Government digital information discovery and exploration: the case of unraveling tourism-led-growth paradox in China
| Date | 20 November 2017 |
| Pages | 212-219 |
| Published date | 20 November 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-10-2016-0036 |
| Author | Maxwell K. Hsu,Junzhou Zhang,Yamin Ahmad |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Library & information services,Lending,Document delivery,Collection building & management,Stock revision,Consortia |
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Government digital information discovery and
exploration: the case of unraveling
tourism-led-growth paradox in China
Maxwell K. Hsu
Department of Marketing, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, Wisconsin, USA
Junzhou Zhang
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, and
Yamin Ahmad
Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, Wisconsin, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to examine the relationship between tourism development and economic growth while considering exports
simultaneously. Governments in many countries have been developing and deploying strategies to attract tourism receipts as a means for economic
growth. However, assessing the potential impact of tourism on economic growth among large economies is still in its infancy.
Design/methodology/approach – Using a vector error correction model framework, this study examines the relationship among exports, gross
domestic product (GDP) and tourism receipts (including international tourism receipts and domestic tourism receipts in two separate models) with
macro data that covers two recent decades (1994-2013) in China.
Findings – The empirical findings confirm the existence of a long-term equilibrium relationship in each of these two tri-variate models. The empirical
findings reveal that (1) both tourism-led-growth and export-led-growth hypotheses are supported, (2) the growth rate of tourism receipts exhibit a higher
relevance with GDP growth than export growth and (3) the growth rate of international tourism shows a higher relevance with GDP growth than domestic
tourism growth.
Originality/value – Using macroeconomic data collected by the Chinese government, the current study employs an advanced econometric
methodology to explore the potential benefits of tourism on economic growth in China.
Keywords China, Information search, Vector error correction model, Export-led-growth, Government digital information, Tourism-led-growth
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Over the past few decades, technology advances in information
communication and transportation have led governments to put
forth substantial policy effort and public investment in updating
infrastructures and promoting international trade and business.
More recently, governments focus on e-government activities to
provide a more effective and efficient way to deliver information
service (Codagnone and Wimmer, 2007;Snead and Wright,
2014). For example, governments in many countries have been
developing and deploying e-Tourism information platforms
which could attract tourism as another engine for growth
(Buhalis and Law, 2008). As assessing the potential impact of
tourism on economic growth among large economies is still in its
infancy, the current study attempts to address this puzzle by
employing an advanced econometric methodology (i.e. a Vector
Error Correction Model or VECM) to examine the potential
benefits of tourism on economic growth in China.
Focusing China’s e-Commerce and tourism development, Li
and Buhalis (2006) conducted a study to investigate the
e-Shopping adoption of Chinese travelers. They found that the
e-Shopping travelers in China are highly geographically
unbalanced and dominantly living in the Pearl River Delta area.
The majority of the rural regions, especially in China’s inner land
area, are largely behind the coastal region in terms of
e-Commerce development and tourism infrastructure. In
addition, while government officials in developed counties are
more actively involved in social media tools, Chinese government
officials seldom engage in the social media (Park et al., 2016). It
appears that most of the policymakers in China favor investment
in the manufacturing industry rather than the tourism sector,
despite evidence that the tourism industry has been a positive
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/2398-6247.htm
Information Discovery and Delivery
45/4 (2017) 212–219
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2398-6247]
[DOI 10.1108/IDD-10-2016-0036]
Received 25 October 2016
Revised 13 April 2017
Accepted 4 May 2017
212
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