The Geographical Space of China's Tourism Websites

Bibliographic Data

ID5942686
AuthorsJia Liu (0000-0002-9209-1215, University of Waterloo), Jie Zhang (0000-0002-6538-2770, Nanjing University), G Wall (0000-0001-5649-8715, University of Waterloo)
Year2008
Volume10
Issue1
Pages66-80
Publication date2008-01-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTourism Geographies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-6688 • E-ISSN: 1470-1340
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14616680701825180
OpenAlexW2019765129
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited23

A new special space is being constructed from information and user flows based on tourism websites and the links among them. While greater attention has been paid to the economic, technological and user behaviour aspects, tourism websites also deserve to be studied from the perspective of space using geographical methods. This paper is a cybergeographical study of tourism websites. Based upon related studies and theories of cyberspace, the new topic 'tourism cyberspace' is introduced. Then, using spatial network analysis methods, the complicated cyberspace of Chinese tourism websites (CTW) is represented through the construction of a network model based upon data collected from the CTW of 31 regions of China. The model is a simplified network displayed as a 31 × 31 matrix. In this network, 'nodes', 'accessibilities' and 'strengths' are calculated and estimated, and the results show significant regional differentiation. Furthermore, positive relationships are indicated between the level of the regional economic, tourism and technological development and the accessibility of the region's nodes. This suggests that there is a strong relationship between tourism cyberspace and traditional geographical space. Key Words: InternetcyberspaceChinese tourism websitesspatial analysis Acknowledgement The authors thank the graduate students of Professor Jie Zhang's group, Zehua Liu, Ying Yu, Tai Huang and Zhu Xie in particular, for their assistance with collecting the related data and conducting surveys. The whole project (Case Study on Empirical Models and Spatial Pattern of Tourist/Recreation Flows of China) was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation, China (project code: 40371030

Advertising · Business · China · Cyberspace · Economic geography · Geography · Political science · Recreation · Regional science · The Internet · Tourism · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · Sharing Economy and Platforms · Marketing

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