Characteristics and influencing factors of the key villages of rural tourism in China

The key villages of rural tourism are typical demonstrations for promoting the high-quality development of rural tourism, which are of great significance for optimizing rural tourism supply and leading rural tourism development. The article analyzes the spatial distribution pattern and structural characteristics of 1000 key villages of rural tourism nationwide by using Nearest Neighbor Index and Kernel Density Estimation. The study further reveals spatial differentiation of the key villages of rural tourism. The main factors affecting spatial distribution of the key villages of rural tourism are analyzed by using Multiple Linear Regression, Vector Buffer Analysis and Geographic Detectors. The conclusions can be drawn as follows. Firstly, there are more key villages of rural tourism in the eastern region than in the western region of China. The inter-provincial spatial density stratification feature is obvious and the spatial distribution pattern of double core-ring core cluster-ribbon zone is unique. Secondly, the spatial distribution of key villages of rural tourism has significant positive spatial correlation. The key villages of rural tourism are spatially dispersed in cold spots and concentrated in hot spots. Thirdly, kernel density estimation shows that villages of agricultural production type have high spatial distribution density, while the others have low density. Fourthly, the spatial distribution pattern is the result of five factors: natural ecology, social economy, transportation facilities, scenic resources and policy environment. Gross domestic product per capita and household consumption expenditure have a significant positive impact, while the distance from the tourist market and the distance from transportation access are negative influencing factors. Fifthly, the driving factors for the spatial distribution of various types of villages are different and closely related to the village resource endowment and development characteristics. © 2022, Science Press. All right reserved.