Spatial distribution of tourism in China : a time series analysis

The Spatial distribution of economic activity has been an important area of research. It was revealed that the economic inequality in China has increased since China began its economic reforms in 1978. Economic activity has become increasingly more skewed towards China's coastal areas and overall regional economic inequality has increased with economic growth in China. International tourism in China has been growing rapidly since 1979. While tourism is expected to play a leading role in regional development, the fact is, nevertheless, that spatial inequality of inbound tourism from 1980s to mid 1990s was much greater than for that of the socio-economic variables, and international tourism appeared to reinforce the regional inequalities, and was in fact contributing to greater economic disparity between coastal and inland China. With increasing significance of tourism in China, its impacts on the regional economic inequality need even more attention today. This paper aims to analyze the regional and provincial distribution of international tourism in 2004, and investigate the changes in the spatial distribution of international tourism in China from 1986 to 2012. Gini coefficients for major tourist indicators are applied to test the characteristics of tourism distribution. Distributional shifts within both inland and coastal areas are discussed separately in order to consider forces reinforcing or reducing regional inequalities in China's tourism industry. Factors contributing to regional convergence in the distribution of international tourism are also discussed. Gini coefficients for major tourist indicators are applied to test the characteristics of tourism distribution. The paper confirms that although international tourism is still heavily concentrated on the coastal areas in China, inland areas are gradually improving their share over the years, leading to a slow but noticeable reduction in the regional disparity of international tourism distribution. This is a desirable change in a country with severe economic inequality across regions. The convergence of international tourism as compared to the economic divergence between coastal and interior China may reinforce the prospects of tourism growth in reducing regional inequality in China.