Urbanization has resulted in growing ecological pressures on cities, necessitating assessments of urban ecological quality. Long-term characterization of regional dynamics and drivers is critical for environmental management. This study proposes an enhanced ecological quality model (MRSEI) incorporating vegetation cover and EVI rather than just NDVI. The MRSEI model was applied to analyse ecological quality in Yulin City during 2000-2018 using Landsat TM/OLI data on Google Earth Engine. Geographic detectors also quantified anthropogenic and environmental influences on the study area. The results are summarized as follows: (1) MRSEI showed an average correlation coefficient of 0.840 with other indices, demonstrating higher representativeness than individual components. The principal component analysis indicated a 12.88% increase in explained variance. MRSEI also exhibited significantly improved identification of roads, villages, and unused lands over RSEI, better matching ground conditions, and suitability for regional ecological assessment. (2) During 2000-2020, the average MRSEI in Yulin City was 0.481, peaking at 0.518 in 2018, indicating general ecological improvement over time. Spatially, conditions were better in the southeast than northwest. While 38.81% of the area showed significant improvement, 10.15% exhibited significant deterioration, concentrated in western Dingbian and Jingbian counties, highlighting areas requiring enhanced protection. (3) Ecological conditions in Yulin City remained stable over time. High-high clusters were concentrated in eastern counties (Qingjian, Wubao, Jia, Fugu) and central lower-altitude areas near Yokoyama and Zizhou. Low-low clusters predominated in the northern Yuyang desert and high-altitude western Dingbian regions. (4) Enhanced vegetation cover had the greatest influence in improving Yulin’s ecological quality. Rainfall was the most impactful environmental driver, while precipitation and land use change interactions showed the strongest combined effects. In contrast, air quality had minimal explanatory power in Yulin City. (5) The MRSEI model significantly impacts the ecological assessment of urban areas, thereby enhancing urban ecological monitoring accuracy. Moreover, our analysis demonstrates applicability to watershed regions, facilitating comprehensive regional ecological assessment and monitoring.

This study introduces a novel framework to dissect and understand tourists' cultural perceptions within river basins. The framework consists of two complementary parts: first, it develops a multi-dimensional system to identify cultural perceptions through textual analysis; second, it uses advanced methods like deep learning and spatial clustering to analyze and compare these perceptions across different cities and regions. The findings from the Yellow River Basin reveal six key dimensions of cultural perception: historical, architectural, folklore, food, religious, and leisure. The basin exhibits three distinct cultural patterns: an upstream polycentric network, a central ‘cultural circle’ around Xi’an, and a city-to-city pattern downstream. Furthermore, the basin is categorized into ten unique cultural perception regions, each highlighting diverse tourist perceptions. This framework not only offers a methodological beacon for future regional tourism studies but also equips managers with strategic insights to enhance the quality and cooperation in river basin tourism development.

Rural homestays are a vital component of rural tourism development. With the deep implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, rural homestays have increasingly become a focal point for young urban tourists. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model, this study systematically explores the impacts of the brand experience, information quality, and tourism atmosphere of rural homestays on the emotions and satisfaction of young urban tourists through an empirical analysis. The data for the study came from a questionnaire survey of various rural lodgings in the city of Beijing, resulting in 428 valid samples. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), this study revealed that brand experience, information quality, and tourism atmosphere are external stimuli that significantly influence tourist emotions. Specifically, these three factors both enhance positive emotions and reduce or alleviate negative emotions. Furthermore, the positive emotions have a significant positive effect on tourist satisfaction, while negative emotions have a significant negative impact. Specific recommendations for rural homestay operations based on these findings are given. These recommendations will not only help to improve the market competitiveness of rural homestays but also provide valuable theoretical and practical insights for the sustainable development of rural tourism.

This study examines the coupling and coordinated development of the competitiveness system of the convention and exhibition industry in China’s prefecture-level cities. Using an index system, the entropy weight method, and the coupling coordination degree model this study quantitatively measures and investigates the characteristics and influencing mechanisms of change in the convention and exhibition industry. The analysis shows that between 2013 and 2019, in China’s urban convention and exhibition industry, the competitiveness subsystem and its comprehensive development level have improved significantly. Additionally, among the factors influencing the convention and exhibition industry in China, the economic strength of cities exerts the greatest impact, followed by the capacity of the post and telecommunications sectors, while vitality has the least impact. The level of informatization plays a crucial role in the coupling, coordinated development, and change of the competitiveness system of an urban exhibition industry. Improvement in the competitiveness of the urban exhibition industry is closely related to a variety of resource elements. Each city should highlight its own endowment advantages and status, clarify its scale and positioning, and form a regional development pattern of differentiated development and dislocation competition with surrounding cities through the development strategy of consolidating advantages and addressing shortcomings.

