The Disclosure of Quality on Tourism Performance: Evidence from Top Tourist Cities in China

This article takes advantage of the designation of top tourist cities in China to estimate the impact of quality disclosure on the city tourism economy. According to theories regarding quality disclosure and certification, we develop a tourism promotion hypothesis for the designation, which is then...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of travel research Vol. 60; no. 7; pp. 1492 - 1509
Main Authors Gao, Yanyan, Su, Wei
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.09.2021
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Cities
Disclosure
Quality
Tourism
Tourist attractions
China
difference-in-differences
tourism economy
China
quality disclosure
top tourist city designation
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Summary:This article takes advantage of the designation of top tourist cities in China to estimate the impact of quality disclosure on the city tourism economy. According to theories regarding quality disclosure and certification, we develop a tourism promotion hypothesis for the designation, which is then tested with panel data from China’s 284 prefectural-level cities between 2000 and 2015. The difference-in-differences approach shows that gaining the designation increases both domestic and inbound tourism revenues, which is robust to various specifications. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the tourism promotion effect only persists for about three years, decreases over time, is smaller in developed areas, and is less salient for multiple or county-level designations.
ISSN:0047-2875
1552-6763
DOI:10.1177/0047287520954540