Traveling as a means to escape air pollution: Evidence from pollution information disclosure in China

Abstract

Information is a crucial component in human decision-making. This study explores the effect of pollution information on tourism behavior and the subsequent effect on individual well-being. Exploiting China’s pollution information disclosure policy as a natural experiment and a nationwide longitudinal survey, we find that tourism behavior became more responsive to air pollution after pollution information was made publicly available. Specifically, a 1% increase in PM2.5 concentration caused a 0.54% rise in household tourism expenditure. Additionally, tourism served as an adaptive mechanism to mitigate the adverse impact of air pollution on subjective well-being. Higher-income and younger people are more sensitive to this type of information. Our findings shed light on the significance of pollution information in tourism behavior and emphasize the role of information in promoting individual welfare.