Taking Shanghai as an example, this study obtained the online travel notes data from Xiaohongshu and Qunar in the past 10 years to construct the Shanghai tourist flow network (STFN) and used the methods of change point detection (CPD) and complex network analysis (CNA) to reveal the spatial structure characteristics of Shanghai tourism flow and the dynamic evolution process of STFN. The results showed that: (1) In the past 10 years, Shanghai tourist market had experienced a process of evolution from stable and orderly to short-term fluctuation and then gradual recovery, and the year of 2019 was the turning point of tourist flow network evolution. (2) The small-world and approximate scale-free characteristics of STFN were verified, and the network changed from disassortative to temporary assortative, showing a development trend of external expansion and internal separation. (3) While the centrality indicators of tourist flow network remained stable as a whole, the attention to cultural nodes was also increasing with the emergence of new nodes; (4) In terms of spatial connection, new popular nodes emerged and the relationship between them and the surrounding nodes was strengthened; (5) The spatial pattern of tourist flow network presented an inverted “V” shape and gradually expanded to southwest and southeast, forming a network with core nodes as the center and radiating outward. At the same time, newly emerging nodes at the periphery had formed relatively independent clusters.

This paper explores the pathway toward harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature through the lens of ecotourism, delving into its impact on tourists’ cognition of the natural environment, cultivation of emotional connections, and its pivotal role in shaping environmentally responsible behavior. At the Luya Mountain Scenic Area, a case study was conducted in July 2021, collecting 632 valid tourist questionnaires to investigate the nexus among “ecotourism experience”, “emotional experience”, and “environmental responsibility behavior” using structural equation modeling. Moreover, the relationship between tourism and daily environmental behavior was scrutinized with canonical correlation analysis. The findings unveil several substantial revelations: (1) Engagement experience significantly and positively influences tourists’ inclination toward responsible behavior. (2) Emotional experience mediates the relationship between educational, engagement, and escapism experiences and the inclination to act responsibly. (3) The utilization of digital information technologies positively moderates the conversion of emotional experience into a willingness to behave responsibly. (4) Ecotourism responsibility is linked to daily behavior, and cognitive and emotional experiences foster long-term environmental protection. This study provides a pioneering approach to enhancing tourism offerings within the scenic area and nurturing a sustainable human-environment relationship.

Rough tourism growth does not promote dual-carbon goals nor the implementation of a comprehensive saving strategy. Accordingly, the booming development of the digital economy in recent years has provided new momentum for structural upgrades and green growth in the tourism industry. This study aims to test the impact and mechanism of developments in the digital economy on the green innovation efficiency (GIE) of the tourism industry. Using provincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, this study quantifies the GIE of the tourism industry using the Super-SBM model of unexpected output. In this study, the digital economy development index was measured using principal component analysis and empirically analyzed using a two-way fixed effects regression model. The results of the study revealed that the development of the digital economy has promoted in large part the improvement of Chinese tourism GIE; the enhancement effect of the digital economy development on the eastern region is more noticeable than that of central and western regions; the digital economy can promote the enhancement of Chinese tourism GIE by promoting innovation in green technology and upgrades to industrial structure. Moreover, a distinct threshold in the promotion of tourism GIE by the digital economy exists, corresponding to a nonlinear diminishing marginal product. This study provides a new perspective for assessing the impact of the digital economy on the development of tourism GIE. Moreover, it provides a policy reference for exploring the path of tourism GIE and realizing high-quality development.

