Spatial Characteristics and Driving Mechanism of Hainan Tourism Development Under the COVID-19 Epidemic

Tourism plays an important role in promoting economic growth, employment, government revenue and national income. Due to the influence of economic development level, resource distribution, regional transportation infrastructure and other factors, the unbalanced development of regional tourism has always existed. However, at present, there is little research on the driving mechanism of tourism development. As the largest island completely located in the tropical area of China, Hainan has rich tourism resources, unique cultural customs and favorable conditions for developing tourism, and its tourism output value accounts for a high proportion of GDP. The outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 caused the global tourism industry to slow down and cool down, which also had a great impact on the development of tourism in Hainan. Due to the influence of COVID-19 epidemic, there are obvious differences in tourism development in Hainan island. Therefore, it is particularly important to study the driving factors and driving mechanisms of tourism development differences in Hainan island, which can provide favorable support for Hainan island to put forward reasonable and effective policies. In this study, an analytical framework of spatial difference-driving factors-driving mechanism is constructed, which provides a framework for the study of spatial heterogeneity of tourism development. The findings are as follows: ①In 2020, the total tourism revenue of Hainan decreased by 17.48%, and the total number of domestic and foreign tourists decreased by 22.33%. After February, the number of domestic overnight visitors showed a gradual recovery, and inbound tourism has been in a downturn. ②There are obvious regional differences in tourism in Hainan, with Sanya and Haikou as the north and south poles. In 2020, the number of tourists from them accounted for nearly 60% of the island. ③Analysis of the driving factors of regional differences in tourism in Hainan, and two major factors affecting the spatial differences of tourism are obtained, namely, resource and economic factor and urban population density factor. ④Through the analysis of driving mechanism, it is found that resources and economic factor has the most important influence on the spatial difference of tourism. For every increase of one unit, the number of overnight visitors in various cities increases by 0.991 units. Under the epidemic situation, although it is a difficult period for the whole industry to develop, it can also be seen that while the international tourism market is severely frustrated, the development potential of the domestic market is huge. In the future, there is much to be done to promote regional coordinated development by optimizing the spatial layout.