Spatio-Temporal Evolution Characteristics and Spatial Differences in Urban Tourism Network Attention in China: Based on the Baidu Index

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

It is suggested to update some references since few of them are quite dated, The paper is clear and well organized, and the publication is suggested.

Author Response

Dear Reviewers,

Thank you very much for your time involved in reviewing the manuscript and your very encouraging comments on the merits.

Comments: “ It is suggested to update some references since few of them are quite dated, The paper is clear and well organized, and the publication is suggested.”

We also appreciate your clear and detailed feedback and hope that the explanation has fully addressed all of your concerns. In the remainder of this letter, we discuss your comments along with our corresponding responses.

To facilitate this discussion, we first retype your comments in italic font and then present our responses to the comments.

Comment 1:

It is suggested to update some references since few of them are quite dated.

Response 1:

Thanks for your great suggestion on improving the accessibility of our manuscript. We have update some dated references added some new reference,including  references 1-11&15,16,22,32,33,37,42. The relevant contents are provided below as a screen dump for your quick reference.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your time involved and this great opportunity for us to improve the manuscript. We hope you will find this revised version satisfactory.

Sincerely,

The Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Topic of the manuscript (Spatio temporal Evolution Characteristics and Spatial Differences of urban tourism network attention in China: Based on the Baidu Index) seems quite interesting. However, some points need to be clarified and the writing needs to be improved further. Here are some of my concerns.

1.      In the topic, “Spatiotemporal” need to be separated to two words. It could be written by “spatio temporal” or “spatio-temporal”. Furthermore, please capitalize the first letter of the notional words of the title.

2.      Line 14~15: It is recommended that the author should further explain in the text exactly which months are high season and which months are low season.

Line 10~11 mentioned that the article has important implications for understanding the spatio temporal patterns of UTNA before and after the Covid-19 pandemic; however, in the results, author doesn’t give proper explanation regard to the characteristic of UTNA before and after the Covid-19. Additionally, the “P” of “Pandemic” should be written in lowercase.

3.      Line 110~127 always emphasizes the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourism, it seems to confuse the focus of the article.

4.      Line 133~136: Although the basis for the selection of China has been mentioned, it is better to provide some key data, such as tourist trips and tourism income.

5.      Line 140: When the reference is cited, it should usually be separated by a comma, such as “[22,23]”; Line 187, “[26]” should be placed before the full stop.

6.      In the methodology, author needs to explain why the research method is applicable to the article.

7.      The manuscript technical presentation must be improved. For example, name of subsections 4.3.2 is placed at the bottom of page 10.

8.      English language should be checked by a native speaker.

Author Response

Dear Reviewers,

Thank you very much for your time involved in reviewing the manuscript and your very encouraging comments on the merits.

Comments: “ Topic of the manuscript (Spatio temporal Evolution Characteristics and Spatial Differences of urban tourism network attention in China: Based on the Baidu Index) seems quite interesting. However, some points need to be clarified and the writing needs to be improved further.”

We also appreciate your clear and detailed feedback and hope that the explanation has fully addressed all of your concerns. In the remainder of this letter, we discuss each of your comments individually along with our corresponding responses.

To facilitate this discussion, we first retype your comments in italic font and then present our responses to the comments.

Comment 1:

It is suggested to update some references since few of them are quite dated.  In the topic, “Spatiotemporal” need to be separated to two words. It could be written by “spatio temporal” or “spatio-temporal”. Furthermore, please capitalize the first letter of the notional words of the title.

Response 1:

Thanks for your great suggestion on improving the accessibility of our manuscript, the entire manuscript has been edited by professional English editors, and we used "Spatio-temporal" instead of "Spatiotemporal".

Comment 2:

Line 14~15: It is recommended that the author should further explain in the text exactly which months are high season and which months are low season.

Line 10~11 mentioned that the article has important implications for understanding the spatio temporal patterns of UTNA before and after the Covid-19 pandemic; however, in the results, author doesn’t give proper explanation regard to the characteristic of UTNA before and after the Covid-19. Additionally, the “P” of “Pandemic” should be written in lowercase.

Response 2:

Thanks for your great suggestion on improving the accessibility of our manuscript. We have added more detail explain in line 16~17, and line 432~451, and  highlighted in the manuscript

Line 16~17:

 April, July, August and October are the high season, while January, February, November and December are the low season.

