With the increasing emphasis on ecological environmental protection and sustainable development objectives in the world, the advancement of green tourism not only facilitates the green transformation of the tourism sector but also holds significant implications for fostering harmonious coexistence between human and nature within specific regions. This study undertakes a comprehensive analysis of pertinent research literature on green tourism both domestically and internationally, articulating a definition and elucidating the connotations of green tourism. It synthesizes research themes from various perspectives, including green tourism products, supply chains, industries, destinations, tourist behaviors, as well as certification and policy frameworks related to green tourism. Furthermore, it sorts out the fundamental theories and applied technical methods for green tourism research. The study argues that current research in green tourism exhibits characteristics indicative of interdisciplinary integration; thus necessitating an enhancement in systematic content alongside diversified theoretical approaches in future research. Accordingly, the article puts forward seven research prospects: innovating the theoretical framework for green tourism system, constructing and assessing a green tourism product system, revealing the structure and operational mechanism of the green tourism supply chain along with its evolutionary patterns, exploring the development strategies and paths of the green tourism industry, optimizing the development model of green tourism destinations, clarifying behavioral patterns among eco-conscious tourists alongside strategies for their guidance, and enhancing the green tourism evaluation standards and certification system. This study offers scientific guidance and practical references for fostering both ecological transition within the tourism sector and its high-quality development.

The relationship between tourism development and CO₂ emissions has attracted considerable interest from researchers worldwide under the background of global climate governance and the claim of China’s “dual carbon” goal. However, existing studies tend to concentrate solely on tourism without examining the broader impact of the socio-economic system in which it resides. From a holistic perspective, this article uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis methods and necessary condition analysis based on a total of 93 cases from 31 different types of cities in China to reveal the synergistic causal impact of tourism development and various factors such as economic development, industrial structure, innovation capacity and population size on CO₂ emissions. The results show that: (1) neither tourism nor other single variable is a necessary or sufficient condition for regional CO₂ emissions; (2) there are three patterns driving high CO₂ emissions, namely the industry-driven, economy-tourism driven, and population-industry driven; and (3) there are three patterns of low CO₂ emissions, namely the low development driven, tourism driven, and economy driven. The article confirms the complex impacts of tourism development and other core conditions on CO₂ emissions from configurational perspectives. The article identifies a causal asymmetry in the driving mechanisms of CO₂ emissions, i.e., the presence or absence of tourism development may drive either high or low CO₂ emissions. Moreover, the article provides a solid theoretical basis for tailoring tourism development to local conditions and promoting tourism’s low-carbon development.

The resilience of ruralism-ecology is an important issue for the sustainable development of traditional villages under the background of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization. Taking Qiandongnan Prefecture as a case, this study optimizes the evaluation indicator system of ruralism-ecology resilience in traditional villages from the aspects of cultural endowment and ecological characteristics, Based on the comprehensive index method and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method, and informed by the adaptive cycle theory, the spatialtemporal evolution characteristics of resilience in Qiandongnan Prefecture from 2013 to 2021 are analyzed and its configuration effects are explored. The results show that: (1) the evolution trend of the ruralism-ecology resilience in traditional village in Qiandongnan Prefecture conforms to the three stages characteristics of utilization, preservation, and release in the adaptive cycle theory, corresponding to the utilization phase of traditional villages (2013-2014), the preservation phase of traditional villages (2014-2017), and the release phase of traditional villages (2014-2017). (2) The ruralism-ecology system resilience level of traditional villages in Qiandongnan Prefecture shows a fluctuating upward trend, with ecological resilience playing a dominant role in the resilience levels of various subsystems; the resilience level shows a spatially clustered development characteristic and a pattern of “strong in the south and weak in the north”. (3) A single antecedent condition cannot be a necessary condition to enhance the resilience of the ruralism-ecology system in traditional villages, but it has an important influence on the level of resilience. The main configuration impact paths of the ruralism-ecology system resilience in traditional villages include cultural resource-dominated pathways, economic base-dominated pathways, and ecological resource-dominated pathways. The study enriches the theoretical understanding of the resilience of ruralism-ecology system, which can provide decision-making references for enhancing the risk-resistant capacity of traditional villages and effectively promoting the comprehensive rural revitalization.

