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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Affairs and Policy
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1471467
This article is part of the Research Topic Challenges and Solutions in Forecasting and Decision-Making in Marine Economy and Management View all 9 articles

Analysis on the relationship between coastal tourism and marine pollution: An empirical analysis of China's 11 coastal regions

Provisionally accepted
Xina Ji Xina Ji 1Xingong Ding Xingong Ding 2*
  • 1 Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, North Jeolla, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Beibu Gulf University, Qinzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Coastal tourism has become an important pillar of economic growth in China's coastal regions, yet no quantitative research has analyzed the relationship between coastal tourism and marine pollution. This study, within a multivariate framework, comprehensively examines the impact of coastal tourism on marine pollution by employing various econometric techniques and focusing on four different types of marine pollutant discharges: chemical oxygen demand (COD), petroleum (PET), ammonia nitrogen (NHN), and total phosphorus (TP). Panel cointegration tests confirm a long-term relationship between coastal tourism and these four types of marine pollutant discharges. In the long run, coastal tourism has a significantly negative impact on COD, NHN, and TP. The results of Pooled Mean Group (PMG), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) estimators show that for every 1% increase in coastal tourism revenue (TOUR), COD decreases by 0.734%, 0.536%, and 0.952% respectively; NHN decreases by 0.746%, 0.340%, and 1.633%; and TP decreases by 5.169%, 0.899%, and 0.334% respectively. However, the impact of coastal tourism on PET is not significant. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin (D-H) panel causality test results indicate different causality patterns between coastal tourism and various marine pollutant discharges. Specifically, there is a bidirectional causality between coastal tourism and COD, NHN, and a unidirectional causality between coastal tourism and PET, TP. Moreover, heterogeneity analysis reveals that coastal tourism does not significantly reduce all marine pollutant discharges in low-and middle-income coastal regions. Furthermore, compared to the central and southern coastal regions, the coastal tourism of northern regions has not significantly reduced marine pollution. This study can provide policymakers with references for developing coastal tourism and reducing marine pollutant discharges.

    Keywords: Coastal Tourism, marine pollution, Pollutant discharges, quantitatively analyze, long-term relationship

    Received: 27 Jul 2024; Accepted: 20 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ji and Ding. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xingong Ding, Beibu Gulf University, Qinzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.