Mechanism and HSR effect of spatial structure of regional tourist flow: Case study of Beijing-Shanghai HSR in China

Transportation is one of the most important factors affecting spatial structure of tourist flow. Taking Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Rail (Hereinafter referred to as the HSR) as an example, the paper firstly explores the features and HSR effects of spatial structure of regional tourist flow with the help of social network analysis method. And then it points out the changes of the accessibility in regional transportation. After analyzing the following various influencing factors, e.g. the initial endowment of regional tourist resources, the hospitality facilities, the density of regional tourism transportation network, the location, etc., the paper discusses about the mechanism of HSR effect of spatial structure in regional tourist flow. The results are shown as follows: (1) The HSR effects of spatial structure in regional tourist flow are manifested as the "Matthew effect", the "filtering effect", the "diffusion effect" and the "overlying effect"; (2) The "Matthew effect" of HSR is manifested under the obvious interaction of the location condition, the initial endowment of tourist resources, hospitality capacity, tourist transportation network density and the "time-space compression"; the "filtering effect" of HSR is manifested in those tourism nodes without favorable location condition, endowment of tourist resources, hospitality capacity, tourist transportation network density, and obvious "time-space compression"; For those tourist nodes that boast favorable advantages in terms of location condition, endowment of tourist resources, hospitality capacity, tourist transportation network density and obvious "time-space compression", they will become diffusion sources. HSR will strengthen the aggregation effects of tourist flow in those diffusion sources, and thereafter, will diffuse to the peripheral tourist areas, manifesting the mode of "aggregation-diffusion"; HSR has resulted in the multiplicity phenomenon in terms of tourists' traveling spatial range for those from large-scale spaces. However, the "overlying effect" is only generated in those tourist nodes with favorable location condition, endowment of tourist resources, hospitality capacity, tourist transportation network density, and obvious "time-space compression".