Coal burning is the prevailing way of heating in winter in rural areas of northern China, especially in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and their surrounding areas. Regrettably, the direct burning of large amounts of bulk coal is a major contributor to the serious air pollution and frequent heavy pollution days in winter in northern China. It is urgent to find ways for promoting the smooth implementation and sustainable development of clean heating in rural areas, while ensuring affordable heating solutions for rural residents. Conducting research on the WTP of rural residents for clean heating and its influencing factors can provide greater technical support for better promoting clean heating in rural areas. Through field visits and questionnaire surveys in rural areas of Shandong, Hebei, Henan and Shaanxi provinces, data on the willingness of rural residents to pay for clean heating was obtained. A multivariate regression model was then constructed based on the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to measure and analyze the willingness of residents to pay for clean heating and its influencing factors. Findings reveal that the highest willingness to pay (WTP) was in Hebei at 2388 yuan and its lowest was observed in Shandong at 1595 yuan, with Henan and Shaanxi registering 1608 yuan and 1929 yuan, respectively. WTP is significantly negatively correlated with age and financial burden of clean heating costs after retrofit. WTP is significantly positively correlated with total household heating hours per year, total household heating area, total household income in 2023, affordable price increase, satisfaction with the overall clean heating project, satisfaction with gas (electricity) prices, satisfaction with heating equipment, and satisfaction with indoor temperature.

As a large province with forest resources, assessing the value of forest ecosystem services in Yunnan is of great significance to maintain the sustainable development of Yunnan’s economy. Based on the latest survey data of Yunnan Province, i.e., the forest resources type II survey data, and in accordance with the Specification for Forest Ecosystem Service Function Assessment (GB/T 38582-2020), the value of forest ecosystem service function of 16 cities (prefectures) in Yunnan was assessed, and the ridge regression method was used to study the main factors affecting the value differences among cities (prefectures). The results show that: (1) The value of forest ecosystem services in Yunnan is 982.926×10⁹ yuan yr^-1, of which the value of carbon fixation and oxygen release is the largest. (2) The top four cities (prefectures) in terms of value of services are Pu’er City > Chuxiong Prefecture > Diqing Prefecture > Dali Prefecture; the bottom four cities (prefectures) are Kunming City > Yuxi City > Dehong Prefecture > Zhaotong City; (3) The main factors affecting the value of the service function of each city (prefecture) are forested land area, forest cover, GDP and population density. The findings of this study provided a reference for the sustainable development of the ecological environment in the prefectures and cities of Yunnan Province.

Stray dog invasion caused by human activities poses a significant challenge to wildlife communities worldwide. Conservation biology efforts must prioritize controlling stray dog populations to maintain equilibrium within local wildlife communities. In the Helan Mountains, ungulate population recovery and the absence of top predators present critical issues. The presence of a stray dog as a predator may complicate ecological restoration efforts in the region. Through molecular and camera trapping data analyses, we investigated the overlap of ecological niches between stray dogs and local carnivores across nutritional and spatiotemporal dimensions. The results revealed a high overlap between stray dogs and local carnivores across various niches, likely linked to food abundance, suggesting the possibility of increased future competition between them. Stray dogs cannot be ignored when conservation of wild carnivores involved.

Improving rural multifunctionality (RM) is crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target of sustainable consumption and production. This study establishes a clear link between functional composition, interaction and urban-rural integration, constructs a system of indicators for evaluating RM, and examines the interactions between functions using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient to determine the dominant function type. The results show that: (1) Villages in most counties in Henan Province are in the polarized or dominant development type. Only a few villages dominated by non-agricultural production are able to realize comprehensive and balanced development. (2) Functional and spatial differentiation exists in rural areas of different types of counties. The non-agricultural production function is more prominent in villages around cities, while villages in mountainous and hilly areas emphasize the ecological conservation function. The development of villages in plains and remote areas focuses on agricultural production function. (3) The relationship between RM is complex and diverse. Agricultural production often constrains other functions. The development of non-agricultural production functions has a positive effect on the improvement of social security functions. Cultural tourism and ecological conservation functions are mutually reinforcing. This study enhances the understanding of overall pattern and type differences of RM and provides valuable insights for formulating more targeted regional economic development policies in the future.

