Coupling coordination and driving mechanism between tourism development, ecological conservation and digital economy: insights from Chinese 278 cities

Tourism development faces significant challenges, including ecological degradation, resource over-exploitation, and ecosystem decline. The digital economy, as a new industrial driver, has not only revolutionized tourism's production and consumption models but also emerged as a critical force in promoting its low-carbon transition. This study examines the coupling coordination among tourism development, ecological conservation, and digital economy (TED) to advance sustainability in tourist destinations. Specifically, it evaluates the TED coupling coordination degree (CCD) across 278 Chinese cities from 2002 to 2022. Using coupling coordination model, standard deviation ellipse model and exploratory spatial data analysis, the study quantifies the spatiotemporal trends in TED's CCD. Additionally, the obstacle degree model and geographically and temporally weighted regression model are applied to explore the influencing factors and their spatiotemporal variability. The findings reveal the following: (1) From 2002 to 2019, TED system's CCD experienced an upward trend, followed by a decline from 2019 to 2022. (2) The center of gravity for TED coupling coordination shifted southeast (2002-2012), northwest (2012-2019), and southwest (2019-2022). (3) Significant agglomeration effects and spillover effects were observed in China's mega city clusters. (4) Tourism development subsystems and digital economy subsystems are the primary sources of coupling and coordination obstacles within the TED system. Industrial structure, developmental potential, cultural resources, educational attitudes, and economic development are key factors that can help overcome these obstacles. Notably, consumption capacity and government support sometimes exert negative effects. This study offers both theoretical insights and practical recommendations for achieving sustainable tourism development in China's digital economy era and provides valuable lessons for transforming and upgrading the tourism sector in other countries and regions.