Research on the Development Potential of China’s Pro-Poor Tourism Industry Based on Geographical Nature Evaluation

Abstract

China has made considerable achievements in poverty alleviation and reduction, and pro-poor tourism is an important part of its poverty alleviation policy. To prevent policy investments from idling and becoming wasted, and to prevent poverty from returning to previously poverty-stricken areas, it is helpful to improve the continuity and adaptability of pro-poor tourism policies by assessing differentiated geographical capital. This study is based on the fundamentals of geographical nature: it divides geographical capital into resource endowments, market location, and spatial accessibility; tests the state of the three types of geographical capital by introducing Newton’s basic space gravity model; and comprehensively evaluates the tourism industry’s potential to develop. In addition, it uses data on China’s 560 pro-poor tourism villages for empirical research, and concludes that most of the pro-poor tourism villages show some potential for tourism development along with distinctive features of regional concentration. However, they are also restricted by many factors and require prolonged exploration and cultivation. China’s pro-poor tourism villages are mainly divided into three types: market, resource, and location advantage. The market advantage type should foster tourism product cultivation on the basis of market needs, deepen tourism product innovation, integrate with the industry chain of surrounding pro-poor villages, and form a regional clustering force. The resource advantage type should value market fragmentation and positioning, match the market positioning of surrounding tourism cities, utilize the marketing of surrounding tourism cities, and improve its own market popularity and reputation. The location advantage type may position itself as a tourism industry hub, and serve the surrounding scenic spots in order to achieve its own industry value. This study mainly analyzes and evaluates the development potential of the tourism poverty alleviation industry on the basis of geographical capital, and does this with the aim of improving the applicability of the tourism poverty alleviation industry’s pro-poor development strategy.