The empirical investigation of tourism and natural resources in energy-growth-CO2 emission nexus is carried out in simultaneous equations framework for 51 “Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) countries” over 1990–2016. The dependent variables in four systems of equations are income, CO2 emission, energy use, and tourism development index. Empirics from difference and system GMM diagnosed the feedback effect between energy use and income; also validated energy push CO2 emission in conjunction with EKC for BRI countries. The results supported bidirectional causality between tourism and income; moreover, tourism push emission hypothesis validated for BRI countries. On the other hand, natural resources are contributing to tourism development, energy use, and CO2 emission in BRI countries. Additionally, natural resources are contributing negatively and significantly to income, thus obeying the natural resource curse phenomenon. So, the allocation of funds on green infrastructure are required to improve the environmental quality and benefit through green tourism. Moreover, the implementation of conservation policies on “natural resources” can help the GDP growth, environmental quality, and tourism sector on a single platform. •This study employed system of four equations under dynamic framework of GMM.•Tourism development index is developed based on different indicators of tourism.•Feedback hypothesis exists between income and energy use.•Tourism led emission, and two-way causality between tourism and growth is validated.•The natural resource curse theory is also supported.