Ecotourism Resources Of Spatial Structure Evolution In Lijiang Basin, Guilin, China

Based on the space database of the ecotourism resources development in Lijiang Basin constructed through MapGIS6.7,the author studies the features and evolution as well as the factors affecting the spatial structure of the ecotourism resources in Lijiang Basin by means of time series analysis,overlay analysis,buffer zone analysis,network analysis and analytic hierarchy process;analyzes the spatial structure of the resources by means of indices of compactness,intensity,connectivity;and investigates the driving mechanism of the spatial structural evolution as well as the optimization and control of the development space by means of gravitation model and Lotka-volterra competition model. The results show that:(1) The spatial structure of the ecotourism resources development in Lijiang Basin can be divided into three stages,i.e.the initial period(before 1990),the growth period (1990-1998),and the development period(1998 to present).During the initial period, the development was focused on the middle-stream,and there were few spots of development.The development during the growth period became wider and faster,but low in quality.During the development period,focus has been placed on the upstream and downstream areas.The total new spots of development in the upstream area are 10 times as many as those before 1990,and the new spots in the downstream area are 4.62 times as many,while the development in the middle-stream city turns slower.Up till 2008,the total spots of development of the whole areas are 1.88 times as many as those before 1990.(2) With its compactness index of C=0.42 and minimum adjacency index of Rn=0.9375,the spatial structure of the ecotourism resources development in Lijiang Basin indicates that there is a low spatial compactness and a weak overall distribution. Specifically,there is an even distribution for the upstream area(Rn=1.484),and a compressed distribution for the downstream area(Rn=0.441).The indices for connectivityβ=1.592 andγ=0.539 indicate that there is a relatively weak connectivity between tourism resources and a middle level of road compactness,which means that a good transport network for tourism has not yet been established.A buffer analysis of dots and lines indicates that 51.2%of tourism resources are grouped in a 5-km wide area centered around cities and towns,and that the tourism resources in the 2-km wide buffer zones along the national highways constitute 74.4%of the resources in the whole basin areas.There is a highly compact distribution of resources within areas between Guilin and Yangshuo.In terms of the regional structure,the development of resources for the apstream area is lower than for the middle and downstream areas.The quality of the development is best for the middle-stream area and then second best for the upstream area. The changes of the spatial structural evolution show a point-axle development around cities and towns and along national highways supplemented by the concentric zone development.The development is still resource-reliant,and there is a strong competition for the development of similar resources.The analysis of contribution of 44 factors shows that the 4 major factors that affect the spatial structure of ecotourism resource development in the basin are 0.1185 for resource value,0.1181 for transport location,0.0807 for resource type and 0.0774 for resource distribution.(3) The major driving forces for the spatial structural evolution of the ecotourism resources in the basin are aggregation and dispersion,policy environment and industrial structure adjustment,mutualism and competition.With a view to the features and spatial structural evolution of the ecotourism resources,and to the existing problems,a network-type optimization system is established that is characterized by 1 centre,2 wings, 3 nature reserves,4 development axles and 3 connectivity networks.It is hoped that the study of the spatial structure and its evolution,and the driving mechanism of the ecotourism resource development in Lijiang Basin may contribute to the further study of the evolution of the spatial structure of the ecotourism resources development of our country.It is also hoped that the study of the law of evolution of the spatial structure may shed some light on other ecotourism zones in our country.