*Article* **The Interaction Mechanism of Tourism Carbon Emission Efficiency and Tourism Economy High-Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin**

**Shuxiao Li 1, Zhanhong Cheng 2, Yun Tong <sup>1</sup> and Biao He 1,3,4,\***

	- <sup>3</sup> Hainan Province Holistic Tourism Research Base, Haikou 570228, China

**Abstract:** Exploring the relationship between the tourism carbon environment and high-quality economic development in the Yellow River Basin is a national strategy to meet the realistic requirements of the goal of "Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutral". It is also conducive to the realization of "Ecological Protection and High-quality Development Strategy in the Yellow River Basin". Therefore, based on the calculation of tourism's carbon emission efficiency and the evaluation of the tourism economy's high-quality development, the interaction mechanism between them was observed. The results showed that, firstly, the tourism carbon emission efficiency of the Yellow River Basin increased slightly from 2010 to 2019, with an average of 0.9782, which was at a medium efficiency level. Secondly, the tourism economy's high-quality development level is rising, and the speed of development is fast, especially in western provinces. Thirdly, there is a parasitic relationship between the two, but in each province, there is a positive or negative asymmetric symbiotic relationship. The tourism economy's high-quality development has a greater impact on the efficiency of tourism's carbon emissions. Fourthly, energy and capital input, as well as coordination and innovation factors, are important driving factors of the symbiosis between the two, among which the role of labor input was gradually revealed, and the impact factor experienced the changing process of "sharingcoordination-innovation". This study provides a theoretical framework and evaluation methods for evaluating and analyzing the relationship between tourism's carbon emission efficiency and the tourism economy's high-quality development, and it provides data support and policy suggestions for the real development.

**Keywords:** tourism carbon emission efficiency; tourism economy high-quality development; interactive mechanism; the Yellow River Basin
