Structure of tourist economy network and its spatial development pattern in Jianghuai Urban Agglomeration

Taking tourism industry as a growth pole to promote the development of the tertiary industry is becoming one of the important strategies for economic growth in urban agglomerations in the future. In the paper, using the gravity model, we measured the connection densities of tourist economies among the 11 cities, established a model for the network structure of the tourist economies in the Jianghuai Urban Agglomeration. The social network software Ucinet 6 was used to demonstrate the spatial positions and the roles of the cities in the network, which then served as a basis for constructing the spatial pattern of the tourist economies in the Jianghuai Urban Agglomeration. The results showed that: the network connections of urban tourist economies in the Jianghuai Urban Agglomeration exhibited an imbalanced pattern, with tight connections in the south and loose connections in the north. Hefei has the highest degree of centrality in all three categories: connectivity, accessibility, and intermediateness, and is also the distribution center for the tourists. So Hefei is the tourism industry center of the Jianghuai Urban Agglomeration. Wuhu and Anqing are the second-level tourist destinations, serving as important visitor centers for the greater Nanjing metropolitan areas and the Sourthern Anhui International Tourism Culture Showcase areas adjacent to the Jianghuai Urban Agglomeration. Ma'anshan, Chuzhou, and Chizhou are tourist destination portals; Chaohu, Tongling are general tourist destinations; Bengbu, Lu'an and Huainan are periphery tourist destinations. During the process of dynamic evolution, network density, number of connecting sides, and connectivity are all showing a growing trend. The intermediary ability and core function of the key cities are reducing. Most cities are showing route-dependent accumulation cycles. The level of spatial balance among the cities is improving. Based on the structural characteristics of tourist economy network, together with the location factors such as regional transportation layout, tourism resources distribution and urban economic strength, we divided the 11 cities into different levels as tourist destinations. We also proposed the concepts of spatial development axis and spatial development pattern which indicate the coordinated development with the key tourism areas nearby, namely, "three first-level tourist axes, two secondary-level tourist axes, and one potential tourist axis". The tourist economies of the Jianghuai Urban Agglomeration should be connected with one another as well as those of the cities outside the urban agglomeration. This paper aimed to understand the macroscopical regional integral structure, and offer certain theoretical references for the balanced development of regional tourism and the tourism marketing.