Line 432~451:

First, this study of the spatial distribution patterns of UTNA can provide guidance to enhance the resilience of tourism destinations and promote their sustainable development. During the study period, the eastern region had the highest urban tourism network attention, the western region ranked second, the central region ranked third and the northeastern region ranked the lowest. Due to the impact of COVID-19, UTNA experienced different degrees of decline in terms of numbers, with a decline of more than 30% in both 2020 and 2021 compared with 2018. In terms of spatial distribution, there has been spatial variation in the degree of decline in UTNA in China, with an overall characteristic of UTNA being higher in the northeastern and eastern region, followed by the western region, and the lowest being found for the central region. The northeastern region did not have high UTNA, but it was the most severely hit by the pandemic, with the most severe losses and weaker resilience; the eastern region had the highest UTNA and a high population density, facing a higher level of risk during the pandemic and a relatively strong decline in UTNA, but its market is mature and rich in tourism resources, and it is believed that its recovery will be faster in later stages. The western region has a vast territory and had repeated pandemic outbreaks in several cities, with a relatively high decline in UTNA, but with its rich tourism resources, its recovery will be relatively fast in later stages. The central region, where the degree of impact by the pandemic was smaller, had the highest resilience. The results show that the degree of the impact of the pandemic on the UTNA in different regions varied.

Comment 3:

Line 110~127 always emphasizes the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourism, it seems to confuse the focus of the article.

Response 3:

Thanks for your great suggestion, the points of this study are the Spatio-temporal Evolution Characteristics and Spatial Differences of in UTNA in China. From line 114 to 131, we state that this study differs from previous studies in three points:

(1)The study period of this study is 2018-2021, providing quantitative empirical evidence of UTNA changes before and after the outbreak pandemic.

• This study conducted an empirical analysis of the regional differences of in UTNA according to the division of the four major regions in China.
• extending the research field of tourism activities to the city level can deepen the urban tourism research system and also provide an academic reference for the formulation of balanced development strategies for urban tourism from the perspective of demand.

Comment 4:

Line 133~136: Although the basis for the selection of China has been mentioned, it is better to provide some key data, such as tourist trips and tourism income.

Response 4:

Thanks for your great suggestion on improving the accessibility of our manuscript. We have added some key data in line 139~146, and  highlighted in the manuscript.

Line 139~146:

From 2018 to 2021, China’s total national tourism revenue was CNY5.97 trillion, CNY6.63 trillion, CNY2.23 trillion and CNY2.92 trillion (USD0.902 trillion, USD0.961 trillion, USD0.323 trillion and USD 0.453 trillion) and the total tourist arrivals were 5.6802 billion, 6.1513 billion, 2.879 billion and 3.246 billion [31], respectively, for each year, although this was affected by the general environment of the pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, the total tourism revenue and total trips were reduced, but China ranked second after the United States among the top 20 countries in the global tourism economy [32,33], and China is an important part of the development of world tourism. This case study is typically representative and has great practical significance.

Comment 5:

  Line 140: When the reference is cited, it should usually be separated by a comma, such as “[22,23]”; Line 187, “[26]” should be placed before the full stop.

Response 5:

Thank you for your valuable comments. We have carefully checked and improved the English writing in the revised manuscript.

Comment 6:

 In the methodology, author needs to explain why the research method is applicable to the article.

Response 6:

Thank you for your advice, we have made some explain based on your proposal as highlighted in line 178~181, line 189~191,and line 202~205,and  highlighted in the manuscript.

Line 178~181:

The seasonal concentration index is one of the classic methods used to analyze the temporal distribution of research objects [41]. It was originally used to analyze the temporal concentration distribution of tourist traffic [21] and now is often used to analyze the temporal concentration distribution of tourist network attention.

Line 289~191:

The Zipf model is a common indicator used to describe the relationship between urban population size and urban ranking.  In recent years, the Zipf model has also been widely used in the field of tourism [42].

Line 202~205:

Dagum [30] proposed a method to decompose the Gini coefficient by subgroups, which effectively solved the problem of crossover between samples and the inability to reveal the source of overall differences, and compensated for the shortcomings of the traditional Gini coefficient and the Theil index.

Comment 7:

The manuscript technical presentation must be improved. For example, name of subsections 4.3.2 is placed at the bottom of page 10.

Response 7:

Thank you for your valuable and thoughtful comments. We have carefully checked and improved the technical presentation in the revised manuscript.

Comment 8:

English language should be checked by a native speaker.

Response 8:

We thank the reviewer for this valuable suggestion, and the entire manuscript has been edited by professional English editors.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your time involved and this great opportunity for us to improve the manuscript. We hope you will find this revised version satisfactory.

