This manuscript examines the driving forces of carbon emissions in China’s tourism industry. Tourism carbon emissions are estimated by constructing China’s Economic-Environmental Accounts (EEA). Analysis is divided into five-time intervals and specifically examines intensity, scale, structure, and technology. Following index and structural decomposition methods, changes in tourism carbon emissions were segmented into sixteen economy-wide and tourism-specific driving forces. Results demonstrate that direct and total tourism carbon emissions compose 0.7% and 2.7% of total carbon emissions in China. Analysis revealed the positive driver of tourism emissions was domestic tourists, representing 140.4% increase in direct and 263.4% increase in total tourism carbon emissions. Modelling identified energy intensity as the main negative driver in total and direct tourism carbon emissions, especially for national economic sectors (−208.6%) and non-transport tourism sectors (−33.8%). Future research should focus on the measurement and implementation of mitigation policies for domestic tourism emissions.