A Study on Cognition and Choice Preference on Tourism Scenic Spots in Large-Scale Region Based on a Perspective of Tourist Groups
陕西秦岭旅游景区认知与选择偏好研究

In the context of increasing large-scale tourism planning, taking the tourism development planning of Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province, China, as an example, this paper aims to explore the mechanism of cognition and choice preference behavior on tourism scenic spots in large-scale regions from a perspective of tourist groups. Some conclusions were drawn that: 1) cognition contour maps of tourism scenic spots with respect to different tourist groups were derived using the Kriging interpolation method. It was found that the northern foot of Qinling Mountains formed four higher-accumulated zones such as Mountain Huashan with a cognition value of 3.5, Mountain Taibai 3.4, Mountain Lishan 3.2 and Mountain Zhongnanshan 3.0. The southern slope of Qinling Mountains formed the tomb of Marquis Wu 3.25 in Hanzhong City. The cognition values of different tourism scenic spots in the cities of Ankang, Shangluo and Baoji west were found to be relatively lower, resulting in lower-scattered zones. It could be concluded that mature and stable tourism scenic spots generally form higher-accumulated zones whereas growing and developing tourism scenic spots form lower-scattered zones. Meanwhile, the cognition of tourism scenic spots for different tourist groups varied greatly, with showing higher values for the actual tourist groups but lower ones for the potential tourist groups for the same type of tourism scenic spots; 2) as for the choice preference contour maps of tourism scenic spots with respect to different tourist groups, the choice preference of tourism scenic spots formed agglomeration zones and radiation zones. The northern foot of Qinling Mountains formed four agglomeration zones such as Mountain Huashan with a value of 0.24, Mountain Taibai 0.23, Mountain Lishan 0.23 and Mountain Zhongnanshan 0.22. The southern slope of Qinling Mountains formed radiation zones such as Jinsixia National Forest Park 0.045, Zibaishan National Forest Park 0.023, National Nature Reserve tourist areas 0.02 and national key cultural relics protection units 0.01. It was also found that the choice preference contour lines were basically convergent to the traffic routes in Qinling Mountains, and the spatial preference for tourism scenic spots was closely related to accessibility. Meanwhile, the number of choice preference of tourism scenic spots for different tourist groups was different. The actual tourist groups chose a variety of tourism scenic spots while the potential tourist groups chose a single side of the same type of tourism scenic spots; and 3) there exists overlapping regions between the cognition contour and choice preference contour maps. It is indicated that there is a positive correlation between cognition and choice preference of tourism scenic spots in large-scale regions.