Spatial Differentiation and Convergence Trend of High-quality Development Level of China’s Tourism Economy

This paper aims to interpret the connotation of high-quality development of tourism economy(HQTE)from the perspective of the new development concepts of innovation,coordination,green,openness and sharing,and then to evaluate the spatial differenti-ation of China’s HQTE based on provincial panel data from 2009 to 2018.Specifically,we employ the spatial convergence model to ex-plore the absolute and conditionalβconvergence trends of HQTE in the whole country and the eastern,central and western regions of China.Our empirical results reveal that:1)within the decade,from 2009 to 2018,regions of China with the highest HQTE index is its eastern region followed by the central region and then the western region,but the fastest growing one is the western region of China fol-lowed by the central region and then the eastern region.2)Whether or not the spatial effect is included,there are absolute and condition-alβconvergence in HQTE in the whole country and aforementioned three regions.3)The degree of government attention as well as the level of economic development and location accessibility are the positive driving factors for the convergence of HQTE in the whole country and the three regions.The degree of marketization and human capital have not passed the significance test either in the whole country or in the three regions.The above conclusions could deepen the understanding of the regional imbalance and spatial conver-gence characteristics of HQTE,clarify the primary development objects,and accomplish the goal of China’s HQTE.

Spatial and Temporal Differences of Climate Suitability of Ice and Snow Sports in Major Ski Tourism Destinations in China

Ice and snow tourism in China has grown significantly since the country successfully hosted the Beijing Winter Olympics.Climatic conditions profoundly impact the development of ice and snow tourism;however,most studies have focused on constructing different climate suitability indicators for ice and snow tourism to evaluate individual regions,lacking horizontal comparative studies across multiple regions.This study aims to enrich the connotation of climate suitability for ice and snow sports,establish an evaluation model based on snowfall amount,temperature,and wind speed,and use daily meteorological data from 1991 to 2021 to horizontally compare the climate suitability for ice and snow sports in major ski tourism destinations in China.This study boasts four major findings:1)the average ice and snow sports climate index of each region decreases over time,and the overall suitability of the climate for ice and snow sports is reducing;2)northern Xinjiang exhibits the most evident regional differentiation from‘very suitable’to‘generally suitable’;3)the spatial zoning of climate suitability for ice and snow sports exhibits heterogeneity,as northern Xinjiang is divided into two‘suitable and above’zones with rotating empirical orthogonal function(REOF).Correspondingly,the four provinces of Hebei,Heilongjiang,Jilin,and Liaoning are divided into three‘generally suitable and above’zones;4)snowfall amount is the main factor affecting the climate suitability of ice and snow sports in the major ski tourist destinations in China.

‘Nihao! China' China National Tourism Image Showcase on the Global Stage Frequently

As the brand-new national tourism image,"Nihao!China"was unveiled around the world,more and more foreign tourists will embark on a journey to explore the natural beauty,rich history and cultivate lasting friendships in China.

Landscape Design of Parks Based on Red Tourism——With the Memorial Park of Soviet Republic of China in Ruijin,Jiangxi Province as a Study Case

Red tourism is a derivative product of organized patriotic education and revolutionary education activities.Memorial Park of Soviet Republic of China in Ruijin City,Jiangxi Province,as a representative of red tourism destination,is designed with red and patriotic education as the principal line to carry forward revolutionary traditions and spirits of Red Army,as well as create "red" garden landscapes with strong patriotism,time spirits and leisure elements.

Study on Innovation-oriented Strategies for Rural Tourism Development in China

Through reviewing development of China's rural tourism industry, its history, scale, geographical distribution and development form was introduced briefly, and then motives of rural tourism development were analyzed from the perspectives of tourism industry restructuring, agricultural restructuring, economic foundation, time foundation and spiritual needs. Common problems in the present rural tourism development were proposed as:aggravated environment pollution, low-grade product and insufficient participatory contents, ineffective marketing means, and shortage of talents. In view of these problems, innovative development strategies of rural tourism industry were studied, and it was proposed that environmental pollution supervision should be enhanced from all aspects of developer, manager, tourist and government; diversified tourist products should be developed, such as participatory products for tourist experiencing public-spirited characters, obtaining knowledge of rural areas, renting "Happy Farm", and taking wedding photos; various propagation means can be applied in marketing to enhance the brand building; training talents for rural tourism development in various means.

