Regional Tourism Resilience under Crisis Impacts: The Cases of Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, various crisis events have occurred frequently, inflicting substantial impacts on the tourism sector, which has garnered considerable scholarly and policy attention. Nevertheless, limited research has systematically explored tourism resilience at the urban scale, and there is a paucity of studies comparing regional differences in tourism resilience under distinct crisis scenarios and their underlying causes. Thus, this study focuses on the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, employing Martin’s regional economic resilience measurement method. It assesses the tourism resilience of the two regions under the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequently visualizing the data results using ArcGIS software. The study also endeavors to unveil potential causes for disparities in urban tourism resilience. The main conclusions are as follows: Firstly, regions with higher economic development exhibit relatively weaker tourism resilience during economic crises, yet demonstrate comparatively stronger resilience during public crises. Secondly, distinct differentiations exist both between and within the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, primarily stemming from variations such as geographical positioning, tourism resource endowments, and industrial and economic structures, both regionally and within individual cities. Thirdly, the determination of regional tourism resilience is intricate and cannot be restricted to a single dimension; multidimensional indicators better encapsulate the essence of regional tourism resilience.