This study investigates the adaptation capability of local indigenous communities and the obstacles to adaptation based on the ecosystem in the Kaptai Lake area in Bangladesh. The study is based on a semi- structured questionnaire survey among the purposively selected 150 respondents from the indigenous communities in three villages in the study area. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) has been facilitated among the community leaders. The study identifies that ecosystem services are assessed on the socio-cultural dimension, behavioral compliance with management and policies, benefits from ecosystem services, conservation approaches, and sustainability evaluation. The respondents feel they benefited from the ecosystem in agriculture, fishing, small businesses, and tourism activities. The respondents emphasize several initiatives such as forest conservation, reducing illegal housing and deforestation, community participation, indigenous knowledge, diversified agriculture, and business activities. The FGD suggests sustainable agriculture, medical plant cultivation, ecotourism development, freshwater management, and reduced emissions. Several initiatives, such as benefits, regulation, preservation and adaptation, decision-making, and Indigenous knowledge, are essential for the adaptation capabilities of Indigenous communities based on ecosystem services. The study recommends natural ecosystems, protection of livelihoods, community participation, and investment in sustainable ecosystem services for ensuring the economic, social, and environmental well-being of indigenous communities.

The spatial configuration of historical canal villages and towns is crucial to their overall structural framework. Moreover, it serves as a fundamental element in the manifestation of architectural style, the promotion of vitality, and the enhancement of environmental conditions. This study used Google Maps and field research to examine the spatial perception of Xiangxi Pushi Ancient Town by analyzing node space, street space components, and visual data. It investigates the spatial structure characteristics of ancient canal villages and towns at three levels: point-like space, line-like space, and point-line association. Furthermore, this study evaluates these characteristics based on three perspectives: macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic. The text subsequently elucidates its formation mechanism, along with the cultural aspects of watersheds following the construction of canals. The results showed that the point space of Pushi Ancient Town is relatively complete; however, the overall structure is loose, and the core is not strong. The linear space utilizes the main street as its framework, while certain internal and external streets and lanes have isolation and insufficient connectivity. Simultaneously, some important nodes are marginalized, and the connectivity and overall synergy between the point and line spaces require improvement. This study provides a theoretical foundation and practical reference for examining the sustainable development of villages and towns, as well as watershed culture in the post-canal era.

Identifying ecologically vulnerable areas is critical for constructing ecological barriers and precisely controlling ecological risks. With the rapid development of big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, many intelligent methods have been developed to support the identification of vulnerable ecological areas. This paper reviews the methodological advancements in identifying ecologically vulnerable areas, including geographic zoning, expert integration, mathematical statistics, geographic information visualization, artificial neural networks, and unsupervised deep learning clustering methods. Additionally, we assessed several classic software tools used in ecology and natural resource management. Based on the review, several urgent research challenges for ecological function zoning research are proposed, such as the application of ecological vulnerability assessment intelligent algorithms, big data collaborative analysis, and the development of automated identification software. Considering the requirements in the Mongolian Plateau, this study proposes future development prospects of methods for identifying ecologically vulnerable area zoning, combined with the new AI research paradigm. They include enhancing the comprehensive analysis of multimodal data, increasing ecological barrier big data collaborative processing, advancing the interpretability of ecological function partitioning algorithms, developing automatic zoning software tools, and pushing the collaborative analysis of geographic big data and citizen science data.

Based on data from Beijing museums spanning 1980 to 2020, this study employs spatial analysis methods such as geographical concentration index, imbalance index, kernel density and standard deviation ellipse characterize the temporal and spatial evolution of Beijing museums and analyze their influencing factors. The research shows that the museum development in Beijing has undergone three stages: a slow start, high-speed development and high-quality upgrading. The development of cultural relics and industrial museums tends towards balance, and the market-oriented development of museums continues to improve. The “single core” concentration distribution of Beijing museums is prominent, showing a typical “center edge” distribution with a trend of new core formation during expansion. Temporally, Beijing museums exhibit an inverted “L” evolution pattern, trending from north to east with Haidian and Chaoyang districts poised to become new centers. Distribution across intervals is uneven, yet the overall pattern is evolving towards a balanced distribution. The research on factors influencing the spatial distribution of museums, including population, resources, economy, and transportation, innovatively introduces educational factors. It shows that Beijing museums are transforming from “population driven” and “resource driven” to “education driven” over time.

