Abstract:

Gansu Province is a popular tourist destination in China because of its rich and diverse tourism resources. This paper presents relevant literature and policies for “all-for-one” tourism in accordance with the concept of “building and integrating development in different regions”. The tourism sector of Gansu Province was divided into three parts, and each part represented one research unit. Data were collected from Grade A tourist attractions and basic road network data from Gansu Province in 2008 and 2018. The nearest neighbor distance index, nuclear density, standard deviational ellipse, time-cost grid algorithms, and ArcGIS were used to analyze the spatial distribution of Grade A scenic spots, the mobility of the center of mass of the scenic spots, and the accessibility of the scenic spots. This study explored the spatial structure of tourism in Gansu Province from 2008 to 2018 and concludes that the basic characteristics of spatial change in Gansu Province is a “strong point, weak in face and scattered on surface”. The results of this research show that the spatial structure of Grade A scenic spots in Gansu Province are random clusters, and the highest density of scenic spots are concentrated in Jiuquan, Jiayuguan, Lanzhou, and Tianshui Cities. The spatial structures observed were relatively stable and continuous. The accessible time-cost analysis of scenic spots changed over the 10-year period showing that (1) the rate of the 1-h isochron increased 134%, and (2) the rate of the 2-h isochron increased 41%. The time-cost relationship of accessibility to scenic spots showed that areas with better access were distributed around traffic trunk lines and towns, while spots with poor accessibility mostly occurred in rugged terrain along the provincial boundary. From a regional perspective combined with “pole-axis system theory”, this paper proposes specific measures for the integration of resources within a tourism plate and the interactions between tourism plates as a function of local conditions, the actual situation, and the specific measures of the integration of resources within the tourism plate and the interaction between the tourism plates. The three tourism plates were: (1) a construction plate featuring Dunhuang culture and ecological features in the Hexi Corridor, (2) the Yellow River urban industrial zone focused on Yellow River culture, and (3) the China Cultural Heritage and Innovation Zone in southeast Gansu Province highlighting ancestral culture. These three plates were designed to promote the transformation of Gansu Province from “tourist-attraction tourism” to “all-for-one” tourism, optimize the spatial layout of tourism in the province, give full play to the regional characteristics of the plate, coordinate and develop a sustainable model for tourism in Gansu Province, and identify key landmarks and points of interest to market and thus increase domestic tourism in this well-known destination in China.

Key words: all-for-one tourism, tourist attractions, spatial pattern, Gansu Province