Exploring the impacts of carbon tax on tourism-related energy consumption in China

A carbon tax policy has been advocated as an effective tool to develop low-carbon economy in China. As one of the most influential and dynamic industries, Chinese tourism industry will foresee a new challenge under the carbon tax scenario. Given this background, this study explores the impacts of carbon tax on tourism development from the perspective of energy consumption by using computable general equilibrium modeling in China. Our findings clearly indicate that (a) the proportion of tourism energy consumption to national energy consumption in China will increase over time, (b) the impacts of carbon tax on China's tourism fossil energy consumption, electricity consumption, and energy intensity will become increasingly weak, (c) the impacts of a carbon tax on electricity use are greater than the impacts on fossil fuel consumption, and (d) the impacts of different carbon taxes on the levels of energy consumption and energy intensity will vary to a significant degree between the different tourism sectors. Our results are conducive to recognizing the changes of tourism energy consumption levels after levying a carbon tax. Furthermore, this paper also has a certain reference value to guide any relevant, subsequent studies in other destinations or economic sectors, worldwide.