Spatial–Temporal Heterogeneity and the Related Influencing Factors of Tourism Efficiency in China

Tourism efficiency is an effective index of measuring the development quality of the tourism industry. In this study, the tourism efficiency of 30 provinces in China during the period from 2006 to 2018 was measured with the SBM model and Malmquist index. On the basis of ESDA and GWR models, we explored the spatial pattern of China’s tourism efficiency and the spatial heterogeneity of the influencing factors in depth. The results revealed that China’s tourism efficiency has been constantly enhanced with an increasingly balanced pattern. Meanwhile, the utilization degrees of various input factors have constantly been improving. Both technological efficiency and technological progress jointly promote rapid growth of total-factor productivity. Accompanied with constant enhancement of the spatial agglomeration effect, the local spatial pattern also showed obvious differentiation. In general, low-efficiency regions were mainly concentrated in northern China, while high-efficiency regions were concentrated in southern China. The distinct spatial–temporal differentiation characteristics of tourist economic efficiency can be attributed to different influencing strengths of various factors in various regions and different action tendencies. The level of economic development, traffic conditions, the professional level of tourism, and openness degree can significantly promote tourism efficiency. Tourism resource endowment and environmental cost impose slight effects and differ in action direction, thereby inhibiting the tourism efficiency of many regions.