A Comparative Analysis of Domestic and International Tourism Spatial Distribution: Trends and Impacts

Abstract

As one of the most important economic sectors in China, tourism must be supported in a way that will encourage balanced regional economic development. The spatial distribution of tourism should be evaluated to assess the role of growing tourism in regional economic inequality. Unlike previous studies that focus on international tourism, this paper compares the spatial distributions of international and domestic tourism by using the Mean Log Deviation decomposition method, within and between China’s three economic regions over the period from 1997 to 2010. The results show that, compared with regional economic distribution, imbalance in the spatial distribution of tourism is more pronounced. However, from a dynamic and comparative perspective, this paper asserts that tourism, especially domestic tourism, is a more effective instrument for China’s balanced regional economic development than international tourism.

作为中国最重要的经济部门之一，不断增长的旅游业应当用于促进中国区域经济的平衡发展。通过评估旅游业的空间分布，是评价其对于区域经济发展不平衡影响的一种重要途径。与以往研究仅仅关注于国际旅游不同，本文通过使用泰尔指数分解法，比较了国内和国际旅游与中国整体经济发展1997–2010年在中国三大经济区域内部及区域之间的空间分布。研究结果表明，相比较于整体经济发展，旅游业发展的空间分布更为不均衡。然而，从动态和比较的视角来看，本文的结论则表明旅游业能够促进中国的区域平衡发展，而国内旅游业较国际旅游业的作用更为显著。

KEYWORDS:

• Spatial distribution
• domestic tourism
• international tourism
• regional impact
• comparative analysis

关键词:

• 空间分布
• 国内旅游
• 国际旅游
• 区域影响
• 比较分析

Acknowledgement

This research was partly supported by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Research Grant (under account number: A-PL33 and A-PK59).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carey Goh

Carey Goh is an Assistant Professor in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China (E-mail: [email protected]).

Hengyun Li

Hengyun Li is a Research Associate in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China (E-mail: [email protected]).

Mimi Li

Mimi Li is an Assistant Professor in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China (E-mail: [email protected]).