of the tourism industry and the interaction between international trade and tourism industry. Moreover, it provides a reference for developing countries such as China under the impact of COVID-19 and the anti-globalisation.