Roles and functions of provincial destinations in Chinese inbound tourist flow network
中国入境旅游流网络省级旅游地角色研究

The roles and functions of tourism destination are not only determined by the discrepancy of its tourism statistical indicators, but depended on the tourist flows relations among relative destinations as well, and the interactive relationship is vital to all of destinations. By constructing Chinese inbound tourist flow network, this article firstly classifies, compares, and positions the roles and functions of provincial destinations by structural equivalence model which is from the theory of Social Network Analysis. Then it analyzes those functions by the centralization analysis indicators quantitatively. Finally, this article tries to find out which factors and how those factors affect the function models. It is suggested that 31 provincial destinations in China could be divided into four role types, namely, national tourist center, regional tourist hub, common destination and marginal destination. Although there are many differences among every single destination, the same role type has the same centralization indicator characters. Furthermore, the roles and functions in Chinese inbound tourist flow network are largely subject to regional economic development level, tourist facilities, external contact strength etc. Meanwhile the tourism resources and internal traffic convenience have less influence. In brief, by analyzing the structural character of Chinese inbound tourist flow network and positioning the roles and functions of provincial destinations, this article provides some references for guiding the Chinese inbound tourism in every province into coordination and harmony.