In the mass tourism era, the rising demand for personalized and high-quality experiences necessitates a distinct urban tourism image. This study examined tourists’ perceptions of Harbin during non-ice and snow seasons using network text analysis within the “cognitive-emotional-overall” framework and a ROST content mining tool. Our analysis of travelogues revealed that Harbin is seen as an exotic, culturally rich destination, yet tourists have limited awareness of its natural resources. While overall emotional responses from tourists were positive, facilities and services received some criticism. The views of tourists were primarily focused on popular urban sites, highlighting the need for diversification. This study contributes to the theoretical discussion on the formation of the city’s tourism image and suggests strategies that will allow Harbin to transition from a season-specific tourism model to a year-round tourism model, thereby enhancing its four-season destination brand in terms of infrastructure, industry innovation and market management.

Soundscape is critical in shaping tourists’ experiences and perceptions of the acoustic environment of a park. Creating a well-perceived soundscape is an important factor in enhancing the quality of scenic spots and improving visitor satisfaction in parks. This study selected Park 1903 and Xishan Forest Park as examples of urban parks and forest parks to analyze variations in sound levels and sound source types in two different types of parks. Then, a structural equation model was constructed to unveil the correlation between soundscape perception and visitor satisfaction. The results showed that sound source perception was relatively lower in Park 1903 than in Xishan Forest Park, where natural sounds were more popular among tourists. Further, the perceived occurrence of sounds was higher in Park 1903 than in Xishan Forest Park. The sound level in Park 1903 slightly exceeded the noise limit (55 dB(A)) for Class 1 acoustic environment functional areas, as per the Environmental Quality Standard for Noise (GB 3096-2008), while the sound level in Xishan Forest Park complied with this standard. In Park 1903, soundscape pleasantness improved with increasing degrees of dominance of artificial sounds. Moreover, soundscape pleasantness and richness in both parks had a positive effect on visitor soundscape satisfaction. Furthermore, gender and education level were the most influential factors for soundscape perception in Park 1903 and Xishan Forest Park, respectively. However, age and place of residence were not correlated with soundscape perception in Xishan Forest Park. In conclusion, the variations in sound sources and visitor characteristics remarkably affected visitor soundscape perception in different types of parks. The findings provide valuable insights and a theoretical basis for designing soundscapes and improving park visitor satisfaction.

The Yellow River Basin acts as both a national ecological barrier and a core area for high-quality development strategies. It encompasses nine provincial-level administrative regions and serves as an exemplary case for studying the cross-scale co-evolution of human-land systems. This study centers on the dual driving forces of new urbanization and tourism economy, aiming to address the critical question of “how can these two systems achieve mutual promotion and coordination?”, which has significant practical implications for optimizing the human-land relationship in the basin. Drawing on panel data from 2011 to 2022, this study applied a coupling coordination model and spatial convergence econometric methods to uncover the spatio-temporal patterns of coupling coordination between the two systems across the nine provinces and autonomous regions along the Yellow River. The key findings are threefold. (1) New urbanization demonstrated a steady yet gradual upward trend, whereas the tourism economy exhibited a “growth-decline” fluctuation pattern, revealing a notable temporal mismatch between the two systems. (2) Although the coupling coordination degree of the two systems is progressing toward an orderly structure, the overall level remains relatively low, with the new urbanization system being the primary constraint on overall coupling coordination due to significant impediments in the economic, spatial, social, and ecological dimensions of urbanization. (3) Significant convergence in the coupling coordination degree of the two systems was observed at the basin-wide level and in the upper reaches, although the influencing factors differ. In contrast, no convergence trend was evident in the middle and lower reaches, reflecting the path-dependent characteristics of the basin’s gradient development pattern. This study elucidates the coupling and coordination relationship between the two systems, thereby providing a robust scientific foundation for the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.

Under the rural revitalization strategy, farmers’ livelihood strategy is transitioning from unitary traditional agriculture to multiple dominant strategy. The adoption of non-agricultural livelihood strategy is not only a mitigation plan for agricultural livelihood vulnerability, but also a means to achieve the goal of rural revitalization. Based on the relevant literature from 2000 to 2023, this study adopts meta-analysis method to comprehensively review the researches on non-agricultural livelihood strategy selection at home and abroad, and discusses the influence of livelihood capital on non-agricultural livelihood strategy selection from the perspective of sustainable livelihood. The findings are as follows: First, the direct effects of livelihood capital on non-agricultural livelihood strategy selection are different: financial capital, human capital and social capital all have promoting effects on farmers’ non-agricultural livelihood strategy selection; Natural capital has inhibitory effect on farmers’ choice of non-agricultural livelihood strategy. The effect of physical capital on farmers’ non-agricultural livelihood strategy selection is not significant. Second, non-agricultural livelihood types and terrain characteristics have a moderating effect on non-agricultural livelihood strategy selection: both non-agricultural livelihood types (engaged in industry or business) and terrain characteristics have a moderating effect on the relationship between livelihood capital and non-agricultural livelihood strategy selection. Therefore, farmers can be guided to choose non-agricultural livelihood strategies by optimizing the allocation of livelihood capital.

