Abstract:
Taking Yangquan city, Shanxi province as an example, the "bottom-up" method was used to estimate the total carbon source of tourism and the ecosystem carbon sink from 2011 to 2017 and the tourism carbon balance was analyzed as well. Then, taking the calculation results of Yangquan city as an example of a prefecture-level city in central northern China, the low-carbon tourism development mode was explored and a new growth point for transformation and development of cities in central and western regions was found by comparing the results of Yangquan city with that of other eastern regions and developed regions. The results show that: the ecosystem carbon sink is 381 700 tons annually, in which farmland ecosystem contributed the most. However, the carbon sink mainly depends on the large agricultural area and its development will be affected by the low efficiency and high consumption of agriculture production. In the meantime, the grassland and forest ecosystems have a potential in carbon sink, which could offset some of the carbon sink loss caused by urban development in the future. The annual tourism carbon source in Yangquan city is 41 900 tons, among which tourism activity is the most important factor causing the increase of carbon source. Although tourism transportation is the main carbon source, the total amount of carbon emission is relatively small. Both of tourism accommodation and tourism transportation are greatly affected by the degree of economic development. The tourism carbon balance is -20 400 tons which exceeded about half of the carbon sink provided by the ecosystem. The carbon sink provided by ecosystem for tourism could only compensate for 51% of the carbon source generated by tourism. According to the results, the tourism is a carbon source industry for Yangquan city.
