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Arid Land Geography ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (11): 1915-1926.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2023.075

• Regional Development • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatial effects of transport infrastructure on inbound tourism in countries along the Belt and Road: Based on multiple distance weights

LEI Zhenxian(),WANG Kun(),ZHAO Songxin   

  1. College of Tourism and Cultural Industry, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, Guizhou, China
  • Received:2023-02-22 Revised:2023-04-11 Online:2023-11-25 Published:2023-12-05

Abstract:

In the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, the development of interconnection transport infrastructure has promoted regional inbound tourism development. However, few studies have revealed the impact of transport infrastructure on inbound tourism development within a spatial context. To address this gap, this study employs spatial autocorrelation, kernel density estimation, and spatial econometric models to empirically explore the spatial effects of transport infrastructure construction on inbound tourism in countries along the Belt and Road from 2000 to 2021. The study findings are as follows: (1) Railway network radiates from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and other Central and Eastern European countries toward the northeast of the region. Meanwhile, the core of the road network is primarily located at the east and west ends of the study area, spanning from China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand to Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Lithuania at the opposite end. (2) Inbound tourism development follows a distinctive “core-periphery” spatial pattern, expanding from coastal countries into inland countries. (3) Inbound tourism development exhibits profound positive spatial spillover effects in geographically proximate, economically, or institutionally similar countries or regions, with spillover coefficients of 0.381, 0.311, and 0.233, respectively. Geographical proximity exerts the strongest driving effect on inbound tourism development. Conversely, countries with similar cultural characteristics exhibit a competitive effect. (4) Transport infrastructure construction is a crucial path for generating spatial spillover in inbound tourism. Railway infrastructure demonstrates a positive spatial spillover effect on inbound tourism from countries with similar systems, with 1.507 spillover coefficient. Moreover, road infrastructure exerts a positive spillover effect on inbound tourism, particularly in countries with similar geographical proximity and systems, with spillover coefficients of 0.040 and 0.101. Furthermore, air infrastructure has a profound spatial spillover effect on inbound tourism from countries with similar institutional structures. These results are important for the further development of inbound tourism within a large-scale region and contribute to a deep understanding of the correlation between tourism and transport in such large-scale regions.

Key words: transportation infrastructure, inbound tourism, multiple distance weight, spatial effect, the Belt and Road