Enhancing the attractiveness of ecotourism is a pivotal aspect in promoting the development of ecotourism and the realization of ecological value. This paper delves into the S-PEST-EA logic of provincial ecotourism attractiveness by elucidating the recursive relationship among “stakeholders”, “macro-environments” and “ecotourism attractiveness”. Moreover, it employs dynamic fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to explore the driving factors and the paths evolution of ecotourism attractiveness from 2011 to 2021. The results show that: (1) ecotourism attractiveness is jointly driven by the macro-environments shaped by the government, enterprises, residents, and tourists. Specific driving factors include financial support, special fund investment, and forest coverage rate, which represent the policy environment; the number of catering and accommodation enterprises, which represent the economic environment; and the level of urbanization and the number of internet ports per capita, which represent the social and technological environment. (2) There were 13 high-level ecotourism attraction paths during the research cycle, 4 of which were typical paths and 9 of which were evolutionary paths. Among them, R1, represented by the forest coverage rate, the number of catering enterprises, the number of accommodation enterprises, the level of urbanization, and the number of internet ports per capita, demonstrates the highest explanatory power. R2, comprising financial support, special fund investment, forest coverage rate, the number of catering enterprises, the number of accommodation enterprises, and a low-level of urbanization, has the most evolutionary paths. (3) A total of 19 provincial-level regions achieved high-level ecotourism attractiveness during the research cycle. Sichuan and Hunan were the earliest to achieve it, and their paths were both R2 and its evolutionary paths; Fujian has maintained the longest continuous time, with R1 and its evolutionary paths. This paper uses the PEST model to define the analysis level and functional direction of stakeholders in the provincial ecotourism attractiveness, thereby deepens the theoretical system of ecotourism stakeholder analysis. By leveraging dynamic fsQCA, it illustrates the driving factors and the paths evolution of provincial ecotourism attractiveness, which helps to provide decision-making references to enhancing the attractiveness of ecotourism for targeted policy implementation in various provincial-level regions.

The mobile phone addiction among young people has become an increasingly serious social problem. Can ecotourism with natural landscape as its core attraction pull mobile phone addicts back to the real world, thus promoting their healthy growth? This is concerned and becomes one of the important responsibilities of tourism as a spiritual product. Through questionnaire survey, this article explored the impact of mobile phone addiction on eco-tourism willingness of college students and its psychological mechanism. The research found that: (1) mobile phone addiction behavior had a significant negative predictive effect on ecotourism willingness. (2) Mobile phone addiction reduced people’s sense of meaning in life and strengthened their pursuit of short-term pleasure, thereby negatively affecting their willingness to engage in ecotourism. The “-” and “+” in this pathway reflect the fact that the spiritual self becomes “emptier” and the physical self becomes more “thrill-seeking”. (3) Compared with women, men had a stronger pursuit of pleasure (due to biological sex) and a weaker sense of meaning experience (due to social sex) after becoming addicted to mobile phones, which led to a lower willingness to engage in ecotourism. The findings not only helped to understand how mobile phone addiction affected ecotourism willingness, but also provided a new perspective for improving the dissemination of ecotourism.

It is of great significance to analyze the spatio-temporal behavior characteristics of tourists for the planning and management of tourism in national parks. In this study, the spatio-temporal behavior characteristics of tourists with different travel modes were analyzed by using tourists’ GPS trajectories and marking points data, Open Street Map (OSM) road network and Point of Interest (POI) data of scenic spots in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, combined with the seasonal intensity index and relevant GIS spatial analysis. The results indicate that: (1) there are distinct seasonal characteristics in the travel time of tourists on foot, by bicycle, and by car. Tourists on foot and by bicycle mostly travel in winter, while tourists by car mainly travel in summer. Moreover, there are differences in the total mileage, total time, number of marking points, and average speed of tourists with different travel modes across different seasons. (2) Influenced by road traffic and scenic spots, the tourist marking points are unevenly distributed in space, and the marking points of tourists on foot are scattered as a whole and gathered locally, while the marking points of tourists by bicycle and car are more concentrated. (3) The trajectories of tourists on foot are the most widely and densely distributed in the national park, while the trajectories of tourists by bicycle and car are mainly distributed in Wuzhishan area with good road construction. Based on the research results, relevant suggestions are put forward for optimization of the pattern and sustainable development of tourism in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park.

