Perceived pollution and inbound tourism in China

Pollution inherently conjures negative thoughts; particularly when that pollution can be hazardous to your health. However, the extent to which pollution discourages tourism has yet to be studied empirically. In this research letter, we examine the interaction between perceived pollution and inbound tourism in China through a VAR model. Concerns about pollution are measured by Google Trends data. We find that perceived pollution lowers inbound tourism. Our results show that the rising unease about pollution could hurt the tourism sector in an economy.