Spatial Characteristics of the Tourism Flows in China: A Study Based on the Baidu Index

Abstract

The characteristics of information flow, as represented by the Baidu index, reflect the pattern of tourism flows between different cities. This paper is based on the Baidu index and applies the seasonal concentration index and social network analysis (SNA) methods to study the spatial structure characteristics of tourism flows in China. The results reveal that: (1) both the search volume of the Baidu index in different cities and the online attention to different scenic areas exhibit obvious spatial heterogeneity and seasonal differences; (2) regions with strong tourism flow connections mainly occur in the areas between metropolises or among the inner cities of urban agglomerations, which are largely distributed on the southeast side of the Heihe–Tengchong Line; (3) the development of the whole tourism flow network in China is low, with an unbalanced development between tourism supply and demand, indicating that tourism resources are concentrated in a few cities and that most of the information interaction among cities occurs in core areas, while a weak interaction is observed in peripheral areas; (4) cities like Beijing and Wuhan attain obvious advantages in regard to their tourism resources, whereas other cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, exhibit a high demand for tourism. Moreover, tourism information flow networks are concentrated in several cities with an important role in the Chinese urban system, such as Beijing, Wuhan, and Chengdu, because they contain abundant tourism resources, well-developed transportation systems and advanced economic and societal development levels. (5) Cities such as Beijing, Lhasa, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou possess numerous advantages due to structural holes, and they thus occur at an advantageous position in the tourism flow network.