Coupling Coordination of the Regional Economy, Tourism Industry, and the Ecological Environment: Evidence from Western China

Abstract

The economic–tourism–environment (ETE) is a complex system with extensive connotations and coupling characteristics. The exact understanding of these systems forms the prerequisite and basis for regional development. This study explores the impact of the coupling coordination of the ETE system on the level and influencing factors of sustainable development in western China. An evaluation index system has been developed for assessing the coupling coordination (CC) of the ETE system based on the context of 12 provinces and cities in western China. Entropy and spatial autocorrelation methods have been used to evaluate the comprehensive benefit value and influencing factors of the ETE systems in the region. The spatial Durbin model has been used to assess empirical data from 2010–2019. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) of each subsystem was used as the main explanatory variable to quantify the spatial spillover effect. The research results show that the ETE system of the provinces and cities in western China have a strong correlation. The three subsystems interact, restrict, and promote each other, operating together in contradictory unity. The degree of coupling and coordination of the ETE systems are mainly stable but fluctuate from the time perspective. From the spatial perspective, the level of coupling and coordination have clear spatial correlation and spatial dependence. However, since 2013, the spatial dependence has significantly weakened, indicating that the level of coupling coordination is moving towards a balanced direction. The ETE subsystems not only promote the improvement of the coupling coordination of the region itself, but also optimize the coupling coordination of neighboring areas. The promotion effect of each subsystem on the degree of self-coupling and coordination is greater than the promotion effect on neighboring areas.

Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Tourism–Urbanization–Technology–Ecological Environment on the Yunnan–Guizhou–Sichuan Region: An Uncoordinated Coupling Perspective

“…This paper adopts the entropy method [ 31 ] to objectively weight the system evaluation index. The entropy method has the following advantages in determining the index weight: First, the result is intuitive and easy to understand, and the method is practical; Second, the method avoids the interference of subjective factors and has strong objectivity; Third, there is no limit on the number of indicators and the method’s scope of application is wide.…”

“…Constructing a scientific and reasonable evaluation index system is the basis of an evaluation of the level of coordinated development. Based on the actual development of the tourism, urbanization, technology, and eco-environment system and referring to the existing literature [ 11 , 27 , 31 , 36 ], as well as following the principles of scientificity, representativeness, and availability, the comprehensive evaluation indexes for the four subsystems are constructed. The specific evaluation index system is shown in Table 2 .…”

Coupling Coordination Degree between the Socioeconomic and Eco-Environmental Benefits of Koktokay Global Geopark in China

“…Positive indicators had a positive impact on the system, and vice versa. Then, we chose Formulas (1) and (2) to standardize the data [ 73 ]: where is the actual value of each indicator; and are the maximum and minimum values of indicator for the th year, respectively.…”

“…Referring to several previous studies [ 57 , 73 , 74 ], in this study, we divided the CCD of the SEBs and EEBs systems of the geoparks into 2 categories, 10 subclasses, and 30 types. The classification of the CCD is shown in Table 4 .…”

Tourism Competitiveness Evaluation: Evidence From Mountain Tourism in China

“…It is critical to construct a technology-based system for evaluating mountain tourism competitiveness, to statistically evaluate and scientifically identify obstacles impeding actual demands, as well as the simultaneous pressures of the authority and competition ( Gao et al, 2021 ). Tourist destinations need both competition and cooperation ( Zhang et al, 2022 ). To fundamentally enhance the competitiveness of tourist destinations, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between these destinations, such as in the mountain tourism industry in China, and achieve “win-win” cooperation.…”