An Empirical Study Of The Impact Of Tourism Industry Agglomeration On Economic Growth

The industry agglomeration is the necessary stage of national economic development, also an inexorable trend of the economy. Its main indication is the resources and elements gathering towards a certain area, which greatly promotes the local economy. In the domain of academic research, the mainstream economic literatures mainly focus on the manufacturing industry agglomeration and economic growth. Even though there are researches about economic growth caused by macroeconomic agglomerations occasionally, the relation between service industry agglomeration and economy growth has been neglected for a long time. In these years, as the transforming and upgrading of tourism industry, it has become a pillar industry of national economy, and its agglomeration phenomenon is even more distinct. A lot of tourism agglomeration areas has emerged in China. In order to exert tourism agglomeration’ effect better on the economy growth, we should understand the theory of how it promotes the economy. This article aims to make some profitable exploration on this subject.The current researching about the economy growth caused by tourism industry agglomeration are distributed and not systematic. The research methods are mostly qualitative, and the results are too theoretical but not practicable. In order to maximize the economic effect of tourism industry agglomeration, and to provide scientific and practicable operations for the development of China’s tourism industry agglomeration, we used literature review method, dynamic and static analysis method, and empirical method to study the theory of how the tourism agglomeration effects the economy growth.By sorting the literatures related to the relationship between tourism industry agglomeration, industry agglomeration and economy growth, and analyzing the basic theory, we estimate China’s tourism agglomeration level through location entropy index, and analyzed its historical development and evolution track from the aspects of time and space. Then we brought up five effects of tourism agglomeration to economy growth: Scale economy effect, spillover effect, innovation effect, urbanization effect and crowding effect, and respectively analyzed these five effects. Afterwards we build a classic econometrics panel data model, and verified that there’s a long term balance between tourism industry agglomeration and economy growth. We made a regression analysis to the model by the SUR-sectional weighted Generalized Least Square Method, and find out that: the travel agencies promoted the economy growth in the east and central China, but no distinct effect on the west China; Star hotels are over-gathering in the east China, and impeded the economic growth to some extent in the east China. However, the star hotels agglomeration has an obvious promote effect on the west China. Finally this article proposed several practicable policy suggestions about tourism agglomeration development based on the different situation of different areas, in order to provide support to the governments’ and tourism companies’ macro policy analysis and economy strategy. At the same time it also offered constructive schemes for the regional plan, government’s policy formulation and substantive development of tourism, to promoting the further development of tourism industry agglomeration in China.