With the improvement index of inbound tourism based on a new algorithm of the Gini index with relative marginal effect, group and source decomposition, this paper investigates the impact of inbound tourism on income inequality of eastern, central and western regions in China by using a panel dataset of China's 31 provincially administrative units from 1997 to 2015. The results show that although inbound tourism exacerbates income inequality in China as a whole, the impact of inbound tourism on income inequality shows differentiated characteristics in different regions. Specifically, inbound tourism deteriorates income inequality in the eastern region; in the western region, it improves income inequality during the examined period except for a few years; while in the central region, it deteriorates income inequality before 2009, and improves it during the period of 2009 to 2015. The relationship between inbound tourism and income inequality satisfies Kuznets hypothesis. This study also finds that inbound tourism can improve income inequality when inbound tourism receipts are regressive to GDP, and explains that there are three important intrinsic factors influencing income inequality theoretically. First there is a bigger order difference between TR and GDP per capita by ascending, which means a difference in their distributions. It is in favor of improving income inequality to develop preferentially inbound tourism in less developed regions or to give tourist destinations a higher income percentage. That explains why governments wish to alleviate poverty and promote social equality by developing tourism. The second reduces the contribution of inbound tourism receipts to total income inequality, which means the inbound tourism is more evenly distributed. Some researchers recognize it is conducive to improving regional income inequality to reduce the inequality of the supply and demand sides of inbound tourism, which coincides with the theory above. The third raises the share of inbound tourism receipts in GDP by developing and attracting inbound tourism. Some researchers find the relationship between inbound tourism and income inequality satisfies Kuznets hypothesis, namely inbound tourism will improve income inequality when its receipts are large enough. That provides support for our theoretical analysis above. The most important thing is that the relative marginal effect of inbound tourism receipts is negative, which ensures that inbound tourism improves income inequality. The contribution of the within group component is greater than that of the between group component to income inequality as a whole. Therefore, improving the imbalanced distribution of inbound tourism in the eastern regions is key. Inbound tourism has a positive impact on the less developed central and western regions in China, so local governments in the two regions should actively promote tourism development.%为研究入境旅游收入对中国东中西部地区的收入不平等的影响,文章提出一种具有相对边际效应分析、组群与来源分解的基尼系数新算法.利用该算法提出的入境旅游收入改善指数对中国31个省份1997—2015年的入境旅游和相关经济数据进行分析发现:尽管总体上入境旅游收入恶化收入不平等,但入境旅游的收入和人数呈现均衡趋势.入境旅游对东中西部地区的收入不平等影响表现出差异化特征,在东部地区它持续恶化收入不平等;在中部地区它满足Kuznets假设,即自2009年开始从之前的恶化转为改善收入不平等;在西部地区除部分年份外,其余年度的收入不平等都得到了改善.同时,从理论上解释了入境旅游缩小收入差距的3个重要的内在因素,并揭示了当入境旅游收入相对于GDP具有累退性时能够改善区域收入不平等.研究表明,入境旅游对经济较不发达或相对落后地区的收入不平等具有积极的影响.
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