Co-agglomeration of the culture and tourism industries in Chinese cities

The interaction between the culture and tourism industries is naturally concentrated in cities. However, the effect of their co-agglomeration on urban tourism development depends on their level of integration. This study aims to answer the following questions: Can culture–tourism co-agglomeration promote the development of the tourism economy? Is the effect of culture–tourism co-agglomeration on tourism development moderated by culture–tourism integration? Does culture–tourism co-agglomeration have spatial spillover effects?

Taking 262 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2019 as the research sample, this study measures the degree of culture–tourism co-agglomeration using a co-agglomeration index and measured culture–tourism integration using a coupling coordination degree model. Using a threshold model and a spatial econometric model, this study examined the effect of culture–tourism co-agglomeration on urban tourism development.

Culture–tourism co-agglomeration had a positive effect on the urban tourism economy, and the effect differed according to geographical location and city grade. Moreover, culture–tourism co-agglomeration’s effect on the urban tourism economy was affected by the level of culture–tourism integration. When the level of culture–tourism integration crossed the threshold, the positive effect of culture–tourism co-agglomeration on the urban tourism economy will be enhanced. Finally, culture–tourism co-agglomeration had positive spatial spillover effects on surrounding cities.

This study integrated culture–tourism co-agglomeration, culture–tourism integration and urban tourism economy into the same research framework and innovatively analyzed the effect of the scale and quality of culture–tourism interaction on the urban tourism economy.

文化产业和旅游产业之间的互动性使其天然地在城市中集聚发展。然而, 文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的影响取决于它们的融合发展水平。本研究旨在回答以下问题：文化和旅游协同集聚能否促进旅游经济的发展？文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的作用是否受到文化和旅游融合发展水平的调节影响？文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的影响是否具有空间溢出效应？

本文以2009-2019年中国262个地级及以上城市为研究样本, 采用协同集聚指数测度城市文化和旅游集聚水平, 采用耦合协调度模型测度城市文化和旅游融合发展水平, 并通过构建面板门槛模型和空间计量模型, 检验文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的影响。

文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展具有正向的促进作用, 而且这种影响会因为地理位置和城市等级的不同而存在差异。此外, 文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的促进作用还受到文旅融合发展水平的影响, 当文旅融合发展水平跨越发展门槛后, 文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的正向影响得到增强。最后, 文化和旅游协同集聚对周边城市具有积极正向的空间溢出效应。

本文将文化和旅游协同集聚、文化和旅游融合发展、城市旅游发展纳入统一框架, 创新性地分析了文化和旅游互动发展的规模和质量对城市旅游发展的影响。