This paper highlights the importance of tourism spatial effects. Using the panel data of 135 Wenchuan earthquake-affected counties which from 2008 to 2018, this study employs the dynamic spatial Durbin model to examine the spatial effects of tourism development on post-disaster economic resilience and compares the difference of tourism-growth nexus between severe disaster-affected counties and general disaster-affected counties. The empirical results show that tourism development contributes to economic resilience for general disaster-affected counties, which supports the tourism-led growth hypothesis, whereas there is an inverted U-shape relationship for severe disaster-affected counties. Furthermore, the spatial spillover effects of tourism are insignificant. Plausible explanations of these results are discussed and policy suggestions are provided.