Does urban tourism development impact urban housing prices?

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between tourism development and urban housing prices in Chinese cities. Specifically, the study aimed to explore whether there is a relationship between the two variables in tourist and non-tourist cities and whether there is a non-linear relationship between them. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the entropy method was used to construct the China City Tourism Development Index, which provides a more comprehensive measure of the level of tourism development in different cities. In total, 45 major cities in China were studied using the panel data approach for the period of 2011 to 2019. Findings The empirical analysis conducted for this study found that tourism development affects urban house prices, and that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship. However, this varies across cities, with house prices in tourist cities tending to be more influenced by tourism development than non-tourist cities. Also, foreign direct investment, population size, fixed asset investment and disposable income per capita were found to have an impact on house prices in both tourism and non-tourism cities. Originality/value There are significant differences in tourism development and urban house prices in different cities in China. This study considers these differences when examining the impact of tourism on house prices in 45 major cities in China by dividing the sample cities into tourist and non-tourist cities.