This study aimed to evaluate the spatial accessibility of tourism attractions in the urban destination city. An analytical framework for assessing urban tourism accessibility at different spatial scales was proposed to provide references on the interaction of urban transport and tourism systems. In addition to the travel time-based measure, a modified gravity model integrating the tourism destination attractiveness, urban transport system characteristics, and tourist demand distribution was developed to evaluate tourism accessibility in this study. Real-time travel data obtained from the Web Maps service were used to take the actual road network operation conditions into consideration and improve the accuracy of estimation results. Taking Nanjing as an example, the analysis results revealed the spatial heterogeneity of tourism accessibility and inequality in tourism resource availability at different levels. Road transport service improvement plays a dominant role in increasing tourism accessibility in areas with insufficient tourism resources, such as the outskirts of the destination city. As for areas with abundant attractions, authorities could pay attention to destination attractiveness construction and demand management in addition to the organization and management of road network operations around attractions during holidays. The results of this study provide a potentially valuable source of information for urban tourism destination management and transport management departments.

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As tourism grows, determining methods to ease traffic problems as a result of domestic tourism holidays has become a central issue in traffic planning and management. Trip chain and travel mode choices as well as their interplays are crucial in analysing and understanding the travel behaviour of tourists, which can help to address these problems. Therefore, this study explored the relationship between destination transportation modes and trip chain choices using nested logit models wherein two nest structures were used to analyse the decision processes of travellers. Empirical analysis confirmed the effectiveness of the rational model using survey data collected from 350 respondents in Nanjing, China in 2020. The results showed that tourists preferred deciding on the trip chain prior to the travel mode, and higher time and costs were acceptable when tourists selected a complex trip chain with tour activities. Moreover, non-local tourists owning a driver’s licence, travelling with companions, and staying for longer periods were more likely to use public transport with trip chains comprising tour activities; however, the relationship for trip chains with non-tour activities was the reverse. These findings are valuable for designing effective transport management strategies to ease traffic during holiday periods.

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Rural tourism bus routes are an essential component of rural public transport systems, intending to serve tourist trips with passengers moving between critical regional transport nodes and tourist attractions. This paper presents a methodology for the optimal design of rural tourism bus routes by minimizing total travel costs for tourists and maximizing the total quality of tourism bus services. Road scenery, road design attributes, and route popularity elements are integrated into the evaluation of tourism bus service quality. The constraints for the bus route planning and tourism demand are taken into account to guarantee the rational design of rural tourism bus routes. A solution approach is put forward based on the initial solution set generation procedure and strengthens the elitist genetic algorithm. Finally, the bus network in a rural tourism destination of Nanjing is taken as the case study to validate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed model.