Measurement and Spatiotemporal Analysis of Tourism Economy Resilience in Hunan Province

Abstract

Frequent crisis events make us realize that we must improve the anti-risk ability of tourism economy. This study establishes an evaluation system from four dimensions (resistance, resilience, reorganization and renewal/transformation). We used entropy weight method and GIS tools to measure the temporal and spatial changes of tourism economic resilience of 13 cities in Hunan Province from 2013 to 2023, and also analyzed the driving mechanism behind it with geographic detectors. The main findings are as follows: (1) In time, the overall toughness is rising. Changsha has been stable (index > 0.85), while Zhangjiajie, which relies on tourism resources, dropped sharply (from 0.34 to 0.25) during the epidemic, while Chenzhou increased steadily. (2) In space, the toughness presents a pattern of "high in the center and low in the periphery" and "high in the east and low in the west". (3) In terms of mechanism, the proportion of tertiary industry and the excellent rate of air quality are the main driving factors, and government intervention and infrastructure also play a supporting role. Finally, the study puts forward policy suggestions for regional collaborative governance and industrial upgrading.