Study on the Coordinated Development of Tourism Industry–Regional Economy–Ecological Environment in the Yili River Valley

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the relationship among the three systems of tourism industry, regional economy, and ecological environment in the Yili River Valley, which is essential for the sustainable development of the region. We explore the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of the tourism–economy–ecosystem in the Yili River Valley using the center of gravity model, spatial mismatch index model, spatial variance model, and obstacle degree model, based on panel data from 2010 to 2019. The study shows that (1) the comprehensive development indices of the tourism industry, regional economy, and ecological environment in the Yili River Valley exhibit varying degrees of growth trends. Smaller increases are observed in ecological environment indices, while larger increases are found in regional economy and tourism industry indices. Both the regional economy and tourism industry indices share a strong correlation and similar development trends. (2) At the macro-regional scale, during the study period, the centers of gravity of the tourism industry, regional economy, and ecological environment in the Yili River Valley have consistently been separated from the spatial geometric center of the region. The degree of misalignment of the centers of gravity of the three systems as a whole has gradually reduced, indicating that the level of coordinated development of the region has continuously improved. (3) At the micro-regional scale, during the study period, most of the spatial misalignment indices of the Yili River Valley regions showed positive and negative fluctuations, and the types of misalignment varied to different degrees. However, the gap in spatial misalignment indices between different regions gradually narrowed, and the divergent characteristics of “east-west concentration, north-south dispersion” were gradually broken, with the overall indices showing a balanced development trend. (4) The spatial dislocation index of each region in the Yili River Valley is affected by multiple systems and factors, and the overall spatial dislocation factors are mainly the comprehensive utilization rate of general solid waste, exhaust gas emission, dust removal amount, etc., which mostly originate from the ecological environment system.