Evaluating the development level of cultural tourism industry in Hunan Province using dynamic network DEA-Malmquist model

The cultural tourism industry plays an important role in improving local infrastructure on a large scale, and enhancing public services. It is an important industry that continuously improves people’s quality of life and happiness index. This study utilizes a two-stage network DEA (data envelopment analysis) model, combined with the Malmquist index, to evaluate the development status of Hunan Province's cultural and tourism industry from both static and dynamic perspectives. The research results indicate that the development of the cultural and tourism industry in Hunan Province is generally at a high level and shows a continuous upward trend. Except for 2018 and 2019, the MI index for the development of cultural tourism industry in Hunan Province is greater than 1, and the overall development trend is good. However, from the point of view of the average value of the province’s cultural tourism industry development performance, the number of regions lower than the provincial average is more than the number of regions higher than the provincial average, indicating that the regional differences in the development of Hunan Province’s cultural tourism industry are more obvious.