The relationship between tourism development and multidimensional poverty reduction: A decoupling analysis

Despite the importance of tourism for poverty relief, limited studies have investigated the relationship between tourism development and multidimensional poverty reduction. The present work investigated the tourism–poverty nexus from the perspective of multidimensional poverty (including poverty related to economic, education, health care and social welfare dimensions) on the basis of a decoupling analysis in 74 national poverty-stricken counties of Southwest China over the period of 2007–2016. The results reveal the following regularities. First, a positive synchronisation relationship exists between tourism development and multidimensional poverty reduction. Second, the relationship between tourism development and multidimensional poverty reduction is unstable, and the poverty reduction effects of tourism have been shrinking over the past decade. Third, with the development of tourism, the poverty reduction in economic, health care and the social welfare dimensions have made achievements in general, whereas the poverty reduction of education demonstrated an opposite trend. The outcomes and implications of this study provide essential insights to the tourism–poverty nexus debate and offer directions for policies to alleviate poverty through tourism development. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.