Search Results (25)

Landscape narrative theory, which focuses on the interaction between space, culture, and human experience, provides a practical and interdisciplinary framework for guiding the integration of culture and tourism. By incorporating storytelling elements into tourism planning, it helps transform static cultural assets into engaging visitor experiences. This approach is particularly relevant in provincial contexts where cultural resources are unevenly distributed. Taking Anhui Province, China, as a case study, this research builds a five-dimensional evaluation system covering culture–tourism economy, cultural resources, tourism resources, transportation accessibility, and policy support. Using spatial analytical methods such as Moran’s I and the Spatial Autoregressive (SAR) model, the study identifies clear spatial clustering patterns and influential factors. The SAR model results show that transportation accessibility (coefficient = 0.685, p < 0.01) and policy support (coefficient = 0.736, p < 0.01) significantly promote integration. In contrast, cultural resources (coefficient = −0.352, p < 0.01) and tourism resources (p ≈ 0.11) have limited or no significant direct economic impact. Based on these findings, this paper proposes targeted strategies such as building regional narrative networks, enhancing infrastructure and policy coordination, and fostering collaborative development. The key contribution of this study lies in applying landscape narrative theory at the provincial level to construct a “Theory–Indicators–Method–Strategy” framework, offering new perspectives for promoting high-quality regional culture–tourism integration. Full article

High-density cities have obvious characteristics of compact urban spatial form and intensive land use in terms of spatial environment, and have always been a topic of academic focus. As a typical coastal historical district, the Macau Peninsula pier district (mainly the Macau Inner Harbour) has a high building density and a low average street width, forming a vertical coastline development model that directly converses with the ocean. This area is adjacent to Macau’s World Heritage Site and directly related to the Marine trade functions. The distribution pattern of cultural heritage linked by the ocean has strengthened Macau’s unique positioning as a node city on the Maritime Silk Road. This text is based on the theory of urban development, integrates spatial syntax and POI analysis techniques, and combines the theories of waterfront regeneration, high-density urban form and post-industrial urbanism to integrate and deepen the theoretical framework, and conduct a systematic study on the urban spatial characteristics of the coastal area of the Macau Peninsula. This study found that (1) Catering and shopping facilities present a dual agglomeration mechanism of “tourism-driven + commercial core”, with Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro as the main axis and radiating to the Ruins of St. Paul’s and Praça de Ponte e Horta, respectively. Historical blocks and tourist hotspots clearly guide the spatial center of gravity. (2) Residential and life service facilities are highly coupled, reflecting the spatial logic of “work-residence integration-service coordination”. The distribution of life service facilities basically overlaps with the high-density residential area, forming an obvious “living circle + community unit” structure with clear spatial boundaries. (3) Commercial and transportation facilities form a “functional axis belt” organizational structure along the main road, with the Rua das Lorchas—Rua do Almirante Sérgio axis as the skeleton, constructing a “functional transmission chain”. (4) The spatial system of the Macau Peninsula pier district has transformed from a single center to a multi-node, network-linked structure. Its internal spatial differentiation is not only constrained by traditional land use functions but is also driven by complex factors such as tourism economy, residential migration, historical protection, and infrastructure accessibility. (5) Through the analysis of space syntax, it is found that the core integration of the Macau Peninsula pier district is concentrated near Pier 16 and the northern area. The two main roads have good accessibility for motor vehicle travel, and the northern area of the Macau Peninsula pier district has good accessibility for long and short-distance walking. Full article

Effective weather analysis is a very important scientific, social, and economic issue, because weather directly affects our lives and has a significant impact on various sectors, including agriculture, transport, energy, and natural disaster management. Weather analysis is therefore the basis for the operation of many decision-making support systems, especially in transport (air, sea), ensuring the continuity of supply chains for industry or the delivery of food and medicines, but also municipal economies or tourism. Its role and importance will grow with the worsening of climatic phenomena and the development of the Industry5.0 paradigm, which puts humans and their environment at the center of attention. This article presents issues related to fuzzy sets and systems and presents a weather analysis model based on them. The fuzzy system was created using Matlab, in the Fuzzy Logic Designer application, focusing on fuzzy logic. With Fuzzy Logic Designer, users can define fuzzy sets, rules, and carry out fuzzification and defuzzification processes, thereby offering great possibilities in data management. Full article

