Evaluation of tourism competitiveness and mechanisms of spatial differentiation in Xinjiang, China

Abstract

Evaluation of tourism competitiveness is useful for measuring the level of regional tourism development. It is of great importance to understand the advantages and disadvantages of tourism development correctly and formulate corresponding development strategies. To investigate tourism competitiveness, this paper established an evaluation index system, including tourism development competitiveness, tourism resource competitiveness, and tourism-support competitiveness, for 14 prefectures and cities in Xinjiang in China. The characteristics and laws of spatial differentiation were analyzed. Factor analysis was applied to examine the spatial differentiation of regional tourism competitiveness. The results showed an obvious spatial differentiation in tourism competitiveness among the 14 prefectures and cities. In terms of development competitiveness, Yili and Urumqi constituted the spatial center, followed by Changji, Altay, and Ba Prefecture. As the provincial capital, Urumqi has political, economic, cultural, transportation, and geographic advantages, but its competitiveness is not prominent in terms of monopoly and efficiency. In terms of resource competitiveness, Yili is the core attraction, while Urumqi, Kashgar, Altay, and Ba Prefecture are dominant attractions. With respect to supporting competitiveness, Bo Prefecture has high value, followed by Urumqi City and Aksu. Hetian and Ke Prefecture have the lowest values. The comprehensive competitiveness of tourism is centered on Yili. Urumqi and Bo Prefecture are subcenters, and Changji, Altay, Ba Prefecture, Aksu, and Kashgar are characterized as multi-polar competition areas. Using the KMO and Bartlett’s sphericity tests, the cumulative contribution variance of the eigenvalues of the eight factors extracted by the maximum variance rotation method was found to be 92.714%. Socio-economic conditions, tourism resources, infrastructure construction, regional cultural influence, ecological environment carrying capacity, tertiary industry development, tourism service level, and living security system are the main driving factors affecting the spatial differentiation of tourism competitiveness in Xinjiang. Analyzing the spatial evolution characteristics and the driving factors of the regional tourism competitiveness in Xinjiang, this paper seeks to promote the optimal allocation of tourism production factors in the macro regional system, and provide theoretical guidance and an empirical basis for the comprehensive and harmonic development of regional tourism.

A study of regional tourism-economy-ecological environment coupling and coordination relationships: Evidence from Xinjiang, China

“…Altay, Yili, and Urumqi City are particularly appealing to local and international visitors due to their unique natural landscapes and cultural heritage. The research identi es a clear resource monopoly within Xinjiang's tourism industry, consistent with the resource-centric phase that characterizes the region's tourism sector (Liu et al, 2022). According to recent research by Miao Xin…”

Measuring Convergence in Tourism Competitiveness of Natural and Cultural Resources: A Case of the Balkans and Eastern Europe

“…Recently, special attention has been paid to the role of entropy in tourism markets (Gu et al, 2019;Ruiz Reina, 2021;Liu et al, 2022), especially since information entropy provides greater accuracy and superior objectivity, which leads to a more comprehensive interpretation of the results (Teixeira et al, 2021). Bearing that in mind, this paper applies the just mentioned concept of entropy to measure the equality of natural and cultural resources in the context of tourism competitiveness.…”

Exploring Tourism Destination: A Potential of Mountain Tourism in Sudurpaschim Province

“…There are number of studies on tourism destination competiveness (TDC), which have identified range of indicators and variables. The major literature reviewed on indicators and variables for the current include Liu, 2022;WEF, 2022;Kunst, & Ivandić, 2021;Goffi, 2013;Dupeyras & Mac Callum, 2013;White et al, 2006;Dwyer & Kim, 2003;Ritchie & Crouch, 2003. However, these studies show that there is no a specific, standard group of indicators applicable to any destination and researchers has established different group of indicators and variables based on local physical and socio-cultural context as well as level of economic development, which are considered to be the most relevant features to achieve competitiveness (Dwyer & Kim, 2003).…”

“…They have identified three major components of tourism competitiveness: i) primary resources and activities, which refer to core resources, attractors, and tourism services, ii) secondary resources and activities, which refer to infrastructure, destination management, and tourism planning and policies, and iii) tourist demand. Likewise, different methods to measure competitiveness are identified and two broad approaches applied are quantitative/deterministic and qualitative analysis based on different sets of indicators (Liu et al, 2022;Lopes et al, 2018;Cibinskiene & Snieskiene, 2015;Goffi, 2013;Enright & Newton, 2004;Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). This study is based on integrated approach by adopting tourism component of Ritchie and Crouch (2003) and selected tourism destination competitiveness indicators of Goffi (2013) as presented in Figure 1.…”