Research on tourism spatial justice based on residents' perception: A case study on Babao Town of Qilian Mountain National Park (Qinghai area)

As an important nature reserve, national parks play an important role in tourism development, not only in helping residents find employment and maintain vitality, but also in recovering funds, natural education, and environmental protection. Therefore, in the development of national park tourism, it is necessary to adhere to the development concept of spatial justice to ensure the fairness of tourism development. Based on the theory of fairness preference, this paper divides tourism spatial justice into intentional justice, procedural justice, participatory justice, distributive justice, and resultant justice, and discusses the influence relationship between them. Through the questionnaire survey, 241 effective samples are obtained, the structural equation model of tourism spatial justice is constructed, and the path analysis and intermediary effect test are carried out. Research findings: (1) In the tourism spatial justice perception model, procedural justice, participatory justice, and distributive justice all have a significant positive impact on resultant justice, and the path coefficient of distributive justice is the largest. (2) On the path from intentional justice to resultant justice, procedural justice, and participation justice play an intermediary role respectively; Procedural justice and participatory justice, procedural justice and distributive justice play a chain intermediary role respectively. This study divided the dimensions of tourism spatial justice, incorporating participatory justice and distributive justice into traditional equity preference theory, and proved the perception model of tourism spatial justice from the perspective of community residents. At the same time, the interrelationships within the model were verified and explored, exploring the differences between the implementation of tourism spatial justice in national parks and general tourism destinations, to enrich relevant research in the field of tourism spatial justice in national parks and provide reference for the tourism development of national parks.

Management implications

The development of tourism destinations is pursuing the goal of realizing spatial justice in tourism. The uneven distribution of tourism benefits within national parks is the main reflection of the issue of tourism spatial justice in this study. National park tourism development aims to improve the perception of fairness among local residents and optimize the distribution plan of tourism benefits. The perception of other forms of justice is influenced by the issue of procedural justice among residents. The only way to ensure effective justice in the tourism space within national parks is by ensuring that residents' rights are not compromised in tourism development. In the future, the construction of national parks should attach great importance to considering the distribution and rights of residents, avoiding the problem of residents being able to participate but unable to make profits, in order to better achieve the overall function of national parks.