The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between economic growth and tourism development in eastern China. The data used in this study are from 1995 to 2019. This study adopts the quantile-on-quantile research method. The result of this study shows that the economic growth in eastern China is positively correlated with tourism development. However, among the eastern regions, the correlation between economic growth and tourism development in Hebei and Zhejiang was the weakest. Such findings may be a result of the limited importance of tourism in these two provinces. In addition, for Fujian, Hainan, Jiangsu and Liaoning, the research data suggest that tourism and economic growth display the most significant correlation during economic booms only.
