China has become the world’s high-growth and second largest economy since its socialist- orientation opening-up reforms in the early 1980s. Due also to its geographical, cultural and historical attractions, the country has become the world’s fourth largest tourism destination and tenth largest tourism earner in 2018 according to the World Tourist Organization. The important role played by tourism in the Chinese economy has been officially recognized by China’s National Development and Reform Commission as a strategic pillar industry development priority. In spite of these, rigorous policy-related studies on China’s tourism have been limited. The paper is a serious econometric study to investigate the determination of China’s tourism and its contribution to the country during the period 1996-2018 for credible data-based policy analysis. Significantly, the study is carried out appropriately from an economic integration (globalization) growth framework, which is also the expenditure (as opposed to production or income) perspective of the United Nations System of National Accounts 1998/2003. Specifically, a multi-simultaneous equation model of endogenous growth and China’s tourism determination is developed. The model innovatively incorporates gravity theory and classical consumer demand contributors, Ironmonger-Lancaster new commodity attributes and Johansen policy impact add- and sub-factors (i.e., reforms and crises) explicitly in its economic integration structure. The model is then estimated by system methods with official economic and tourism 1996-2018 data from the World Tourism Organization and international databases. The research will contribute to advances in the literature and the findings provide useful insights and appropriate and much needed evidence-based inputs on the determination and contributors of tourism to China’s growth. Recommendations will be provided to key stake-holders such as tourism policy-makers, academic researchers, business analysts and tourism operators for national strategic policy analysis and practical implementation. JEL Classification: C54, F15, F62, Z32, Z38
