The Nexus Between Foreign Direct Investment, Green Taxation, Green Technological Innovation, and the Low-Carbon Development in China's Tourism Sector

Abstract

Foreign direct investment (FDI) serves as a pivotal external driver for the low-carbon transition in developing host countries. However, its environmental impact remains theoretically contested between the "pollution halo" and "pollution haven" hypotheses. This study investigates the nonlinear relationship between FDI and the low-carbon development in tourism (LCDT), with a particular focus on the moderating roles of green taxation (GTAX) and green technological innovation (GTI). The empirical findings reveal that (1) FDI, GTAX, and GTI each significantly promote the LCDT; (2) GTI positively moderates the relationship between FDI and LCDT, whereas GTAX exhibits a negative moderating effect; and (3) these moderating effects demonstrate regional heterogeneities. Theoretically, this research extends the environmental impact literature of FDI to the service sector and uncovers the multifaceted mechanisms driving LCDT. Practically, it offers a scientific basis for guiding the refined design and adjustment of GTAX policies, optimizing regional lowcarbon governance plans, thereby supporting China's tourism sector in leveraging opportunities from the restructuring of global green supply chains.

Received: 14 October 2025 | Revised: 10 December 2025 | Accepted: 23 January 2026

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support this work are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Author Contribution Statement

Jianquan Guo: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Thi Hai Hoan Pham: Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization.