Impact of the Digital Economy in the High-Quality Development of Tourism—An Empirical Study of Xinjiang in China

In the era of big data, the digital economy has become a key driving force for the high-quality development of tourism. Based on the annual panel data of 14 prefectures in Xinjiang from 2008 to 2018, this study proves the positive effect of the digital economy on the high-quality development of tourism. Through the construction of an evaluation index system for the high-quality development, a fixed effects model is used to investigate the relationship between them. Furthermore, mediating effect analysis is employed to study the mechanism. The robustness testing and heterogeneity analysis show the validity and rationality of the model. The results show that (1) The digital economy is an important driving force in the high-quality development of tourism in Xinjiang; (2) The digital economy promotes high-quality development by stimulating the upgrading of the tourism structure; (3) The impact of the digital economy on the high-quality development of tourism in different regions in Xinjiang presents great heterogeneity. The provincial capital presents a more significant effect.