Has Tourism Industry Agglomeration Improved the Total Factor Productivity of Chinese Urban Agglomerations?—The Moderating Effect of Public Epidemic

Industry agglomeration has become a prominent feature of tourism industry development in developed and developing countries and regions in the world. According to the literature analysis, the development of industrial agglomeration has both agglomeration effect and congestion effect. This paper constructs a theoretical and empirical analysis framework for the impact of tourism industry agglomeration on the total factor productivity of Chinese urban agglomerations, and analyze the moderating effect of the public epidemic on this impact. From results of empirical analysis, a U-shaped relationship exists between tourism industry agglomeration and the total factor productivity of Chinese urban agglomerations. The public epidemic positively moderated (enhanced) the negative effect (congestion effect) of tourism industry agglomeration on total factor productivity, and negatively moderated (weakened) the positive effect (agglomeration effect) of tourism industry agglomeration on total factor productivity.