互联网能否驱动旅游业效率提升?——影响机制与经验证据

Can the Internet Promote the Efficiency of the Tourism Industry?Impact Mechanism and Empirical Evidence

数字经济时代,能否借助互联网提升产业效率,对于中国旅游业实现高质量发展而言至关重要。文章采用我国2006—2016年的省级面板数据,在构建评价体系测度互联网发展水平的基础上,考察了互联网对旅游业效率的影响效应及作用机制。研究发现:(1)互联网能显著驱动旅游业效率提升,并且在克服潜在的内生性问题后,其影响效应得到进一步增强,说明中国旅游业实践中并不存在“索洛悖论”。(2)中介机制检验结果表明,互联网能通过提升旅游市场吸引力、增强旅游业密集度、提高行业竞争性的方式促进产业效率提升。(3)门槛模型估计结果显示,互联网对旅游业效率的影响具有非线性效应,其影响系数大小呈现出“先增强后减弱”的变化规律。(4)异质性分析发现,互联网对中西部地区旅游业效率的影响大于东部地区。互联网能显著提升旅游景区和旅行社的效率,但对星级酒店效率的促进作用并不显著。以上结论为旅游大数据平台构建、旅游目的地管理和“互联网+”战略实施提供了有益的参考依据。

The Internet has gradually become an important force in promoting the high-quality development of the tourism industry whose development has remained inefficient for a long time.Based on the provincial panel data from 2006 to 2016,this paper constructs an evaluation index system to measure the development of the Internet.The effect of the Internet on the efficiency of the tourism industry and its impact mechanism are examined from both theoretical and empirical perspectives.The results show that the Internet can significantly improve the efficiency of the tourism industry and may have a stronger effect after the potential endogeneity issues are overcome.This means that the Solow Paradox doesn’t exist in China’s tourism industry.According to the mediation test,the Internet promotes the efficiency of the tourism industry by enhancing the attractiveness of tourism destinations,increasing the density of tourism activities,and improving competitiveness.In addition,threshold model estimation results reveal a nonlinear relationship between the Internet and the efficiency of the tourism industry,with the coefficient of the Internet increasing firstly and then decreasing gradually.Furthermore,a heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of the Internet on the efficiency of the tourism industry in China’s Western and Central regions is greater than that in the Eastern region.However,the role of the Internet is less visible in promoting the efficiency of star-rated hotels even though it can significantly improve the efficiency of tourist attractions and travel agencies.The theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows.Firstly,compared with the existing research that emphasizes the impact of the Internet on the revenue of the tourism industry,this paper pays attention to the role of the Internet in tourism industry efficiency.It provides direct evidence for the proposition that the Internet can promote the efficiency of the tourism industry and denies the assertion of existing research that the Solow Paradox exists in China’s tourism industry.Secondly,this paper points out there is a lack of discussion on the impact mechanism since the few existing studies only analyze the direct impact of the Internet on the efficiency of the tourism industry.Taking economic theories into consideration,this paper identifies the impact mechanism from dimensions of demand,supply,and competitive environment,and provides some possible channels for the tourism industry to make better use of the Internet.To a certain extent,this paper has solved the black box mystery of how the Internet promotes the efficiency of tourism.Finally,instead of focusing on the linear impact of the Internet on the tourism industry as existing research does,this paper finds that the Internet has a nonlinear effect on the efficiency of the tourism industry.This finding provides a new perspective of dynamic analysis for research in this field.Meanwhile,this paper also provides some practical implications for the construction of internetbased platforms,destination management,and implementation of the“Internet plus”strategy.The tourism industry should give full play to the role of the Internet in resource allocation to get the most out of capital and labor forces.In terms of destination management,travel service providers should use the Internet to reduce information asymmetry.Besides,they should combine complementary assets in geographic space and carry out real-time collaboration in product design and service provision,with a view to developing a networked,intelligent,and digital tourism ecosystem.Local governments should continue to optimize the market environment and give relevant entities more opportunities to participate in market competition.In doing so,market vitality will be stimulated by the cooperation and competition of service providers and the efficiency of industrial operation will be maximized.Last but not least,different regions and enterprises should implement differentiated“Internet plus”strategies.For example,government departments involved should work to strengthen the development of the Internet in China’s Central and Western regions to ensure a solid technological foundation for the efforts to narrow the tourism development gap between regions.Different types of tourism enterprises should utilize the Internet to give full scope to their advantages,take targeted measures to improve their services,and thus continuously improve their efficiency.