Spatial structure analysis of tourism economy in Shaanxi province, China

Abstract

This paper uses the modified gravity model to measure the intensity of tourism economic connection in 11 prefecture-level cities in Shanxi Province from 2016 to 2020. From the perspective of the social network, the density and core-periphery area of the tourism economic network’s spatial structure are explored. The research shows that: From 2016 to 2020, the overall tourism economic connection in Shanxi Province shows a growing trend, and the differentiation phenomenon between the central region and the southern and northern regions is more obvious. There is an unbalanced spatial structure of the tourism economy in all prefecture-level cities in Shanxi province. On the whole, the network density shows a growing trend. The various indexes of Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi Province, are obviously better than other cities’ indexes. The number of core areas of the tourism economy changes little. These areas are closely connected but the strengthening trend is not obvious. The relations within the periphery region are not strong, and the connection between the periphery region and the core region is also weak. The connection of the regional tourism economy is strongly dependent on tourism resources endowment and transportation accessibility. The spatial structure of the tourism economy network is under the great influence of policy suggestions and planning. This study provides a certain theoretical basis for the formulation of tourism economic development strategy in Shanxi Province. The limitation is that the impact of COVID-19 on tourism development has not been specifically analyzed.