ECOTOURISM ›› 2023, Vol. 13 ›› Issue (3): 380-393.doi: 10.12342/zgstly.20230042

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Spatiotemporal evolution and influencing mechanisms of the agglomeration field in tourist towns in Xiangxi region driven by transportation

Tan Jiaxin1(), Ma Xuefeng2, Wang Kai1,*()   

  1. 1. School of Tourism, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China;
    2. School of Public Administration & Human Geography, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha 410205, China
  • Received:2023-04-10 Revised:2023-06-15 Online:2023-06-28 Published:2023-08-04
  • Contact: Wang Kai E-mail:tanjiaxin1997@163.com;kingviry@163.com

Abstract:

Transportation infrastructure plays a crucial role in the development of integrated regional tourism, significantly influencing the formation and optimization of the agglomeration pattern of tourism towns. By employing composite location entropy and weighted average travel time, the study measures the agglomeration level and transport accessibility of tourist towns in the Xiangxi region from 2000 to 2019. Utilizing an improved gravity model and spatial econometric model, the research explores the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influencing mechanisms of agglomeration intensity in typical regions of tourism development. The results show that: (1) During the study period, the agglomeration intensity and transport accessibility in the Xiangxi region exhibited a continuous upward trend, with the optimal transport radiation range within 1.6 hours. (2) The spatial pattern of agglomeration intensity in tourism towns underwent a dynamic transformation from a “unidirectional dominance” to a “bidirectional interactive” pattern, manifested by the emergence of three major high-intensity areas led by Wulingyuan, Yongding, and Fenghuang, shifting away from the dominance of Fenghuang. Meanwhile, transport accessibility demonstrated an irregular concentric structure spreading along the north-south axis, with the central region as the center. (3) Under the comprehensive influence of resource endowment, industrial structure, and living environment conditions, the improvement of transportation conditions brings about the compression effect of space and time, facilitating the agglomeration of population, land, and industries in tourist towns. This, in turn, enhances local tourism economic efficiency and increases the opportunity cost of resource utilization, leading to a spatial structural transformation from “monocentric” to “polycentric” pattern.

Key words: tourism urbanization, tourism traffic, traffic accessibility, traffic radiation, agglomeration field strength