Exploring the interactive coercing relationship between tourism and ecological environment: a case study in Kanto region, Japan

The Kanto area of Japan is the most prosperous and advanced in terms of economic development. It is essential for the development of tourism and ecological environment in the Kanto region to investigate the interactive coupling relationship that exists between tourism and the ecological environment in the region. In order to investigate the coordination influence and interaction coercion relationship that exists between the tourism industry and the environment, this paper builds a comprehensive evaluation index system for the tourism industry and the ecological environment. Panel data spanning the years 2010-2019 is utilized in order to provide this analysis. The following are the main findings of the study: From a time perspective, Tokyo leads the other six prefectures in the tourism industry, showing a relatively stable growth trend overall. The spatial distribution analysis reveals that the coupling and coordinated growth of tourism and ecological environment in the Kanto region follows a distinct attenuation pattern. The attenuation is relatively high in the southern part, comparatively low in the northern part, relatively high in the eastern part, and relatively low in the western part. The dual exponential function model verifies the reciprocal impact of the tourism industry and the ecological environment system. Regions with higher levels of tourism development have a later turning point, and when the turning point occurs, their tourism development level is also higher.