The identification of desert tourism suitable area (DTSA) is the primary condition and basis for site selection to promote the development of desert tourism. The study established a DTSA evaluation index system by comprehensively integrating regional tourism development support conditions, ecological constraints, and the maximum marginal benefits of economic and social development. Taking Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) as a case study, the paper carries out the grading optimization of evaluation factors based on the regional conditions, thus realizing the construction of the DTSA model and conducting the spatial identification and empirical test. The results show that: natural factors, transportation accessibility, elemental support and industrial promotion are the four dimensions constituting the DTSA; among which natural factors and transportation accessibility have greater influence weights. The periphery of low altitude and low slope desert, along with the sufficient water sources, developed transportation road network and rich source markets are the distribution areas with high suitability for desert tourism in Xinjiang, and the identification results coincide with the selection of sites for 77.78% of the established national desert parks in Xinjiang. The DTSA evaluation system and identification method proposed in the study can provide some reference for desert tourism resource development.

Government websites are an important channel connecting the government and the public and a core tool for digital government construction. The sustainable development of its service ecosystem is a guarantee for breaking through the information barriers and enhancing the public users’ willingness to use. Based on the information ecosystem theory, this paper tries to construct a service ecosystem evaluation framework for government websites based on DEWEM and UTAUT models from the perspectives of websites and users, and uses the system dynamics approach to empirically test the website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The paper concludes that: (1) In the government website service ecosystem evaluation framework constructed according to the information ecosystem theory, public users’ perception and expectation of use jointly contribute to the satisfaction of use, which in turn affects the users’ willingness to continue to use and ultimately determines the sustainable development of the government website service ecosystem; (2) The government website service ecosystem evaluation index system includes two parts: website usage perception and user expectation, of which, website usage perception includes 5 evaluation dimensions of transparency, appropriateness of information, convenience of service, security and public participation, and 12 representative indicators; and user expectation includes 2 evaluation dimensions, namely user demand and social impact, and 8 representative indicators; (3) The validity test of the government website service ecosystem evaluation index system finds that the two single indicators, namely, the number of natural person cases and the number of legal person cases, have the greatest impact on the sustainable development of the service ecosystem of tourism government websites; and the combination of the indicators such as the number of public disclosures in accordance with the application, the number of website security tests and evaluations, and the number of periods for soliciting surveys has a significant impact. It is recommended that tourism government websites follow the idea of synergistic development in the future, and pay more attention to the construction and development of online business processing functions, so as to ensure the sustainable development of the website service ecosystem.

Awe is a psychological emotion experienced by individuals when confronting vast and sacred objects, while tourism awe refers to the special awe experience in tourism environment. Compared with daily environment, there exist more awe elicitors in tourism environment, which not only makes a difference to tourists’ physical experiences, but serves as a bridge between tourists and destinations to promote ecological civilization awareness and cultural confidence, and consequently helps to implement the practical education value of tourism. By analyzing the relevant literature, we propose the concept and research framework of tourism awe, analyze its nature and dimensions, and construct a general framework for the study, aiming to call attention to tourism awe. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Tourism awe is an immersive experience with multiple elements including perceived vastness and need for accommodation, which is triggered by tourism resources and its related imageries in real tourism environment, and interactive generation, physical and mental presence, dynamic diversity are the main characteristics of tourism awe; (2) Aesthetics, rationality, and faith are the three dimensions of tourism awe; (3) Cohesion of common values, cultivation of cultural self-confidence, and practice of ecological civilization are the three major functions of tourism awe; (4) Generation, assessment, effect, and mechanism of tourism awe is the main direction of future research, while identification of the induced sources, dimensions, results, and influencing factors of tourism awe is one of the key issues, and the logical relationship among the four constitutes the research framework of tourism awe. However, the participation of tourism studies in awe research is still insufficient, thus in the demand for further activation of tourism education function through tourism awe in practice cannot be effectively released. In the future, tourism awe should be further investigated in order to better understand and apply the realization path of tourism education function to promote the high-quality development of tourism industry.

