Tourism Digitalization and Urban–Rural Income Inequality in China: Evidence from Provincial Panel Data

Tourism Digitalization and Urban–Rural Income Inequality in China: Evidence from Provincial Panel Data | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Tourism Digitalization and Urban–Rural Income Inequality in China: Evidence from Provincial Panel Data Xuelin Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8795898/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Urban–rural income inequality remains a major impediment to inclusive and sustainable development in China. Meanwhile, digital transformation in the tourism industry has accelerated, yet quantitative evidence on its distributional effects is still limited. Using balanced panel data for 30 Chinese provinces from 2013 to 2022, this study constructs a multidimensional tourism digitalization index based on six dimensions and 35 indicators, with weights determined by the entropy method. Urban–rural income inequality is measured by the Theil index. Employing a two-way fixed-effects model, we find that tourism digitalization significantly reduces the urban–rural income gap. Mediation analyses further indicate that tourism digitalization narrows inequality by promoting industrial structure upgrading and enhancing regional innovation capacity. Heterogeneity tests reveal pronounced regional differences: the inequality-reducing effect is strongest in central China, followed by western China, and is weakest in eastern China. A series of robustness checks—using alternative sample periods and replacing the dependent variable with the urban–rural disposable income ratio—support the baseline findings. These results suggest that advancing tourism digitalization can serve as an effective pathway toward more inclusive growth, especially in less-developed regions, and highlight the importance of complementary policies that strengthen digital infrastructure, innovation capability, and structural upgrading. Social science/Development studies Business and commerce/Economics Social science/Economics Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Scientific community and society/Geography Social science/Geography tourism digitalization urban–rural income inequality Theil index industrial structure upgrading regional innovation China Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8795898","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":602371387,"identity":"3c1c20ac-685b-4838-8265-59841645c7c8","order_by":0,"name":"Xuelin Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACNvnDBw58qLCR42dvPvggoaKGsBY+CbbEgzPOpBlL9hxLNnhw5hhhLXISPMqHedsOJRrM8FGTfNjCTITDpHsYgFoOJBhI8LBVJDawMfC3dyfg1yJz9sDBOefu5JlL9x67kbhDhkHizNkN+LUw5CUceFP2rNhyzrm0G4ln2BgMJHIJackxOMDDdjhxw40cs4LENmYitEjkGBzkaYNoYSBOC8+xBHggSyScOcZD0C/y7c2HP8Ci8uOPiho5/vZe/FowAA9pykfBKBgFo2AUYAUARI9UoeMNno0AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Xi’an University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xuelin","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-05 10:53:39","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8795898/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8795898/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106915635,"identity":"1be4f766-b8ce-401c-873a-79ac3fe60913","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-14 17:55:36","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":416589,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TravelManuscript20260114.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8795898/v1_covered_2aced784-e860-4bff-9415-cc2f2964e425.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Tourism Digitalization and Urban–Rural Income Inequality in China: Evidence from Provincial Panel Data","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"tourism digitalization, urban–rural income inequality, Theil index, industrial structure upgrading, regional innovation, China","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8795898/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8795898/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUrban\u0026ndash;rural income inequality remains a major impediment to inclusive and sustainable development in China. Meanwhile, digital transformation in the tourism industry has accelerated, yet quantitative evidence on its distributional effects is still limited. Using balanced panel data for 30 Chinese provinces from 2013 to 2022, this study constructs a multidimensional tourism digitalization index based on six dimensions and 35 indicators, with weights determined by the entropy method. Urban\u0026ndash;rural income inequality is measured by the Theil index. Employing a two-way fixed-effects model, we find that tourism digitalization significantly reduces the urban\u0026ndash;rural income gap. Mediation analyses further indicate that tourism digitalization narrows inequality by promoting industrial structure upgrading and enhancing regional innovation capacity. Heterogeneity tests reveal pronounced regional differences: the inequality-reducing effect is strongest in central China, followed by western China, and is weakest in eastern China. A series of robustness checks\u0026mdash;using alternative sample periods and replacing the dependent variable with the urban\u0026ndash;rural disposable income ratio\u0026mdash;support the baseline findings. 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