To protect the environment, promote sustainable tourism, and enhance the quality and efficiency of the tourism industry, accounting for and identifying the ecological efficiency of tourism is crucial. In this study, we constructed a scientific measurement system for assessing the ecological efficiency of tourism in Huangshan City from 2011 to 2022 using a Super-SBM (slack-based measure) model and a Tobit regression model. Our findings revealed the following: (1) The overall trend in the total efficiency in Huangshan City fluctuated considerably during the period under study but demonstrated an overall positive trend of development. Scale efficiency mostly showed consistent annual improvement, while pure technical efficiency remained relatively stable. (2) Economic, social, environmental, and human-resource- and transportation-related factors all exerted significant positive influences on the ecological efficiency of tourism in Huangshan City. Based on these results, in aiming to enhance the ecological efficiency of tourism in Huangshan City, comprehensively considering multiple factors, such as the economy, society, the environment, human resources, and transportation, is recommended. Attention should be paid to balancing industrial expansion with technological innovation while simultaneously investing in the development of education and human resources. Emphasis should also be placed on protecting and improving the environment alongside efforts to improve capabilities in technological innovation and the level of management. The research findings presented in this article offer a valuable theoretical underpinning, as well as practical guidance for Huangshan City and other representative tourist destinations on how they can enhance the efficiency of their tourism ecosystems, thereby facilitating high-quality and sustainable development within the tourism industry. Full article

Given that spatial accessibility to tourist resources is crucial for tourism development, this study analyzes the role of the distance between tourists and archaeological sites in the Dobrogea region of Romania. This study highlights the impact of road distance in the valorization of the main archaeological sites in the chosen area, the results obtained providing information on the main parameters of archaeological resources in achieving tourism success. These data will be important clues in the future design of plans for the valorization of those archaeological sites not yet valorized from the tourist point of view. Spatial data modeling was performed using specific Geographic Information Systems tools, which allowed us to extract the necessary information. By corroborating the results of the geospatial analysis with the statistical ones, we were able to draw conclusions regarding the tourist behavior in the region and the decision factors of tourists in visiting the ancient or medieval ruins in Dobrogea. Our analysis shows a significant correlation between the road accessibility of archaeological sites and their tourist attractiveness, with a particular influence of their location in relation to the main tourist areas of interest in the region. The study area has a rich history that has left behind a high density of ancient fortresses, citadels, and cities, which are relatively underutilized for tourism. Heritage tourism has thus lagged behind coastal tourism, which attracts the highest number of tourists in the country. A better knowledge of the factors that favor the development of heritage tourism is needed in order to expand the region’s tourist offer. Our recommendations aim to improve the accessibility and attractiveness of these archaeological sites by investing in essential infrastructure, developing sustainable transportation policies and specific tourism facilities, and implementing a regional strategy to enhance and protect them, which will ultimately increase their contribution to local economies. Full article

In the post-pandemic era, there has been a noticeable increase in tourism demand in China, and the comprehensive driving role of tourism in the national economy and social development has become more pronounced. Tourism public service providers, which are led by the government, urgently need to consider methods for enhancing the efficacy of public services in tourism to meet tourist demands, methods for further attracting more visitors, and methods for achieving sustainable and high-quality development in the tourism industry. However, despite the continuous enrichment and enhancement of the content and quality of tourism public services by Chinese government departments, the current research on government-provided tourism public services in underdeveloped areas is still relatively scarce in terms of tourists’ cognitive evaluations. Therefore, this study focuses on five 5A-rated scenic areas in Xinjiang, where 1122 valid questionnaires were distributed. In using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, we established an evaluation system for Xinjiang’s tourism public services. Paired sample t-tests and importance–performance analyses (IPA) were employed to assess the importance and satisfaction of the aforementioned indicators. The results showed the following: (1) The tourism public service quality scale comprised 47 measurement items across four dimensions and exhibited high reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. (2) The average satisfaction score across the 47 indicators was 3.90, thus indicating a favorable assessment of Xinjiang’s tourism public services by visitors. In addition, the highest satisfaction noted was in well-established safety assurance mechanisms (4.46), and the lowest was recorded in facial recognition entry systems (3.35). (3) The IPA results suggest that aspects such as comprehensive traffic guidance signage, affordability of transportation, and convenience of access are factors that require maintenance. Clear safety guidelines and warning systems, truthful promotion, and emphasis on protecting tourist rights are in the potential advantage area. The promotion of paid leave policies requires moderate attention, while intelligent parking lots, electronic all-in-one cards for scenic areas, and one-click rescue indicators necessitate improvement. These research findings have significant practical implications for the construction of public services in Xinjiang’s tourism. Full article

The Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is of strategic importance for the country. Considering the fragility of Arctic ecosystems, special attention needs to be paid to the sustainable development of transport and related infrastructure within the framework of the “blue economy” concept, which is relevant for Arctic waters. At the same time, it is necessary to identify the main factors and tasks of creating transport and port infrastructure, building a modern fleet, and organizing fisheries and tourism in an environmentally sound manner. The purpose of the study is to consider the problems of anthropogenic influence for seaport facilities and to create a conceptual model of an environmental risk management system. The existing problems of Arctic ports and infrastructure are analyzed and existing business processes are considered, taking into account the peculiarities of their functioning in Arctic conditions. To systematize environmental assessments and establish dependencies between the main indicators describing the impact of port activities on elements of the natural environment, ontological domain engineering is proposed. It systematizes the basic terminology used within different subject areas of ecology and risks and allows one to visualize the relationships between elements of the natural environment, objects, port systems, their parameters and impact factors to assess the impact of the seaport on the natural environment. The results of ontological engineering (design and development of ontologies) in the field of risk management are presented. Future research will be aimed at developing the applied aspect of applying the results of ontological engineering in terms of specific engineering studies related to the assessment of anthropogenic load on the Arctic territory using simulation modeling. Full article

With the accelerated growth of global tourism and the increasing availability of transport, the coordination and interaction between the tourism economy and transport have become a topic of great interest. This study seeks to analyse the coordination effects and influencing factors of Shaanxi’s tourism economy and transportation, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of the region’s tourism economy. To achieve this, we develop a tourism economy–transportation evaluation index system and employ the system coupled with the coordination model and entropy method to conduct a thorough analysis. The research spans over the years 2003–2021. According to the findings of this study, the integration and coordination of tourism economy–transportation and tourism development in Shaanxi are exhibiting an upward development trend. Over the years, the degree of coupling coordination has progressed through the stages of uncoordinated development, transformational development, and coordinated development, with the recent epidemic upheaval resulting in a primary level of coordination. In addition, the transport system has a significant impact on the coupled and coordinated development of the tourism economy–, with the size of the transport base and transport efficiency serving as the driving factors and transport pressure and epidemic shocks serving as significant influencing factors. Due to the fluctuations of the global pandemic, the coordination of the tourism system declines sharply in 2020, but recovers in 2021 as the pandemic progressively stabilises. Through this study, we can gain a better understanding of the relationship between the tourism economy and transport in Shaanxi and devise strategies and policies to support the development of sustainable transport and tourism systems. Full article

Tourism is linked to multiple dimensions, such as the economy, society, and environment, and the relationships among its influencing factors are complex, diverse, and overlapping. This study constructed an evaluation index system to measure the degree of coordinated development of tourism, transportation, and the regional economy, then built a tourism-transportation-based Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) regarding the process of the coordinated development of tourism in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (BTHR) from 2010 to 2020. This paper explains the current status of sustainable tourism development in the BTHR and the impact and spillover effects of transportation on tourism development. The results show that the normalized tourism coordinated development index (NTCDI) of the BTHR increased from 13.61 in 2010 to 18.75 in 2019, then decreased to 14.45 in 2020. The results of SDM show that different transportation modes have different spillover effects on tourism. Specifically, civil aviation transportation has a positive impact and significant spillover on a city’s tourism revenue (TR), while high-speed railway transportation has a negative spillover effect. The model results also show that the degree of openness of the city and city economic development level have significant positive effects and spillover effects on tourism development. Finally, the implications of related variables are discussed, and some suggestions are put forward on tourism development in the BTHR. However, there are some limitations in this study. In the future, international cooperation and data sharing will be strengthened, and multivariate methods such as social network analysis, artificial intelligence, and machine learning will be further integrated to achieve accurate simulation and prediction of the spatial spillover effects of tourism transportation. Full article

