Pollution inherently conjures negative thoughts; particularly when that pollution can be
hazardous to your health. However, the extent to which pollution discourages tourism has
yet to be studied empirically. In this research letter, we examine the interaction between
perceived pollution and inbound tourism in China through a VAR model. Concerns about
pollution are measured by Google Trends data. We find that perceived pollution lowers
inbound tourism. Our results show that the rising unease about pollution could hurt the …