Ice-snow tourism is emerging as a vital sector for economic growth. As the climate crisis affects traditional ice-snow tourism destinations, southern China has built a significant ice-snow tourism sector. This expansion is fueled by significant tourist demand, a robust economy, and a high population density, which together lead to different development opportunities for ice-snow tourism in mid- and low-latitude areas. This study examines cities in southern provinces and assesses the resource endowment of ice-snow tourism resources from 2018 to 2023 in five categories: ice-snow events, ice-snow festivals, ice-snow venues, ice-snow parks, and ice-snow attractions. By utilizing Baidu Index data, the research looks at the gap between resource endowment and internet attention in winter tourism using a spatial mismatch model. The findings indicate that: (1) Ice-snow tourism endowment in South China is currently limited but experiencing rapid growth. (2) Internet attention in winter tourism within these cities varies, following an “up-down-up” trend. (3) There is a mismatch between resource endowment and internet attention. Over time, the development paths of ice-snow tourism in southern cities can be classified into three types: priority development, active development, and inertial development, influenced by factors such as policy changes, urban economic conditions, overall tourism development, and natural geography.

The Three-River Source Region is an important ecological security barrier in China. Revealing the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of its landscape types and ecological risks is of great significance for promoting ecological restoration and landscape pattern optimization in the Three-River Source Region. Selecting the Three-River Source Region for a case study and applying the land-use data from four periods (the 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020), we constructed a landscape ecological risk assessment model for the region based on the landscape pattern index. We then quantitatively assessed the ecological risks and determined the characteristics of their spatial-temporal evolution. The results showed that: (1) The overall landscape ecological risk in the Three- River Source Region tended to decrease from northwest to southeast, and the distribution of landscape ecological risk was closely related to the natural plateau zones and the changes in land cover. (2) From 1990 to 2020, the areas covered by grasslands, water bodies, croplands, and construction land in the Three-River Source Region increased, while the areas of woodlands and unused land decreased. The spatial-temporal changes in the ecological landscape risk were consistent with the characteristics of the changes in the landscape types. The areas categorized as highest, higher, medium, lower and lowest risk areas, while highest and higher risk areas decreased by 9.76%, medium risk areas increased by 1.03%, lower risk areas increased by 8.99%, and lowest risk areas decreased by 0.26%, respectively. (3) Overall, the Three-River Source Region was dominated by very low to medium ecological risk, the areas of which accounted for more than 70% of the entire study area. Overall ecological risks are decreasing, and there is positive spatial autocorrelation of landscape ecological risks in adjacent evaluation units.

The coordinated development of ecological security (ES) and high-quality economic development (HQED) is of great significance to the integrated sustainable development of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration. In this study, the entropy weight-TOPSIS model and the improved coupling coordination degree (CCD) model were used to analyze the coupling coordination mechanism of ES and HQED. The results indicate that the level of ES in the YRD showed a fluctuating upward trend from 0.475 in 2000 to 0.481 in 2020, while HQED continued to rise from 0.097 in 2000 to 0.232 in 2020, and the coordinated development index of ES and HQED increased from 0.293 in 2000 to 0.795 in 2020, highlighting an obvious trend of balanced development. Notably, the eastern coastal cities exhibited superior HQED and ES levels, with a better CCD, compared to the inland cities. The multi-scale geographically weighted regression model (MGWR) analysis shows that industrial structure, production efficiency and urbanization rate were key factors in the imbalanced development of the YRD. Finally, policy suggestions are proposed from the aspects of strengthening technological and industrial innovation and comprehensively promoting new urbanization.