Historical and Cultural Towns (Villages) (HCTVs) are the important parts in the recordation of the traditional culture, folk customs and architectural art in China. However, with the rapid development of the economy and rural urbanization, these towns and villages are faced with a series of problems, such as traditional features lost, traditional architecture destroyed and the lack of a long-term comprehensive and effective plan for scientific conservation measures. As a result, these historic heritages and their surroundings are in a serious crisis and will be destroyed to a certain extent. This paper chose 799 HCTVs as objects of this study, which were published by the Department of Housing Construction. The distribution features and mechanism have been analyzed with thesupport of GIS technology. In addition, the spatial correlation between elevation, stream, transportation, traditional culture and language was also explained through spatial overlay analysis. Through the statistical comparison and cluster analysis, it explored natural and human factors with the influence of HCTV distribution. The purpose is to help us make selection more reasonable and offer a reference of development of regional tourism for the future. The results showed that: (1) The spatial distribution of HCTVs clearly varies among different regions of China, and four concentrated typical areas are found in the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan border area, southeast coastal zone, Sichuan-Chongqing-Guizhou border area and Hunan-Guangxi border area. (2) The distribution characteristics have a peculiar style in the countryside and have a trend of cluster around a geographic line (e.g., a traffic line, a river) and a small town. (3) The HCTV has different characteristics in spatial form, river system distribution, regional culture and transportation system. The majority of them are distributed along the river and are cultural centers, traffic hubs and birthplace of civilizations in history. (4) Natural geographical environment, current population distribution patterns, level of regional economic development, accumulation of historic and cultural heritages, as well as rules and standards in the definition of HCTV, are the main factors affecting the spatial distribution. The purpose of this paper is to help us select more reasonable criteria and rules in the process of HCTV selection. Full article

With the in-depth development of the Western Development Strategy and Rural Revitalization, the tourism industry has become an important economic sector to drive local development in northwestern minority areas of China. This study established a database of tourism resources in Longde county and analyzed the spatial pattern of these tourism resources by using the scale index and kernel density. From the perspective of the natural and social environment, this paper quantitatively discusses the influencing factors of the spatial pattern of tourism resources in the county based on a multiple linear regression model. The results showed that: (1) There were 2049 tourism resources distributed in Longde County, and building and facility resources were the most prevalent. (2) The hierarchical structure of tourism resources in the county showed a “pyramid” distribution, where excellent tourism resources accounted for 22.60% of the total resources. (3) The spatial pattern showed an agglomeration distribution, and the spatial differences of all kinds of resources were significant. The resources were mainly distributed in Chengguan Town and Wenbao Township. (4) Topographic conditions, convenient transportation, population density and water system distribution were important factors that affected the spatial pattern of tourism resources. It was suggested that the government issue corresponding policies to optimize the spatial pattern of tourism resources; balance the relationship between the exploitation of tourism resources, tourism development and local economy, and the social and ecological environment; and promote the sustainable development of tourism in the northwestern ethnic areas in China. Full article

The island of Porto Santo belongs to the Madeira Archipelago and is often described as an idyllic paradise for its warm waters and its iconic sandy beach, though it faces vulnerabilities such as insularity; a small economy; geographic remoteness; and scarce population, area, and available resources. Nevertheless, these disadvantages have a silver lining because small territories can act as laboratories to test and develop models that can subsequently be implemented at a larger scale. This work provides a case study of the role of ports in tourism development It presents an analysis of air and maritime transport used by tourists to visit the Island of Porto Santo, Madeira Islands, Portugal. The climate changes and strong winds during the year can reduce tourist demand for the inter-island sea travel in the Madeira Archipelago. Porto Santo is a strategic transfer point for tourism, and improving the shipping infrastructures will enable a faster and more diversified maritime transportation system. To capitalise on these developments, Porto Santo needs to improve its reputation as an exclusive beach destination. This will reduce tourism seasonality and improve sustainability. Full article