The pursuit of well-being is an important element of people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. With the increasing weight of ecological environment in people’s life well-being index, it is of great significance to pay attention to the well-being of tourists in eco-tourism destinations. However, at present, there are limited relevant studies on well-being involving eco-tourism and eco-tourists. Based on the content analysis method, this study takes Wuyishan Scenery District, a world cultural and natural heritage site, as a case to explore the influencing factors and action paths of tourists’ well-being in eco-tourism destinations, so as to provide reference for the research on the correlation between eco-tourism and tourists’ well-being. The findings are as follows: (1) From the perspective of objective factors, the aesthetic quality of natural landscape and the management ability of tourist destination play an important role in improving tourist satisfaction and positive emotion, and they jointly promote the formation of tourists’ well-being in eco-tourism destinations; (2) From the perspective of subjective factors, the formation of tourist well-being is mainly achieved through the acquisition of subjective experience elements such as active tourism emotion, positive inter-subjective relationship, subjective environment control, subjective potential stimulation, subjective meaning pursuit, subjective physical and mental input, and subjective activity participation; (3) The formation path of tourists’ well-being in eco-tourism destinations includes three action paths: positive emotion type with obtaining positive emotion as the core, environmental control type with selecting suitable environment as the core, and meaning acquisition type with achieving life purpose and meaning as the core. The study suggested that eco-tourism destinations should strengthen ecological protection, improve management services and enrich eco-tourism products to enhance tourists’ well-being, so as to promote the coordinated development of supply and demand between ecotourism products and ecotourists.

Tourists’ eco-emotions promote environmental responsibility behaviors, which is beneficial to the sustainable development of natural tourist destinations. Based on the deductive path of cognitive-affective-behavioral theory, this paper introduces tourism motivation as a mediating variable, establishes a structural equation model, conducts an in-depth study on the relationship between tourists’ eco-emotions and environmental responsibility behaviors in natural tourist destinations, and explores the differences between the internal and external cognitive world. The results show that: (1) the external cognitive world is more effective than the internal cognitive world in promoting tourists’ eco-emotions and environmental responsibility behaviors; (2) the mediating effect of tourism motivation on the influence path of tourists’ eco-emotions on low-effort environmental responsibility behaviors has been verified, and it plays a partially mediating role in the influence path of high-effort environmental responsibility behaviors. Therefore, natural tourist destinations should play a leading role in ecology, enhance their educational attributes related to ecological functions, enrich the ways of experiencing ecological emotions, provide ecological services while paying attention to the conveyance of sustainable concepts, in order to achieve long-term sustainable development.

Nature education is an important function of Chinese national parks. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) analysis framework, a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) of the influence of nature education form perception-behavioral intentions in the Fujian area of Wuyishan National Park is constructed to analyze the influence of visitors' nature education form perception on their behavioral intentions. The results of the research show that: (1) the overall SEM model of the influence path is well adapted, the structural validity is well-established, and the path relationship between the variables is applicable to the analysis of the influence mechanism of the role of nature education in the national parks. (2) Nature education in the form of plant and animal tours, science exhibitions and themed outdoor classes have been well responded by visitors, and the Qinglong, Tianyoufeng, and the Dahongpao are the areas that are better perceived by the visitors. (3) The S-O-R process significantly affects visitors' revisit intention mainly through educational perception, functional cognition, which are the three most important path relationships; the S-R process is manifested in the direct positive effect of educational perception on revisit intention, and the nature education results of national parks have the composite effect of S-O-R and S-R at the same time, and the partially mediating effect is significant between the perception of nature education and revisit intention. Finally, the paper suggests that nature education in national parks should consider the level of public perception in the form of education, and should emphasize the content of nature education, improve the design of suitability for visitors, and explore the cultural significance of nature education.

