Brief introduction of tourism flow

Tourism flow refers to the phenomenon that tourists move collectively in a large or small area because of the similarity of tourism demand. This definition well grasps the main contradictions, characteristics and internal mechanism of the formation of tourism flow, that is, tourism flow mainly refers to the flow of tourists, which is characterized by collective spatial movement, and the formation of tourism flow is due to the similarity of tourism demand.

The measurement of tourist flow is based on share. A tourist flow starts from the tourist source, flows to one or several destinations along a certain direction and route, and finally flows back to the tourist source to complete a complete tourism movement. The trajectory of tourist flow is a closed curve or irregular polygon. Tourism flow system is a spatial network structure composed of tourism flow nodes, tourism circulation channels and tourism flow sections. The tourist flow nodes of the network are tourist origin, tourist destination or transit destination, the lines connecting these nodes are called tourist flow channels, and a directional channel and two connected nodes are called tourist flow nodes, which divide the tourist flow into different sections. A complete tourism activity includes at least two directional tourism circulation channels and two connected tourism flow nodes, that is, from the source to the destination, and then from the destination back to the permanent residence. However, if tourists choose multiple destinations, a tourism activity will include several tourism festivals. Therefore, the tourist flow starts from the starting point and ends at the original starting point, forming a closed irregular curve trajectory.

In the study of tourism flow, it will also involve tourism flow direction, tourism flow, tourism speed and tourism process. Tourism direction refers to the direction that tourists choose from the starting point to the destination according to their own tourism motivation and economic ability. Tourism flow refers to the number of tourists who enter the same destination country or region in a certain period of time. Tourism flow and tourism flow are mutually conditional. Only a certain direction can form a flow direction, and only a certain direction can form a flow direction. The direction and flow of tourism reflect the general situation and development trend of the spatial distribution of tourists in a certain period. Tourism speed refers to the time that a certain scale of tourism flows stay in a tourist destination, which reflects the depth and breadth of the development of this tourist destination. Tourism process is the length of tourism flow, which refers to the length of the channel distance from the source to the destination and between destinations.

In the study of tourism flow, Pierce's book Geographical Analysis of Modern Tourism has a great influence. Pierce used the concept of tourism flow to analyze the spatial movement mode of world tourism movement extensively and deeply. This is geography's analysis of tourism phenomenon from the perspective of population distribution. The researchers believe that the tourist flow is not random, but has certain rules to follow, which are influenced by the spatial distance between tourist producing countries and tourist receiving countries, current or past international exchanges, mutual tourism, the attraction of one country to another, the tourism cost of tourist destination countries or regions, the ethnic characteristics of tourist producing countries, and the image of tourist destination countries in the minds of residents of source countries. On this basis, Martell further pointed out that the main reasons for the obvious differences in the distribution of international tourism activities are: ① the uneven distribution of tourism resources among tourist destinations; ② Differences in tourism activities; (3) seasonal changes; ④ Climate; ⑤ International and domestic political factors; ⑥ the change of currency exchange rate; ⑦ Fluctuation of tourism service price.