Taking nine provinces and cities along the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ as an example, this paper constructs an evaluation index system of the coupling coordination degree of the tourism–transportation–ecological environment system (TTE system), analyzes the spatial–temporal evolution and regional differences of the coupling coordination level of the TTE system from 2004 to 2016 using the mean square error index model and the scissor difference model, and uses the EKC curve model to further verify the interactive relationship between the tourism economy and the ecological environment. The results show the following. (1) The comprehensive evaluation values of the tourism subsystem and transportation subsystem are on an overall upward trend and the comprehensive evaluation value of the ecological environment subsystem is in constant flux. (2) The coupling coordination degree of the TTE system generally develops in a good coordination direction, but the conversion rate of the coupling coordination degree of each province is different. (3) Regarding the north–south region divergence, the degree of coupling and coordination within the region is “strong in the south and weak in the north”. (4) The tourism subsystem and the transportation subsystem are interdependent and mutually restrictive. (5) There is a strong correlation between tourism, economic growth, and environmental quality, but in most provinces, the relationship between them does not accord with the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve. Full article

This article aims to present the potential of energy transition in insular systems for social and economic transition and development, when planned and implemented appropriately, with the active involvement of local communities. To this end, the example of Sifnos Energy Community is examined and presented as a pilot case. It proves that energy transition, apart from its obvious energy conservation and climate necessity, can provide a strong contribution to the development of remote areas and the remedying of crucial issues, especially in insular communities, such as unemployment, low standards of living, isolation and energy supply security. Energy transition on Sifnos has been undertaken by the Sifnos Energy Community (SEC), with the target to achieve 100% energy independency through effective and rational projects. The major project is a centralized hybrid power plant consisting of a wind park and a pumped hydro storage system. It was designed to fully cover the current electricity demand and the anticipated forthcoming load due to the overall transition to e-mobility for the transportation sector on the island. Through the exploitation of the excess electricity production with the production of potable water and hydrogen, energy transition can facilitate the development of new professional activities on the island and reduce the local economy’s dependence on tourism. Additionally, a daily link to the neighboring larger Cyclades islands can be established with a hydrogen powered-passenger vessel, ensuring the secure and cheap overseas transportation connection of Sifnos throughout the whole year. The overall energy transition process is executed with the active involvement of the Sifnos citizens, ensuring wide public acceptance and the minimization of the projects’ impacts on the natural and human environment. At the same time, the anticipated benefits for the insular communities are maximized, highlighting the energy transition process on Sifnos as a new sustainable development pattern. For all this effort and the already achieved results, Sifnos has been declared as one of the six pilot islands of the European Community’s initiative “Clean Energy for EU Islands”. Full article

COVID-19, or SARS-CoV-2, is considered as one of the greatest pandemics in our modern time. It affected people’s health, education, employment, the economy, tourism, and transportation systems. It will take a long time to recover from these effects and return people’s lives back to normal. The main objective of this study is to investigate the various factors in health and food access, and their spatial correlation and statistical association with COVID-19 spread. The minor aim is to explore regression models on examining COVID-19 spread with these variables. To address these objectives, we are studying the interrelation of various socio-economic factors that would help all humans to better prepare for the next pandemic. One of these critical factors is food access and food distribution as it could be high-risk population density places that are spreading the virus infections. More variables, such as income and people density, would influence the pandemic spread. In this study, we produced the spatial extent of COVID-19 cases with food outlets by using the spatial analysis method of geographic information systems. The methodology consisted of clustering techniques and overlaying the spatial extent mapping of the clusters of food outlets and the infected cases. Post-mapping, we analyzed these clusters’ proximity for any spatial variability, correlations between them, and their causal relationships. The quantitative analyses of the health issues and food access areas against COVID-19 infections and deaths were performed using machine learning regression techniques to understand the multi-variate factors. The results indicate a correlation between the dependent variables and independent variables with a Pearson correlation R²-score = 0.44% for COVID-19 cases and R² = 60% for COVID-19 deaths. The regression model with an R²-score of 0.60 would be useful to show the goodness of fit for COVID-19 deaths and the health issues and food access factors. Full article