Purpose - Performance appraisal has a significant influence on the development of low-carbon tourism distribution. Research design, data, and methodology - Data of this study are collected from 27 provinces (cities) of China. SBM-Malmquist model is used to measure the TFP and its dynamic changes of low-carbon tourism distribution; TOBIT model is used to discuss the factors of TFP of low-carbon tourism distribution. Results - The results show that, there are obvious differences among regional TFP of low-carbon tourism distribution, the average change tends to grow positively in general, and the western region grows fastest on average due to the improvement of technical efficiency and technical progress, while there are technical efficiency improvement but technical regresses in eastern and central regions. The economic scale, economic strength, structure of energy consumption, location quotient and government regulation have a significant positive effect on the TFP of low-carbon tourism; energy intensity, industrial structure and opening degree have a negative effect; investments in fixed assets, intensity of R&D fund and urbanization rate have no significant influence on the TFP of low-carbon tourism. Conclusions - Improving the productivity of low-carbon tourism and reducing regional differences are effective ways to develop low-carbon tourism and enhance tourism competitiveness.