IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i16p6532-d398241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional Patterns and Hierarchical Tendencies: Analysis of the Network Connectivity of 63 Service-Oriented Tourist Cities in China

Author

Listed:
  • Hongjiu Tang

    (School of Geography and Planning, Geography and Environment Building, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China)

Abstract

Previous studies of service-oriented tourist city networks have often focused on the analysis of the geographical distributions and service roles of important cities instead of the connections and hierarchical tendencies between different types of cities within a whole region. The current study uses big data approaches for the regional connections of 38 tourism organizations, including famous hotels, air passenger transport services, and tourism service agencies, across 63 of the most important tourist cities in China. Fuzzy c-means clustering analysis is used to define eight city arena clusters. According to the distributions of connectivity between the 63 cities, these eight clusters play different functional service roles in the urban tourism network in four hierarchies. With their “center–edge” memberships, these arena clusters are formed by the interweaved process of regional and hierarchical tourism service connections. The results here include analysis of the various service-oriented tourist cities in China and point out the geographical “gap” faced by networks. Service-oriented tourist cities need to find their hierarchies and positioning in the network, scientifically speaking, to avoid blind development and to support sustainable regional tourism development in urban areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongjiu Tang, 2020. "Regional Patterns and Hierarchical Tendencies: Analysis of the Network Connectivity of 63 Service-Oriented Tourist Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6532-:d:398241
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6532/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6532/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben Derudder & Christof Parnreiter, 2014. "Introduction: The Interlocking Network Model for Studying Urban Networks: Outline, Potential, Critiques, and Ways Forward," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(4), pages 373-386, September.
    2. Ashworth, Gregory & Page, Stephen J., 2011. "Urban tourism research: Recent progress and current paradoxes," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-15.
    3. Zhang, Yahua & Findlay, Christopher, 2014. "Air transport policy and its impacts on passenger traffic and tourist flows," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 42-48.
    4. Ya-Yen Sun & Pei-Chun Lin, 2019. "How far will we travel? A global distance pattern of international travel from both demand and supply perspectives," Tourism Economics, , vol. 25(8), pages 1200-1223, December.
    5. Nuria Rodríguez-López & M. Isabel Diéguez-Castrillón & Ana Gueimonde-Canto, 2019. "Sustainability and Tourism Competitiveness in Protected Areas: State of Art and Future Lines of Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-32, November.
    6. Jinli Zhao & Xuebo Zhang & Jinping Song, 2018. "The Changing Geography of Domestic Financial City Network in China, 1995–2015," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 490-511, September.
    7. FitzPatrick, Mary & Davey, Janet & Muller, Lisa & Davey, Howard, 2013. "Value-creating assets in tourism management: Applying marketing's service-dominant logic in the hotel industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 86-98.
    8. Evert Meijers & Martijn Burger & Martijn J. Burger & Evert J. Meijers, 2016. "Agglomerations and the rise of urban network externalities," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(1), pages 5-15, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jaume Rosselló Nadal & María Santana Gallego, 2022. "Gravity models for tourism demand modeling: Empirical review and outlook," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1358-1409, December.
    2. Mathias Heidinger & Fabian Wenner & Sebastian Sager & Paul Sussmann & Alain Thierstein, 2023. "Where do knowledge-intensive firms locate in Germany?—An explanatory framework using exponential random graph modeling [Welche Standorte wählen wissensintensive Unternehmen in Deutschland? – Ein Er," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 43(1), pages 101-124, April.
    3. Kanis Saengchote & Voraprapa Nakavachara & Yishuang Xu, 2023. "Capitalising the Network Externalities of New Land Supply in the Metaverse," PIER Discussion Papers 203, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Getz, Donald & Page, Stephen J., 2016. "Progress and prospects for event tourism research," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 593-631.
    5. Shuai Shi & Kathy Pain, 2020. "Investigating China’s Mid-Yangtze River economic growth region using a spatial network growth model," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(14), pages 2973-2993, November.
    6. Panasiuk Aleksander, 2020. "Policy of Sustainable Development of Urban Tourism," Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 27(2), pages 33-37, June.
    7. Kanis Saengchote & Voraprapa Nakavachara & Yishuang Xu, 2023. "Capitalising the Network Externalities of New Land Supply in the Metaverse," Papers 2303.17180, arXiv.org.
    8. Irene Rubino & Cristina Coscia & Rocco Curto, 2020. "Identifying Spatial Relationships between Built Heritage Resources and Short-Term Rentals before the Covid-19 Pandemic: Exploratory Perspectives on Sustainability Issues," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, June.
    9. Mariani, Marcello M. & Giorgio, Luisa, 2017. "The “Pink Night” festival revisited: Meta-events and the role of destination partnerships in staging event tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 89-109.
    10. Wong, Tommy & Wickham, Mark, 2015. "An examination of Marriott's entry into the Chinese hospitality industry: A Brand Equity perspective," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 439-454.
    11. Christian M Rogerson, 2013. "Urban tourism, economic regeneration and inclusion: Evidence from South Africa," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 28(2), pages 188-202, March.
    12. Antonella Lerario & Silvia Di Turi, 2018. "Sustainable Urban Tourism: Reflections on the Need for Building-Related Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-25, June.
    13. Christopher Findlay & Hein Roelfsema & Niall Van De Wouw, 2021. "Feeling the Pulse of Global Value Chains: Air Cargo and COVID-19," Working Papers DP-2021-23, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    14. Koo, Tay T.R. & Hossein Rashidi, Taha & Park, Jin-Woo & Wu, Cheng-Lung & Tseng, Wen-Chun, 2017. "The effect of enhanced international air access on the demand for peripheral tourism destinations: Evidence from air itinerary choice behaviour of Korean visitors to Australia," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 116-129.
    15. Jorge Moll-de-Alba & Lluís Prats & Lluís Coromina, 2016. "The need to adapt to travel expenditure patterns. A study comparing business and leisure tourists in Barcelona," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(2), pages 253-267, August.
    16. Chih-Wen Yang & Cheng-Lung (Richard) Wu & Jin-Long Lu, 2021. "Exploring the interdependency and determinants of tourism participation, expenditure, and duration: An analysis of Taiwanese citizens traveling abroad," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(4), pages 649-669, June.
    17. Duco Vos & Evert Meijers & Maarten Ham, 2018. "Working from home and the willingness to accept a longer commute," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 61(2), pages 375-398, September.
    18. Aleksandra Łapko & Aleksander Panasiuk & Roma Strulak-Wójcikiewicz & Marek Landowski, 2020. "The State of Air Pollution as a Factor Determining the Assessment of a City’s Tourist Attractiveness—Based on the Opinions of Polish Respondents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    19. Ascani, Andrea & Bettarelli, Luca & Resmini, Laura & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre, 2020. "Global networks, local specialisation and regional patterns of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    20. Cornelia Pop & Cristina Balint, 2018. "Romanian Urban Tourism: A Survey Of Accommodation Facilities," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6532-:d:398241. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.