Dynamic evolution characteristics and driving factors of tourism ecological security in the Yellow River Basin

It is of great theoretical and practical importance to measure and examine tourism ecological security in the Yellow River Basin (YRB). The purpose of this study is to promote coordinated and sustainable development of the tourism economy and ecological environment. From the perspective of watershed sustainable development, this paper constructs the theoretical framework and index system of tourism ecological security in the YRB based on DPSIR system model, and analyzes its dynamic evolution characteristics and driving factors by using improved TOPSIS method, kernel density estimation, spatial autocorrelation, traditional and spatial Markov chains and quantile regression panel method. The results showed that: (1) There has been an evolutionary trend toward a dual-core form of tourism ecological security over time, as its average value fluctuates and then rises. The overall tourism ecological security level was relatively low (0-0.55), shifting from the predominant risk level in 2008 (accounting for 89.04%) to the levels of predominant risk and deterioration in 2017 (60.27% and 31.51%, respectively). A large downward risk remains. (2) In terms of dynamic evolution characteristics, the transfer of tourism ecological security risks and sensitive levels had path dependence and self-locking effects. In practice, however, the probability of maintaining the initial state of the deterioration level and the critical safety level was relatively small. And the type of transfer was usually accomplished during a subsequent level transfer. Its dynamic change process was strongly influenced by regional factors. Its characteristics of dynamic evolution were characterized by significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity. (3) Tourism ecological safety was most significantly influenced by environmental pollution in lower-level units. The tourism load level had a greater positive marginal effect on higher-level areas; however, economic development and level of tourism development have a greater positive marginal effect on areas with lower ecological tourism security levels. © 2022, Science Press. All right reserved.