Abstract
Based on the panel data of 297 prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2018, this paper uses fixed effect model to empirically analyze the relationship between digital inclusive finance and development of tourism industry. The results show that, First, digital inclusive finance has significantly promoted the development of tourism industry, and this promotion effect is more obvious in the inbound tourism market compared to the domestic tourism market. Second, dimensional heterogeneity analysis shows that the coverage and popularization of digital inclusive finance have improved the possibility of vulnerable groups obtaining tourism financial services. The deepening of its use has met the escalating demand of mainstream market for the tourism consumption, and lowered the financing difficulty for micro and small tourism enterprises. Third, the analysis of regional heterogeneity shows that the promotion of digital inclusive finance to tourism industry is only reflected in the eastern and western China. For the domestic tourism market, digital inclusive finance has produced stronger benefits in the east than in the west, while for the inbound tourism market, it shows the opposite conclusion.