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Arid Land Geography ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (3): 515-527.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2023.409

• Regional Development • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Tourism economic differences and key driving factors in the Yellow River Basin

WANG Huixian1,2(), YANG Bei1, YANG Ningjun1, LI Luyao1   

  1. 1. Faculty of Culture Tourism and Journalism Arts, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China
    2. Shanxi Cultural Tourism Industry Technical Innovation Research Institute, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China
  • Received:2023-08-08 Revised:2023-10-12 Online:2024-03-25 Published:2024-03-29

Abstract:

The co-ordinated development of the tourism economy in the Yellow River Basin of China is essential for promoting the region's high-quality development. Considering the level of tourism specialization as the research object, this paper constructs a driving factor index system from five dimensions: regional economy, innovation capability, production factors, tourism services, and tourism policies. Based on the panel data of 61 cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2008 to 2020, we apply kernel density estimation, Moran index, and a geographically and temporally weighted regression model to study the spatio-temporal evolution of tourism economic differences and driving factors in the Yellow River Basin. The results show that: (1) Regional differences in the tourism economy in the Yellow River Basin continue to expand, and right-trailing phenomena have occurred in some years. (2) The Global Moran's I index of tourism specialization level is positive, and there is a spatial agglomeration trend. In the types of local spatial agglomeration, the scopes of “high-high” “low-low” and “high-low” agglomeration areas expand, whereas the scopes of “low-high” agglomeration areas narrow. From a spatial perspective, the differences in the Yellow River Basin tourism economy also expand. (3) The promotion effects of the nine driving factors on the tourism economy present three temporal characteristics: stable, decreasing, and increasing. (4) The key driving factors of economic development through tourism in upstream cities of the Yellow River Basin are regional economy, innovation capability, and tourism services. The factors that drive midstream cities are regional economy, tourism services, and policies, and the major driving factors in downstream cities are innovation capability, production factors, and tourism policies.

Key words: tourism economic differences, driving factors, GTWR model, Yellow River Basin