Tracking and investigating tourist satisfaction and accurately identifying the key factors that affect tourist satisfaction have always been among the top priorities for academia and tourist attraction operators. With the rise of online travel, analysis based on online comments has become an important method for tracking and surveying tourist satisfaction. This article examined the online comments of tourists for the Panjin Red Beach Scenic Corridor Scenic Area (hereinafter referred to as Red Beach) on Ctrip as an example. Using natural language processing to classify the tourist evaluations into topics, the main topics of concern were identified as tourism services, tourism attractions, scenic area management, and tourism experience. Through the 5-level rating of Ctrip’s online gaming customer satisfaction, an analysis was conducted on tourist satisfaction and the topics of greatest concern to the tourists were ranked. The results showed that the satisfaction levels from high to low are: tourism experience, tourism attractions, scenic area management, and tourism services. Therefore, satisfaction with related content under the service topic was the lowest so this aspect urgently needs to be improved and enhanced.

High-quality development is essential for China’s modernization. The in-depth implementation of the new development philosophy has become crucial for promoting China’s development in the context of “domestic and international” double-cycle development. This study constructs an evaluation index based on the new development philosophy, measures the level of China’s high-quality development majorly from 2005 to 2020, dynamically examines the spatial and temporal pattern of China’s high-quality development on a multi-level spatial scale, and explores its influence mechanism with the help of the obstacle degree model. The results show that: (1) China’s high-quality development level has increased as a whole, with the high-quality development index rising from 0.056 in 2005 to 0.092 in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 3.36% and an overall development pattern of “high level in the east and fast growth rate in the west”. (2) Spatial correlation, China’s high-quality development shows a significant positive correlation, with cities with higher levels of high-quality development concentrated in the eastern coastal region, the Pearl River Delta region, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and those with lower levels of high-quality development clustered in the western region. (3) In terms of dynamic evolution, China’s high-quality development level shows a small rightward shift, the polarization of high-quality development level is weakening, and the rightward trailing situation has been alleviated. (4) Obstacles to identifying the factors affecting China’s high-quality development include the amount of imports, exports, and the number of foreign direct investment contract projects. From the criterion level, openness and innovation are the biggest obstacles to high-quality development, and the obstacle degree of each criterion level shows significant spatial differentiation characteristics in the research period. The results can provide a scientific basis for China’s path to upgrading and building a modern socialist country.

Land use/cover change (LUCC) is a measure that offers insights into the interaction between human activities and the natural environment, which significantly impacts the ecological environment of a region. Based on data from the period from 2000 to 2020 regarding land use, topography, climate, the economy, and population, this study investigates the spatial and temporal evolution of land use in the Liuchong River Basin, examining the interaction between human activities and the natural environment using the land use dynamics model, the transfer matrix model, the kernel density model, and the geodetic detector. The results indicate that: (1) The type of land cover in Liuchong River Basin primarily comprises cropland, forest, and shrubs, with the land use change mode mainly consisting of an increase in the impervious area and a decrease in surface area covered by shrubs. (2) The dynamic degree for single land use of barren, impervious, and waters indicates a significant increase, with areas covered by shrubs decreasing by 9.37%. In addition, the change in the degree of single land use for other types of cover is more stable, with the degree of comprehensive land use being 7.95%. The areas experiencing the greatest land use change in the watershed went through conditions that can be described as “sporadic distribution” to “dispersed” to “relatively concentrated”. (3) Air temperature, rainfall, and elevation are important factors driving land use changes in the Liuchong River Basin. The impact of nighttime lighting, gross domestic product (GDP), and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) on land use change have gradually increased over time. The results of the interaction detection indicated that the explanatory power of the interaction between the driving factors in each period for land-use changes was always greater than that of any single factor. The results of this study offer evidence-based support and scientific references for spatial planning, soil and water conservation, and ecological restoration in a watershed.

Rice is not only the most basic staple crop, but also a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Negative emission options that can guarantee food security are urgently needed. In this study, we analyzed the temporal and spatial dynamics of GHGs from four types of rice in China, namely early indica rice, mid-season indica rice, late indica rice, and japonica rice, and estimated their mitigation potentials. The main results are fourfold. (1) The annual average GHGs per hectare was 4513.5 kg CO₂-eq ha^-1, increasing gradually from 2005 to 2020, while there was an opposite trend in annual average GHGs efficiency (0.4 kg CO₂-eq yuan^-1). The GHGs intensity was 0.9 kg CO₂-eq kg^-1 and remained constant in the same period. (2) The GHGs per unit (sowing area, output or output value) in central and southeastern China were higher than those in the north and west. (3) The GHGs per unit (area, yield or output value) of late indica rice were the highest while the corresponding values for japonica rice were the lowest. (4) The GHGs per hectare might be able to achieve a 20% reduction from the 2020 level, providing that cropland redistribution and mitigation measures are adopted. Finally, we put forward policy proposals and available measures for emission reduction to promote the sustainable development of agricultural systems.

