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Green development, considering economic and environmental performance, has received increased attention globally. Moreover, the significant economic and environmental impacts of tourism are widely accepted by scholars. However, the nexus of tourism and green development is still unclear. To fill this gap, this study examines the effects of tourism on green development performance measured as green total factor productivity and the influence mechanisms. China's 308 cities' panel data between 2005 and 2019 provide empirical evidence. The results demonstrate an inverted U-shaped relationship between tourism and green total factor productivity, which is substantiated via various rigorous robustness tests. The key drivers of green total factor productivity change in cities include tourism-induced technological innovation, industrial structure optimisation, and environmental enhancement. Besides, the nexus of tourism and GTFP varies significantly across different socio-economic development regions. The positive relationship exists in relatively developed areas, while less-developed western China still keeps inverted U-shaped links between tourism and GTFP. The U-shaped relationship exists in central and northeastern China. The article is the first to systematically explore the impact of tourism on green development while revealing several potential mechanisms, thus significantly contributing to the literature on green development and sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between government environmental governance (GEG) and regional green development. The findings suggest that GEG boosts green innovation by promoting the "innovation compensation effect" while inhibiting regional green development due to increased environmental costs, supported by the "compliance cost effect". The relationship between GEG and regional green development is moderated by economic development and environmental pollution in an inverted U-shaped pattern. When economic development and environmental pollution are at lesser levels, the positive effect of GEG amplifies as economic growth and environmental pollution ascend. However, if economic growth and environmental pollution continue to escalate, the positive impact of GEG will lose its strength. In low-carbon pilot cities, GEG negatively affects regional green development, whereas the opposite effect is seen in non-pilot cities. Regardless, there is an inverted U-shaped moderating impact of economic development or environmental pollution in both low-carbon pilot and non-pilot cities, yet the inflection point varies across regions. This paper offers an original perspective by creating a theoretical link between green development and environmental governance and emphasizes the significance of a nonlinear viewpoint when examining the relationship between variables in the regional green development process, thereby expanding our understanding of green development phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the sustainable development philosophy has been widely recognized, it is still necessary to weigh the economic, environmental and social implications of tourism development. The decision is often difficult involving typically complex multi-criteria decision making problems. This study aims to contribute a theoretical framework and approach for the determination of top priorities in tourism development and making decisions based upon that approach. Taking Xizang as a case, this study explores the means to weigh and realize tourism development goals during the ‘13th Five-Year Plan’ period, using the analytic network process within a goal programming model. Results show that there are 10 criteria and nine decision variables determined in Xizang's sustainable tourism development and the priorities in Xizang's tourism development should be: 1) economic goals, 2) social goals, and 3) environmental goals. In addition, using the analytic network process-goal programming model, this paper provides the solution of the decision problem for two years, namely 2016 and 2020, and discusses the significance of the results. This study concludes that in a newly-emerging tourism but otherwise economically and socially backward region like Xizang, considering the economy first and the environment last is both appropriate and practicable. It is suggested that Xizang's tourism managers should implement specific strategies to raise the GDP, encourage higher levels of consumption by tourists and appropriately restrict the growth in the number of tourist coming to the area. Other goals should be to improve tourism research and the treatment of tourism employees and provide more support for tourism enterprises. The interdisciplinary approach from a systems perspective used in this study can be used to judge, queen and select numerous goals and criteria to make decisions in sustainable tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]