Clarifying the symbiotic relationship between tourism and ecology in border provinces, as well as assessing the state of tourism ecological security, has great significance for promoting the coordinated development of the tourism industry and ecological security in border areas. The evaluation index system of tourism & ecology symbiosis in border provinces was established through DPSIR model, the Lotka-Volterra symbiosis model was introduced to analyze the symbiotic relationship between the tourism industry and the ecological environment and the tourism ecological security status, and the influencing factors were analyzed by the obstacle degree model and the gray correlation degree model. The results show that: (1) the indexes of tourism development potential, resource and environment capacity, and the ecological environment level in border provinces show a rapid increase, basic stability, and fluctuating upward trend, respectively. The index of tourist environmental pressure and the index of resource and environment response are the main obstacle factors for tourism development potential and resource and environment capacity, and the main obstacle factors for ecological environment level are wetland coverage rate, nature reserve area ratio, and greening coverage rate of urban built-up area. (2) The symbiotic relationship between tourism and ecology in border provinces is good, symbiosis patterns are dominated by mutually beneficial symbiosis, while the non-mutually beneficial patterns are dominated by tourism parasitism, indicating that tourism is in a strong position in the symbiotic relationship. (3) The tourism ecological security status in border provinces is generally safe, and the security status of each province shows a favorable trend, and the tourism ecological security status in the western, northeastern and southwestern border areas is dangerous, complex and safe, respectively, Jilin and Guangxi have a good state of tourism ecological security, Xinjiang and Xizang are poor. (4) The main factors influencing the tourism ecological security encompass the growth rate of tourist arrival, the growth rate of tourist income, the per capita water reserves, the direct economic losses of natural disasters, and the excellence rate of air quality.

The policy system of ecological civilization and national parks is an important part of the national governance system in the new era of the “governance of China”. Based on the three-dimensional analysis framework of “policy structure-policy tools-policy evolution”, we use evolutionary theory and qualitative analysis tools to sort out the policies and regulations related to China’s ecological civilization and national parks, and analyze the evolution stages, characteristics and contents of the policies and regulations since the 21st century in the field of ecological civilization. This paper analyzes the stages, characteristics and contents of policies in the field of ecological civilization, and discusses the vision objectives and development paths of the policies and systems under the new situation in the context of local practices. The research results show that: (1) The evolution of policies regarding ecological civilization and national parks since the 21st century can be divided into four stages, including the policy exploration stage (2000-2006), the policy demonstration stage (2007-2012), the policy expansion and enhancement stage (2013-2017), and the policy continuous optimization stage (2018-present), with the peak stage of evolution from 2016 to 2018; (2) Institutional policies are dominated by coercive tools, presenting a high degree of national will and authority, with insufficient diversification of the participating subjects and a general degree of social participation, the standardized normative form and the programmatic policy form co-occur most frequently, and the structural coercive tools are the most commonly used form of policy combination; (3) Local ecological civilization practices are distinctive, with “Fujian Model”, “Qinghai Experiences”, and “Zhejiang Path” being important ecological civilization pilot experiences; (4) China’s ecological civilization policy and institutional construction has achieved significant breakthrough in the top-level design, local practice, and conceptual influence of the system, and it is possible to promote the construction of China’s ecological civilization policy and institutional construction in six directions, such as further improving the construction of the institutional system and the refinement of the field, and in 10 specific aspects, including law, culture and the economy.

Ecological recreation space plays a pivotal role in ensuring the well-being of urban inhabitants. Given the increasing emphasis on livability and ecological development in metropolitan areas, coupled with the regionalization of residents’ recreation activities, it becomes imperative to delve into the optimization of the comprehensive layout of ecological recreation spaces. This paper examines the distribution patterns, temporal evolution, and influencing factors of ecological recreation spaces in Beijing between 2000 and 2020. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the spatiotemporal evolution of ecological recreation space in Beijing was characterized by three distinct phases: initial central urban area aggregation, subsequent mountain-based aggregation, and final expansion around these central urban areas. The overarching pattern transitioned from a singular-core aggregation to a dual-core model with multiple centers, culminating in a face-shaped continuity. This resulted in the distribution characteristics of ecological recreation spaces in the central urban area and new cities within plain areas being concentrated, while the mountainous areas have low-density spaces. (2) The distribution center of ecological recreation spaces has shifted along the northeast-southeast direction, experiencing a process of initial dispersion followed by concentration. The polarized effect of the increase in the number of ecological recreation spaces in the east-west orientation is more prominent, while the distribution of the increase in the number of ecological recreation spaces in the north-south orientation is relatively balanced and has multi-center characteristics. (3) The distribution of ecological recreation spaces within urban areas has a dependent relationship with elevation, water systems, transportation infrastructure, and ecological space, yet population demand and planning policies play pivotal roles in driving the increase in the number and expansion of these spaces in Beijing. This study suggests that metropolitan regions should enhance the coordination of ecological recreation space construction and design from a comprehensive regional perspective. It emphasizes the importance of optimizing the distribution of urban ecological recreation spaces, thereby promoting the refinement of urban territorial spatial structures and enhancing residents’ well-being.

