Abstract:

Understanding the spatiotemporal compatibility among tourism resources， tourism economy， and tourism network attention is essential for promoting high-quality tourism development. This study examines 69 cities （prefectures and leagues） in the Yellow River Basin constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system， integrates multi-source data， and applies a compatibility model， exploratory spatial data analysis， and geo-detector methods to examine the spatiotemporal patterns， and driving mechanisms of compatibility among tourism resources， the tourism economy， and tourism network attention from 2011 to 2023. The results show that from 2011 to 2023， tourism resource endowment and network attention exhibited fluctuating upward trend， while tourism economic development fluctuated downward trend， with notable regional disparities. Areas with high tourism resource endowment evolved from "isolated island" to "clustered zones". While the tourism economy consistently displayed a multi-center and fragmented structure， tourism network attention followed a consistent east-high， west-low pattern， with levels decreasing from midstream to downstream and upstream. Overall compatibility among the three factors increased， forming an inverted "T"-shaped distribution pattern， characterized by higher values in the east and lower values in the west， with a tendency toward clustered development. Spatial agglomeration of compatibility weakened， revealing a "hot in the east， cold in the west" distribution pattern. General public budget expenditure， total import and export， R&D expenditure as a proportion of GDP， annual average PM_2.5 concentration， nighttime light intensity and percentage of vegetation cover are the key drivers of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in compatibility. Two-factors interaction was significant， mostly exhibiting an enhancing effect. This study helps identify the "tourism resource curse" phenomenon， offers theoretical support and policy recommendations for high-quality tourism development in the Yellow River Basin.

Key words: tourism resource, tourism economy, tourism network attention, compatibility, the Yellow River Basin