Has the digitization of the tourism industry promoted the export of tourism services?--Based on evidence at the provincial level of China

Abstract

The rapid development of the digital economy has driven the digital transformation of the tourism industry, which will inevitably affect the development of China’s tourism service trade. Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2009 to 2020, this paper constructs the “three new” evaluation system of China Provincial Tourism Digitalization, tests its impact on tourism service exports. The results indicate that the digitization of the tourism industry positively affects the export of tourism services by reducing transaction costs, which is more obvious in the central and eastern regions.