Public data openness has the potential to reveal latent tourism consumption preferences and trends, improve the allocation of tourism resources, enhance visitor experiences, and foster the development of the tourism industry. This study exploits the staggered rollout of prefecture-level government open data platforms in China as a quasi-natural experiment to estimate the causal effect of public data openness on regional tourism development. The results show that public data openness significantly promotes tourism development, as evidenced by increases in both total tourism revenue and tourist arrivals. Furthermore, the effects are amplified in regions characterized by greater transportation accessibility, market integration, and cultural diversity, which help reduce information frictions. The positive impact is more pronounced in eastern cities and those with stronger tourism resources and more advanced economic conditions.
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