Analysis of the Relationships between Tourism Efficiency and Transport Accessibility—A Case Study in Hubei Province, China

Abstract

There is a close relationship between tourism efficiency and transport accessibility, but there is little research on the topic. This paper takes 17 administrative units in Hubei Province as the research object, evaluates their tourism efficiency from 2011 to 2017 and transportation accessibility in 2011 and 2017, and explores the temporal and spatial correlation between the two. The results showed that, from 2011 to 2017, tourism efficiency of Hubei province was high and steadily improving, space non-equilibrium gradually decreased, and differences shrank. In 2011 and 2017, the province had a good tourism transport accessibility, and the spatial distribution pattern was high in the east and low in the west. At the same time, tourism transport continued to improve, and spatial imbalance declined. In 2011 and 2017, the coupling and coordination of tourism efficiency and its decomposition efficiency and transport accessibility in Hubei Province were both good, indicative of the development of a tourism economy and the improvement of tourism transport facilities in all regions of the province. There is also a poor spatial matching of tourism efficiency and its decomposition efficiency with transport accessibility during the study period. This study suggested that the tourism efficiency and transport accessibility increased in Hubie province, but the coupling and spatial match remain not very good. Therefore, each region should improve the spatial match and coupling degree of tourism efficiency and transport accessibility, and enhance the sustainability of tourism development.