Overview of the Tourism Land Use Researches in China and Abroad

Both domestic and overseas researches in tourism land use have been analyzed,summarized and commented in detail,and the research characteristics have been compared respectively.

Researches on Ancient Village Tourism in China

Through studying 83 dissertations about ancient village tourism listed in CJFD(Chinese Journal Full-text Database) in 2001-2008,including classification,sorting and thematic analysis,research progress and current situation of domestic ancient village tourism in the past 8 years were summarized,which mainly involved with tourism resources,tourism development and protection,tourism products,operation and management,sustainable development,community interests,social and cultural influence of ancient village tourism,ancient village tourism study.In this way,it can provide certain theoretical guidance for the future research and development of ancient village tourism in China.

Regional Disparity and Convergence of China's Inbound Tourism Economy

Comprehending regional characteristics and influencing factors of China＇s inbound tourism economy is im- portant to make effective policies that will help inbound tourism develop harmoniously and shrink regional disparity. This paper studied the regional disparity and convergence of China＇s inbound tourism economy during 1996-2008 with the methods of a-convergence, club convergence and r-convergence. The results indicate that 1） inbound tourism receipts per capita （ITRPC） of the whole country, the eastern, central and western regions presented the rapid increasing trend; 2） ITRPC of the whole country was characterized by convergence; 3） the eastern region presented club con- vergence, but the central and western regions did not show this trend; 4） the star-hotel levels and investment in fixed assets for the tourism industry per capita had a same trend to growth rates of ITRPC, promoting inbound tourism de- velopment, and there was no difference among the 31 provinces （municipalities） in the mainland of China; 5） but the proportion of employed persons in the tourism industry accounting for total population and the proportion of the terti- ary industry accounting for GDP had a reversal trend to growth rates of ITRPC, shrinking the provincial disparity in inbound tourism economy, and there were differences between the developed provinces and the developing provinces. Based on these analyses, we put forward some suggestions for the developing provinces to speed up inbound tourism economy.

Progress of regional economic geography in China: a comparative study

Domestic and international literatures in economic geography in recent years showthat the disciplinary status of regional economic geography remains steay. Domesticliteratures prefer regional comprehensive development than that of international in theapplication fields. The process of establishing theoretical system with Chinese characteristocscontinues and has made some progress. The economic regions element theory, developmenttheory and management theory have been added to the already existed theory system. Theconstruction of comprehensive and integrated methodology system has initiated.

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Tourism Climate Suitability in Qinghai Province, China

Qinghai Province is an important component of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China. Scientific evaluation of the suitability of Qinghai's climate for tourism can contribute to overcoming obstacles posed by climate on sustainable tourism development in Qinghai Province, including disparities between the low and high seasons, high altitude health concerns, and weather events. A tourism climate suitability evaluation model of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is constructed (Tourism Climate Suitability Index, or TCSI), and tourism climate suitability is comprehensively evaluated for Qinghai Province from climate data from 1960 to 2009. Results show that: (I) There is clear distributional characteristics of spatial-temporal variability of TCSI values in Qinghai Province. (II) Tourism climate suitability in Qinghai Province has significant seasonal and regional differences. The year is divided into a very suitable period (July and August), suitable tourism periods (from April and October), less suitable periods (From Nov to Mar). June to August is the most suitable tourism period in Qinghai. Qinghai Province is divided into five levels of tourism climate suitability: most suitable regions, very suitable regions, suitable regions, less suitable regions, and unsuitable region. (III) The key factor which influences regional differences in tourism climatic suitability is atmospheric oxygen. And the key factors which chiefly influence seasonal differences of tourism climate suitability are temperature and humidity, the wind chill factor, and barrier weather.

Advances in applied studies of fractal theory in geography in China

The fractal theory put forward by American mathematician B B Mandelbrot (1967) supplies an effective approach to solve complex problems. The complex problems in geography have become the main positive study field of fractal theory. Based on the works of China's geographers and the summarization of contents of fractal theory, the authors comment on the present situation of its applications to almost every branch of geography and discuss the related problems and the prospects of fractal study in geography.

