The spatial distribution characteristics, influencing factors and development models of rural tourism in China

Abstract

As an essential support for rural revitalization and global tourism strategies, rural tourism has a lot to do in the dual-cycle development pattern. Based on the first and second batch of crucial rural tourism villages in the country, the nearest neighbor index, geographic concentration index, Gini coefficient, standard deviation ellipse, nuclear density and other methods are used to analyze their spatial distribution types, spatial balance, spatial pattern and evolution. Then, the factors influencing the distribution differences are analyzed by using the tools of geographic connection rate and buffer zone. From a configuration perspective, QCA is used to explore the development model of crucial rural tourism villages. The results show that: ①China’s rural tourism crucial villages along the Hu Huanyong line show a condensed distribution characteristic of “sparsely located in the southeast and sparsely northwest”. The distribution within the provinces is weakly concentrated and the spatial imbalance is prominent. Morover, the spatial pattern is evident from the Northeast to the Southwest and shows the insense evolution trend. ②The crucial rural tourism villages are spatially formed with the dual-core radiation and multi-regional structural features centered on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and supplemented by several sub-high-density areas such as Guanzhong, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, and Pearl River Delta, and finally formed the radiation pattern of urban agglomerations-central cities-crucial rural tourism villages. ③Natural geography, source market, transportation environment, economic level, and endowment of tourism resources are important factors that affect the spatial distribution of crucial rural tourism villages. ④There are three main development models of crucial rural tourism villages in China: source market-driven, traffic-oriented and scenic-radiant.