Spatiotemporal Difference Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Tourism Urbanization in China’s Major Tourist Cities

Tourism is crucial for promoting industrial development and is an important driver of China’s new type of urbanization. A tourism urbanization index system was constructed in three dimensions: the tourism industry, urbanization, and the ecological environment. The spatial–temporal differentiation characteristics and influencing factors of tourism urbanization in 35 major tourist cities in China from 2009 to 2018 were analyzed using the state space method, standard deviation ellipse, and spatial autocorrelation analysis. The results show the following. (1) Over time, the tourism industry index displays an upward trend, the urbanization index exhibits a more obvious upward trend, and the ecological environment index fluctuates strongly. Under the influence of all three factors, the tourism urbanization index shows a fluctuating rising trend. (2) Regarding the spatial distribution pattern, the development center of tourism urbanization shifts to the southeast, and the distribution direction is northeast-southwest. There is a significant agglomeration in global spatial autocorrelation. The local spatial correlation pattern is dominated by correlation characteristics and supplemented by different characteristics. (3) In terms of influencing factors, policy and regional development strategy, tourism resource endowment, economic development level, and traffic conditions are listed in descending order of influencing degree. Finally, we put forward some suggestions.

Comprehensive Partitions and Optimization Strategies Based on Tourism Urbanization and Resources and Environment Carrying Capacity in the Yellow River Basin, China

A better understanding on the spatial matching relationship between tourism urbanization and resources and environment carrying capacity is vital for the regional selection of the key eco-livable tourist cities in the Yellow River Basin. This paper addressed this research issue by evaluating and partitioning tourism urbanization level and resources and environment carrying capacity of the Yellow River Basin in 2005, 2011 and 2018, using GIS technology, spatial autocorrelation model and partition method. Empirical results suggest that (1) The tourism urbanization level of Shaanxi province maintains the leading position, while Shanxi province has great development potential. The high value areas of resources and environmental carrying capacity concentrated in Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Shandong provinces. (2) The spatial agglomeration degree of tourism urbanization level and resources and environment carrying capacity have been improved. (3) The resources and the environment carrying capacity exhibits a greater restrictive effect on the current high-level areas of tourism urbanization, and the spatial correspondence between them is weak. Based on the findings of this study, a series of optimization strategies and policy suggestions have been proposed for promoting the sustainable development of tourism urbanization in the Yellow River Basin.

Spatiotemporal Differentiation of Coupling and Coordination Relationship of Tourism–Urbanization–Ecological Environment System in China’s Major Tourist Cities

Determining the coupling development mode and evolution process of the tourism industry–urbanization–ecological environment system is of great significance in promoting high-quality and sustainable development of tourism and the urban economy. In this study, an evaluation index system of the tourism–urbanization–ecological environment system was established, and the spatiotemporal differentiation of the coupling and coordination relationship of the tourism–urbanization–ecological environment system was analyzed for 35 major tourist cities in China from 2009 to 2018. The results show that the comprehensive development indices of the tourism industry subsystem and urbanization subsystem of China’s major tourist cities have steadily increased. The comprehensive development indices of large-sized and medium-sized cities in the east are relatively high. From 2009 to 2018, the coordination degree and coupling degree of the tourism–urbanization–ecological environment’’ system of 35 tourist cities showed an upward trend. The growth rate of the coupling coordination degree lags behind the growth rate of the coupling degree, and the overall system coordination level is still low. There are significant differences in the coupling degree and coupling coordination degree among the eastern, central, and western cities. This study offers both theoretical and practical implications for further equalizing the development level between the cities, as well as improving the overall coordination between the tourism industry, urbanization, and the ecological environment in China.

Transformation and Reconstruction of Rural Area through Tourism Urbanization: A Case Study of Simatai Village, Beijing

Tourism urbanization has become an important means of urbanization in China. Taking the example of Simatai Village, Beijing, this study used empirical research and morphological typological analysis methods to explore the urbanization process driven by tourism based on the dimensions of physical space, functional space, and social space. It has been identified that: (i) the physical space has been completely reconstructed, and this is reflected in the overall layout, texture, and architectural form; (ii) the functional space has been transformed from a single function to a composite function, and this is reflected in the land use and the function of houses; and (iii) the social space has been transformed as the population is urbanized, and this is reflected in the aspects of population composition, lifestyle and communication mode, and collective organization. Overall, tourism development is an effective way to realize urbanization in rural areas that are on the fringe of cities and have good resources. However, in practice, we must be cautious about the introduction of large-scale foreign capital and pay particular attention to the marginalized disadvantaged groups and the historical and cultural value of the village.

Coupling Coordinated Evolution and Forecast of Tourism-Urbanization-Ecological Environment: The Case Study of Chongqing, China

As an important pioneering city in western China, Chongqing’s urbanization and tourism development have brought increasing pressure on the eco-environmental system. This paper presents a comprehensive index system for assessment of the level of tourism based on four aspects: market size, tourism economy, tourism resources, and tourism services. In this paper, we use five indices—economic urbanization, demographic urbanization, social urbanization, spatial urbanization, and cultural urbanization—to establishe a comprehensive index system for urbanization. The developed index system also characterizes the eco-environment based on three factors: eco-environmental pressure, eco-environmental response, and eco-environmental state. A coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) focusing on the degree of coupling coordination between tourism, urbanization, and the eco-environment was established using panel data collected from 2000 to 2017 for Chongqing, China. In addition, we used the gray prediction model to predict the degree of coupling coordination of the three systems in Chongqing from 2018 to 2023. The results showed that (1) overall, despite the twists and turns in the middle of the time period, the degree of coupling coordination of the three systems has become increasingly coordinated over time; (2) the three parameters (α-tourism, ß-urbanization, and d-eco-environmental) that have been widely used in previous studies had little effect on the coupling coordinated system; and (3) according to the prediction results, the degree of coupling coordination of the three systems will continue to rise slowly, and the cooperation between the three systems will be close to perfect by 2023, which means that the development of one system will greatly drive the other two systems.

Research on the coordinated development of tourism-urbanization-ecological environment——Taking Chongqing as an example

The article analyzes the comprehensive development levels of the three subsystems of Chongqing's tourism, urbanization and ecological environment from 2000 to 2017, and the temporal evolution characteristics of the coordinated development of the three. The results show that: (1) The comprehensive evaluation index of Chongqing's tourism industry system and urbanization system is on the rise; the comprehensive ecological environment index showed an upward trend before 2008, and fluctuated greatly after 2008. (2) The degree of coupling and coordination of the three systems in Chongqing City generally shows a transformational trend of maladjustment recession-intermediate transition-coordination improvement. In the future, Chongqing should continue to deepen institutional reforms and continue to develop new tourism markets; improve transportation, promote enterprise transformation and upgrading, implement policies for talent introduction; strengthen the construction of environmental protection talents and capital investment, and vigorously develop ecological industries