Urban China in Transformation:Hybrid Economy,Juxtaposed Space,and New Testing Ground for Geographical Enquiries

History has brought us into a significant moment when the majority of the human kind has taken up resi-dence in urban settlements. The focus of global urbanization has shifted to the developing world and the center of manufacturing is no longer confined to the Global North. This paper provides a periodical assessment of the current status of China's urban transformation in the global context of a shifting emphasis of industrialization and urbaniza-tion. China's phenomenal urban transformation deserves a special attention not only because of its unparalleled scale and speed but also because of its distinct trajectory of growth that does not conform to normal theoretical ex-pectations. The results of assessment revealed an urban economy with remarkable hybridity, a society that is in-creasingly stratified, polarized, and segregated, and a juxtaposed urban space undergoing restless and pervasive transformation. A decentering world should entail a decentering knowledge production. A critical reflection upon the Chinese patterns and processes of urban transformation has identified 4 main issues with great potentials for inno-vative knowledge production, namely: 1) privatization and economic development; 2) state, society, and space; 3) urbanization of capital, labor, and land; and 4) the environment and Chinese political ecology. The paper closes with the remark that a rapidly transforming urban China has presented itself as a fertile and resourceful testing ground for critical and innovative geographic enquiries.

Residents’ Attitudes Towards Tourism in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Pilot Site: a Case Study in China

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) is a wide program to promote the conservation and adap-tive management of such systems and their associated landscapes, biodiversity, knowledge systems and cultures. Rice-Fish Systems (RFS) in Longxian village of China, as a traditional agricultural system, was selected as one of the five pilot sites of GIAHS in 2005. Researchers have paid more attention to the dynamic conser-vation and adaptive management of RFS because it is under severe threats from global development challenges. Tourism is suggested to be brought into the RFS conservation program as an alternative industry. This paper presents a comparative study of residents in three types of farm household in Longxian, seeking attitudes to the RFS conservation and tourism development and ways in which such information may guide future strategies. Results show resi-dents, belonging to the household type in which most family mem-bers are abroad, have the most positive attitudes to RFS conserva-tion and tourism development; while residents, as other household type in which less than 50% of family members are abroad, are the least sensitive group in these three household types, due to the motivation of moving abroad weakening their enthusiasm to participate in the local activities. Implications are discussed in the context of how resident attitudes will affect the future manage-ment of GIAHS conservation and tourism development, and then measures are put forward to foster tourism cooperation and multi-stakeholders process establishment.

Temporal-spatial change and driving mechanism for regional difference of domestic tourism in China

By using the variation coefficient,Gini coefficient and Theil coefficient,this paper makes preliminary exploration of temporalspatial change features and driving mechanism for regional differences of domestic tourism in China from 1995 to 2009.According to the results,we drew the following conclusions:(1)The regional difference of domestic tourism in China tends to be narrowing generally,and is less than that of inbound tourism,playing an important role in narrowing the overall gap of regional tourism in China.(2)The regional internal difference features:inter-provincial difference in the eastern region and difference among the eastern,central and western regions are comparatively obvious and demonstrate a significantly shrinking tendency,the change tendency is consistent with the change tendency of overall difference and exercises a decisive role in overall difference,whereas the inter-provincial difference in the central and western regions is small and relatively stable,having less influence on the overall difference.(3)The temporal-spatial change in regional difference is featured by:low-level provinces occupy a majority and are concentrated in the central and western regions,showing a tendency of narrowing difference;high-level provinces are concentrated in the eastern region,showing a tendency of spreading to the central and western regions;spatial pattern of regional difference demonstrates 4 types,i.e."proliferation type","polarization type","quiescence type"and"collapse type."(4)The driving force for regional difference of domestic tourism in China comes down to 3 aspects:regional socio-economic attribute,regional transport accessibility level and regional development policy.

From theme park to cultural tourism town:Disneyization turning of tourism space in China

Theme park development has become an important choice for tourism space development in Chinese cities,and the theming of space as well as the implied consumption symbols and cultural implications are usually viewed as examples for the development of other urban spaces,such as cultural tourism towns.The result is the Disneyization of urban tourism space.With the construction of characteristic towns being vigorously promoted throughout China,cultural tourism towns are springing up.They are typical of the“Wuzhen Town Mode”and represent the process of the Disneyization of tourism space in China.This research reflects on the evolution of the characteristics of tourism space in China.Taking the Wuzhen Town Mode as an example,this study reveals the characteristics and conversion mechanism of the Disneyization of tourism space in Chinese cities.According to this research,the Wuzhen Town Mode of the Disneyization is characterized by theming,hybrid consumption,merchandising,and performative labor.Residential function is a unique characteristic of the Disneyization of cultural tourism towns in China.Moreover,the Wuzhen Town Mode of the Disneyization is jointly motivated by the driving force of local governments,the propulsive force of tourist demand,the attractive force of the social environment,and the driving force of capital.Finally,suggestions and policy proposals are provided for the Disneyization of tourism space in China.