Sincerely,

The Authors

Reviewer 3 Report

Very interesting topic. The title is clear, it should not be changed. The abstract provides a concise overview of the manuscript, objectives, methodology, conclusion, and the significance of the research.

The introductory part is related to the topic of research in each segment. I ask the authors not to use sentences like those, that the pandemic has changed the flow of tourist requests and movements. That was the period in the world, while the pandemic was developing. Research shows that everything is returning to normal flows, and that the requests of tourists have remained in the same direction - the sea, the mountains. The flow of tourist movements can be temporarily and abruptly changed by a crisis situation, but not in the long run. Except, if the crisis situation lasts for decades, tourist destinations change their course. In accordance with the recommendation, authors can cite similar research: 

Gajić, T., Petrović, D.M., Blešić, I., Radovanović, M., & Syromjatnikowa, J. (2021). THE POWER OF FEARS IN THE TRAVEL DECISIONS: COVID-19 VS. LACK OF MONEY, Journal of Tourism Futures, Emerald Publishing Printed, pp.1-22 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JTF-03-2021-0064/full/html

The literature review follows the whole concept of the manuscript and the problem, there is no deviation from the line that connects all the segments in the manuscript.

The authors very clearly explained the methodology they used to analyze the data obtained. All the results were combined through a tabular presentation, which is also very clear and precise in the explanation of the results. Any reader can easily understand the methodology and obtained results by looking at the given tables and graphs.

Concluding considerations are provided along with recommendations for the future. There is no need for any changes in any segment of the manuscript, except for the suggestion of adding new literature. Check the English translation.

Author Response

Dear Reviewers,

Thank you very much for your time involved in reviewing the manuscript and your very encouraging comments on the merits.

Comments: “Very interesting topic. The title is clear, it should not be changed. The abstract provides a concise overview of the manuscript, objectives, methodology, conclusion, and the significance of the research.”

We also appreciate your clear and detailed feedback and hope that the explanation has fully addressed all of your concerns. In the remainder of this letter, we discuss each of your comments individually along with our corresponding responses.

To facilitate this discussion, we first retype your comments in italic font and then present our responses to the comments.

Comment 1:

The introductory part is related to the topic of research in each segment. I ask the authors not to use sentences like those, that the pandemic has changed the flow of tourist requests and movements. That was the period in the world, while the pandemic was developing. Research shows that everything is returning to normal flows, and that the requests of tourists have remained in the same direction - the sea, the mountains. The flow of tourist movements can be temporarily and abruptly changed by a crisis situation, but not in the long run. Except, if the crisis situation lasts for decades, tourist destinations change their course. In accordance with the recommendation, authors can cite similar research:

Gajić, T., Petrović, D.M., Blešić, I., Radovanović, M., & Syromjatnikowa, J. (2021). THE POWER OF FEARS IN THE TRAVEL DECISIONS: COVID-19 VS. LACK OF MONEY, Journal of Tourism Futures, Emerald Publishing Printed, pp.1-22 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JTF-03-2021-0064/full/html

The literature review follows the whole concept of the manuscript and the problem, there is no deviation from the line that connects all the segments in the manuscript.

The authors very clearly explained the methodology they used to analyze the data obtained. All the results were combined through a tabular presentation, which is also very clear and precise in the explanation of the results. Any reader can easily understand the methodology and obtained results by looking at the given tables and graphs.

Concluding considerations are provided along with recommendations for the future. There is no need for any changes in any segment of the manuscript, except for the suggestion of adding new literature. Check the English translation.

Response 1:

Thanks for your great suggestion on improving the accessibility of our manuscript. As COVID-19 spreads widely, lasts for a long time, and infects a large number of people, and the pandemic has a serious impact on the tourism development process, while at the same time, with the scientific and orderly pandemic prevention measures effectively carried out, the pandemic is better controlled, the economic resilience of tourist places is increasing, and the future development trend of tourism will gradually become clear. Therefore, we have corrected the relevant expressions in the text and added relevant references to the basis.We have update some dated references added some new reference, including references 1-11&15,16,22,32,33,37,42. The relevant contents are provided below as a screen dump for your quick reference.

我们想借此机会感谢您抽出宝贵时间，这也是我们改进稿件的绝佳机会，整个稿件都由专业的英文编辑编辑。我们希望您能满意地发现这个修订版。

真诚地

作者

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank the authors for the revision. I agree with the publication of this paper.