Using DEA method and spatial Dubin Model, this paper evaluates and analyzes the efficiency and driving factors of tourism industry of Yellow River basin from 2003 to 2019. The results are as follows: (1) The tourism industry efficiency, scale efficiency and technical efficiency of Yellow River basin in 2003, 2011 and 2019 showed a trend of “rising first and then falling”. The efficiency of tourism industry during the period except 2019 basically presents the characteristics of “downstream>midstream>upstream”; (2) The spatial differentiation of tourism industry efficiency is the largest, followed by scale efficiency, and technical efficiency is the smallest. The spatial difference of each efficiency type value is the smallest in 2011; (3) Apart from market forces, other driving factors have obviously positive space spillover effect on tourism industry efficiency, and generally form the pattern of “leading by social and ecological forces, backing up by economic forces, assisting by transportation and industry forces, improving needed on policy and market forces”. It’s necessary to establish a sharing cooperation mechanism by building up the Yellow River Tourism Belt, strengthen infrastructure construction, policy support and market governance as well as the construction of social culture and ecological civilization, in order to improving the efficiency of tourism industry in the Yellow River basin.