Efficiency and Driving Factors of Green Development of Tourist Cities Based on Ecological Footprint

For tourist cities, the ecological footprint not only affects tourism competitiveness but also affects green development. This paper adopted an improved ecological footprint accounting model, used a series of relevant indicators of ecological footprint to compare the green development efficiency, and explored the main driving factors of the per capita ecological footprint and city classification of 16 major tourist cities in China from 2000 to 2017. The results show that the green development efficiency of the studied tourist cities still needs to be improved. Secondly, the panel data analysis shows that the proportion of the primary industry in GDP, the proportion of the secondary industry in GDP, the per capita investment in fixed assets, and the length of highways per 10,000 people can increase the per capita ecological footprint. Then, the cluster analysis divides the selected tourist cities into four categories, and different types of cities need to be managed differently. Finally, this paper puts forward corresponding suggestions to improve the quality of the green development of selected tourist cities. The in-depth study of the ecological footprint in this paper will provide a scientific basis for tourist cities to promote green economic growth that considers ecological footprint and GDP and achieve sustainable development of tourism.