School of International Business, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
PLoS One. 2022 Aug 16;17(8):e0272964. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272964. eCollection 2022.
This study applies complex network analysis to examine global tourist flows network in the context of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Using tourist flows data between 221 countries/regions over 1995-2018, we investigate the nature and development patterns of structural properties of global network as well as factors influencing its formation. The descriptive analysis indicates that global tourist network was a sparse network with small world network characteristics. According to centrality characteristics, China showed the most influence in the BRI group, while Germany and the United States possessed key roles among non-BRI countries/regions. Exploratory analysis demonstrated significant influence of gravity variables in global, BRI and non-BRI tourist networks. This research advances existing tourism theory and provides practical implications for policymakers.
本研究运用复杂网络分析方法，考察了“一带一路”倡议背景下的全球旅游流网络。利用 1995 年至 2018 年间 221 个国家/地区之间的旅游流数据，我们研究了全球网络结构属性的性质和发展模式，以及影响其形成的因素。描述性分析表明，全球旅游网络是一个稀疏网络，具有小世界网络特征。根据中心性特征，中国在“一带一路”倡议国家/地区中影响力最大，而德国和美国在非“一带一路”倡议国家/地区中扮演着关键角色。探索性分析表明，引力变量对全球、“一带一路”倡议和非“一带一路”倡议旅游网络都有显著影响。本研究推进了现有旅游理论，并为政策制定者提供了实际启示。
