An integrated approach to evaluating the coupling coordination between tourism and the environment

The understanding of the coupling relationship between tourism and the environment is important due to the complex interaction in environmental effects induced by tourism. This paper aims at introducing an index system and developing an integrated approach to evaluate the coupling coordination between tourism and the environment. The aggregated index system comprised two hierarchies, five aspects and 20 indexes, which were weighted by the information entropy weight (IEW). Furthermore, a coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) was established using panel data from 1995 to 2012 for Heilongjiang Province, China. The findings revealed that the degree of coupling coordination showed an upward tendency. Specifically, economic benefit and ecological quality had the greatest effect on the coupling system, indicating that they are the critical factors to be considered during macro policy-making. The results showed that the method combining CCDM with IEW can be implemented as an effective approach to evaluating the coupling relationship.