Does haze pollution governance promote the growth of urban tourism economies? Evidence from China’s Clean Air Act

Haze pollution has caused huge losses to the tourism industry, but China’s Clean Air Act (CAA), implemented in 2013, provides an important opportunity for the tourism industry to recover. Using a difference-in-differences model and panel data across 275 prefecture-level cities, we investigate the effects of the CAA on their urban tourism economies. The results confirm significant positive effects of the CAA mainly through adjusting the urban industrial structures and stimulating technological innovation. However, there is significant heterogeneity of the policy effects. The CAA plays a greater role in promoting the tourism economies of small-scale cities and non-first-tier cities. In addition, domestic tourism is more affected than inbound tourism. Our findings verify the positive effects of China’s haze pollution governance and provide theoretical evidence for the cities to promote the high-quality development of their tourism economies.