An empirical analysis of tourism eco-efficiency in ecological protection priority areas based on the DPSIR-SBM model: A case study of the Yellow River Basin, China

The Yellow River Basin is a key area for ecological protection and high-quality economic development in China. However, with the continued development of urbanization and industrial transformation, tourism poses a serious threat to the ecological environment. Based on the panel data of eight provinces in the Yellow River Basin, a framework of the drivers, pressures, state, impact, and response (DPSIR) model of intervention was constructed, and the tourism eco-efficiency values in the Yellow River Basin were measured using the superefficiency slacks-based measure (SBM) model. The convergence characteristics and driving factors of tourism eco-efficiency were analysed by combining the σ convergence and β convergence models. The results demonstrated that the overall tourism eco-efficiency of the Yellow River Basin ha exhibited a fluctuating upwards trend over time, with an increase of 25.4%, as well as significant differences in the stage fluctuations of the three subbasins. In the spatial dimension, tourism eco-efficiency exhibits a trend of “high in the head and low in the middle,” with the middle reaches having significantly lower tourism eco-efficiency than the upper and lower reaches. The convergence study revealed unstable stochastic convergence and σ convergence in the overall basin and three subbasins, while there is absolute β convergence with a catch-up effect in the overall basin and upstream and midstream regions. Additionally, conditional β convergence is found in the overall basin and the three subbasins. The initial tourism eco-efficiency value, economic development strength, ecological and environmental pressure, scientific and technological development, government input, and greening coverage level are all found to influence the convergence of the overall basin and the three subbasins to different degrees. The findings of this work provide scientific support and effective policy recommendations for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.