Mountainous tourism areas have become an important research object in the environmental issues of cultural ecosystem services (CES), however there is still insufficient research on objective portray of spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of CES and sub-CES in mountainous tourism areas from the recognition of social media photo. Taking the Seven-hole Scenic Spot in Zhangjiang, Libo, Guizhou as a case, this paper selects the scenic photos with location information on the Six Feet and 2BULU website during 2015-2022 to analyze the spatio-temporal characteristic and its influencing factors of CES in typical mountainous tourism areas through several methods such as photo content analysis of social media, nearest-neighbor index, spatial auto-correlation and Geo-detector. The results show that: (1) The spatial characteristics of CES are from scattered to agglomerated pattern, and the agglomeration characteristics of sub-CES enhances year by year. (2) Hot spot zones of sub-CES have developed from a single core independent and multi-core agglomeration distribution, gradually evolved into a spatial distribution pattern of belt-shaped extension and fusion towards the eastern part of the scenic spot, and scattered distribution of hot spots in the western part of the scenic spot. (3) Natural factors such as water, elevation, and social factors such as land use, road types are the dominant factors affecting the spatial distribution of CES, in which the effect of social factors is gradually increasing, while that of natural factors is gradually weakening. (4) The spatial explanatory power of the interaction between the factors of slope angle, slope direction, NDVI and those of distance from road, distance from water of CES, is significantly enhanced compared with that of a single factor, while the explanatory power of the factors interaction between two dimensions is stronger compared with that of the interaction between a single natural or social factor. Based on the research, this paper will enrich the theoretical paradigm of spatio-temporal analysis for CES in mountainous tourism areas, and provide practical reference for their conservation development of the ecosystem, and the improvement of the social and ecological well-being of the public.

Measuring the carbon emissions of summer tourism for urban elderly residents in mountainous areas (STUER) and understanding the cultural driving factors behind it, are of great significance for enriching low-carbon tourism path choices adapted to China. This study takes the typical summer tourism destination of Wuling Mountain in Southeast Chongqing as an example, based on the perspective of “destination and generation cities”, calculates the difference in carbon emissions between “summer tourism in mountainous areas” and “living at home”. We applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) to study the cultural drivers of summer vacation in the mountains for elderly urban residents. This study found that: (1) Compared with “living at home”, STUER can achieve obvious carbon reduction of 2.367-3.807 kg/day per person with obvious carbon reduction benefits. Although carbon emissions increase in the segments of transportation and additional hospitality facilities, STUER can significantly reduce carbon emissions in both energy consumption and catering, resulting in overall carbon emissions reduction. (2) The two-dimensional model based on the guidance of “internal needs and external incentives” and “traditional Chinese Confucian and Taoist philosophy”, give an explanatory effect on the influence of traditional Chinese culture for motivation of STUER. (3) The philosophical ideas and life concepts of “Taoism and nature”, “harmony with group orientation”, “tranquility and self-cultivation” and “cultivate oneself and keep the family in order” in traditional Chinese culture can further explain the cultural motivation of STUER. The study also indicates that STUER unconsciously become practitioners of low-carbon concepts and green consumption, which is internalized under the influence of traditional Chinese culture.

Keyworlds elderly tourism; summer vacationtourism; carbon-reduction benefits; tourism motivation; Chinese traditional culture; low-carbon tourism; Wuling Mountain Area