Sport tourism is emerging as a key focus in China’s tourism development, supported by investments in infrastructure, sports events, and promotional efforts. Hainan, with its unique geographic advantages and abundant tourism resources, are prioritized by central and local governments, to establish Haikou, Sanya, and Wanning as key sport tourism hubs. However, research on evaluating regional sport tourism from an industrialist perspective remains limited. This study adopts a qualitative research approach, using semi-structured interviews with middle and senior managers from sport tourism enterprises in Hainan. These interviews provide an in-depth evaluation of Hainan’s sport tourism industry from the perspective of industry stakeholders. Data coding through Nvivo software identifies twelve critical dimensions: Brand, culture, business ethics, infrastructure, location, market, natural resources, policy, product, tournaments, funding, and talent. By analyzing these dimensions both horizontally and vertically, the study assesses the industry’s current status and challenges, offering recommendations in three key areas: ① Government: Improve transportation infrastructure and establish dedicated management departments. ②Enterprises: Focus on strategic positioning, effective marketing, and sustainable development through collaboration. ③ Public-Private collaboration: Strengthen coordination between government and enterprises to promote integrated and coordinated sport tourism development across multiple cities.

Awe, as a positive emotional experience, is recognized for its role in facilitating tourists’ pro-environmental behavior (TPEB). However, despite its significance, awe has received minimal attention in tourism-related research. This research introduces an expanded model of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) that integrates awe into the rational-oriented TPB framework to examine its impact on TPEB. We collected data at the Mount Huangshan scenic spot in China and employed structural equation modeling for data analysis. Findings suggest that the extended TPB model, which incorporates the emotion of awe, outperforms the original TPB model in predicting TPEB. Awe experienced in nature-based destinations is mainly influenced by the perception of the natural environment (PNE) and significantly predicts TPEB. Study findings offer an integrated framework combining emotional and rational perspectives to understand the factors driving TPEB in nature-based tourism. Furthermore, the study aims to establish connections between the psychological experience of awe and the philosophical perspective of the sublime. Importantly, our findings provide compelling evidence supporting the role of nature-based tourism as an effective model to facilitate tourists’ environmental attitudes, emotions, and behaviors. Finally, the implications for practice are discussed.

Duolun County, located in the Xilingol League, is a typical agro-pastoral ecotone in the north and is also the source of the Luan River system. Whether the development and utilization of regional water resources are reasonable and whether the water ecological environment is sustainable are the key issues that local government departments cannot ignore. By investigating the current situation of water resource development and utilization in Duolun County, this study revealed that the per capita water usage and the water usage per ten thousand yuan of GDP in Duolun County in 2020 were lower than the average level in the Inner Mongolia, and the level of water usage was relatively better. By using the nine-scale method and the analytic hierarchy process to construct an evaluation model of the water ecological environment of Duolun County, the comprehensive score of Duolun County was 8.35 (total score is 10), indicating that the water ecological environment in the study area was currently in a good state. The evaluation model has reference value for the future management of the water ecological environment in Duolun County and for continuous related research.

Rural tourism plays a crucial role in driving the sustainable development of rural economies. With the rise of the digital economy, user-generated content (UGC) videos on platforms such as TikTok have become a significant factor influencing consumer decision-making, creating new opportunities for the growth of rural tourism. Using the TikTok app as the research platform, this study examines the relationship between UGC short videos, tourists’ intentions to engage in rural tourism, and their perception of destination image. Specifically, it explores the impact of UGC short videos on tourists’ willingness to participate in rural tourism and the mediating role of destination image perception. The findings indicate that UGC short videos positively influence tourists’ willingness to engage in rural tourism. Destination image perception mediates this relationship, shaping tourists’ decisions through cognitive and emotional image perceptions. Based on these findings, this paper recommends rural tourism destination managers enhance promotional strategies and improve destination image perception through UGC short video content.