The code of targeted poverty alleviation in China:A geography perspective

Geography is suitable for the study of sustainability from a transdisciplinary perspective,which takes the human-land relationship as the core research.As a key obstacle to rural sustainability,poverty is an external manifestation of the coupling maladjustment of elements in human-land territorial systems.As the world’s largest developing country,China eradicated extreme poverty in 2020 and made significant contributions to global poverty reduc-tion.Especially over the last eight years,China has implemented a targeted poverty alleviation(TPA)strategy and has continuously promoted theoretical,organizational and institutional innovations for poverty reduction.From the perspective of geography,this paper extracts the experiences of China’s TPA strategy,represented by the"5W2H"mode.The research concludes that:(1)Precise identification,as the foundation of TPA,aims to in-troduce a registration system to obtain records of all poor households and then answer the"5W"(what,where,why,who,when)issues of the geography of poverty.(2)Precise assistance is the key of TPA,which aims to solve the issue of"how to offer help and support".The barriers to escaping poverty can be accomplished through poli-cies and measures that focus on the diverse causes of poverty and considering different situations.(3)Accurate assessments are an essential means of TPA,relevant to solve"how to measure the end of poverty alleviation",and third-party evaluations play an important role in improving the accuracy of poverty alleviation.(4)The TPA mechanism lies in reconstructing the human-land-industry structures in the impoverished areal system.It is urgent to introduce China’s successful experience and typical modes of TPA for global human-earth system coordination and sustainable development and contribute to building a community of human destiny.

Rural Tourism Development in China:Principles,Models and the Future

Rural tourism in China,has undergone a rapid development in the last three decades.It is an emerging and effective catalyst that promotes industrial restructuring,agricultural development and the upgrading of rural areas.However,there remains little understanding about the core issues of rural tourism in China:the exact connotation,the principles,the development models and the future directions.This review paper identifies the key issues based on literature analysis,national statistics and press reports to form a general picture of the past,the current and the future prospects of China's rural tourism.The paper firstly addresses the definition,content and principles of rural tourism,and then provides an overview and brief evaluation of the progress and the current development models in China.Finally,based on the analysis of the experiences and problems,the authors sum up with five pathways of the future development of China's rural tourism from the perspective of rural tourism resources,product,market and promotion.

Community Tourism as Practiced in the Mountainous Qiang Region of Sichuan Province,China-a Case Study in Zhenghe Village

In China, community tourism is still a relatively new phenomenon, but the villagers of a small Qiang village in the Qiang Autonomous County of Beichuan in Southwestern Sichuan have initiated tourism in a way which conforms to the basic theory of community tourism development. This demonstrates that community tourism possesses a strength and vitality that can promote the development of tourism in the rural and mountainous areas. In the district of Zhenghe Village, the tourism industry, based on the community tourism model, is the mainstay of its economy. The practice of community tourism in the village not only promotes the economic development of the village community, but also leads to the protection of the mountainous natural environment and of the culture of the Qiang people. This paper investigates the development process of community tourism in Zhenghe and shows how the local residents participate in this process. It also looks at how profits have been distributed within the community. It demonstrates that community tourism is a correct choice by the Zhenghe people as they have dearly been moving from poverty to prosperity, while the local ecology and environment have been simultaneously protected. The authors hope that other minority villages with similar local conditions and natural resources will be able to use this example to develop their own community tourism.

On the Regional Coordinated Development Between Tourism Human Resource and Tourism Industry in China

Tourism is one of the typical labor intensive industries and tourism human resource(HR) is the main factor for regional discrepancy of tourism industry.The paper takes China as research region and evaluates the level of tourism HR and the level of tourism industry of 31 provinces respectively.First,the paper constructs evaluation index of regional tourism industry and tourism HR.Then,the paper gets the evaluation scores of every province by applying the principal components analysis and statistical package for the social sciences processing.Second,the paper builds the tourism development-tourism HR matrix and divides the matrix into four quadrants.Finally,the paper points out the problems of tourism HR that exist in the 31 provinces and puts forward development strategy.