Economic Perspectives on Tourism in China

Abstract

This paper employs input-output analysis to evaluate the economic aspects of tourism in China. It concludes that, given the size and diversity of the Chinese economy, tourism has provided only a limited stimulus to economic development at the national level. Tourism development depends markedly on input from secondary industry. Tourism contributes to direct value added for tourism commodities and generates substantial indirect and induced employment to non-tourism commodities, especially in agriculture. Leakage is rather low. Only 40 per cent of the tourism leakage comes directly from tourism-related commodities and more than half is indirect leakage from non-tourism commodities, especially secondary industry. This suggests that the availability of secondary commodities may be a constraint on tourism development in China.