Competitive State of Market, Spatial–Temporal Clustering Characteristics and Evolution of Chinese Geotourism

Abstract

Taking Chinese geoparks as the research object, this study adopts mathematical, statistical, and ArcGIS spatial analyses, to investigate Chinese geotourism in 2010 and 2022. The results reveal the following: (1) The number and proportion of ‘Star’ and ‘Cash cow’ markets are decreasing, from 99 (36%) in the first period to 41 (15%) in the second. The number and proportion of ‘Question’ and ‘Dog’ markets are increasing; the distribution range of all other markets displays a trend of dispersion and no obvious distribution centre of gravity except for Dog markets. (2) The number of national geoparks in high-value clusters is reduced from 147 to 110, and their spatial distribution range is obviously on a narrowing trend, with the main distribution focus in east China. The number and proportion of national geoparks in low-value clusters are decreasing, and their distribution range is on an expanding trend, with their main distribution focus in southwest, central, north, and northeast China. (3) The problems in the development of Chinese geotourism are the obvious concentration of dog markets, the serious loss of the Star market, the declining trend of the Cash cow and question markets, and the low market share. Measures that can be taken include the increase of the proportion of ‘double-high’ markets, the acceleration of the transformation of ‘double-low’ markets, the focus on solving the problem of difficult transformation of and increasing the share of the ‘single-high’ markets, scientific analysis of tourist demand, the enhancement of the cultivation of key markets.