Abstract
While tourism generates economic benefits at destinations, it also creates certain environmental pressures. In the global context of water scarcity, the spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics of water consumption at tourism destinations have become a focus of attention. Based on panel data, the present study calculates the change trends in China’s tourism water footprint (TWF) in the 2013–2018 period using input-output analysis, analyses the regional differences in TWF changes using kernel density estimation and the Theil index, and investigates the driving factors of the spatial and temporal differentiation of the TWF using the logarithmic mean Divisia index model. The results indicate that (1) the tourism water consumption in China increased year-by-year but that the tourism water use efficiency improved; (2) the proportion of the TWF for accommodation and food in the total TWF gradually increased, while the proportion of the TWF for transportation continuously decreased; (3) the TWF of each region increased continuously, with the absolute difference between regions gradually increasing and the difference in the TWF intensity gradually decreasing; and (4) decomposition analysis showed that the TWF in China was positively driven by per capita expenditure and the number of tourists, with the role of TWF intensity shifting from inhibition to promotion, and that each driving force changed with time. Based on the spatial and temporal differences in the TWF, the provinces in China are divided into five categories, and targeted countermeasures and suggestions are proposed.
Highlights
We found that the growth rate of the tourism water footprint (TWF) was consistently larger than that of tourism revenue and that the two were not synchronous, indicating that tourism water consumption was not effectively controlled in the 2013–2018 period
Tourism activities break the regional boundaries of water demand and affect the regional water supply and demand balance
Characterizing the pattern of water resource pressure caused by tourism development on a national scale is conducive to the macrocontrol of sustainable tourism development
Summary
Global warming will lead to an increase in rainfall and will accelerate the hydrological cycle, and renewable freshwater resources are expected to grow faster than water demand [2]; the water supply seems to be sufficient to meet human needs, but this is not the case if other factors are considered. Due to factors such as population growth, economic development, and shifting consumption patterns, the global demand for water resources is growing at a rate of 1% per year, and this rate is expected to accelerate significantly in the 20 years [3]. Freshwater scarcity has already posed a serious threat to the economic and social
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