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Journal of Resources and Ecology >

2023 , Vol. 14 >Issue 6: 1292 - 1301

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2023.06.017

Tourism Industry and Sustainable Development

The Coordinated Development of Ski Tourism, the Ecological Environment and Urbanization in Northeast China

  • ZHAO Wanqing , 1 ,
  • ZHANG Yibo , 2, *
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  • 1. Business School of Sport, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
  • 2. College of Physical Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
* ZHANG Yibo, E-mail:

ZHAO Wanqing, E-mail:

Received date: 2022-08-02

  Accepted date: 2023-01-30

  Online published: 2023-10-23

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Abstract

Understanding the coupled and coordinated relationship between ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization is of great significance for developing the ice and snow economy, protecting the ecological environment and accelerating the construction of new urbanization. The ski tourism industry and economic and social development statistics of the three northeastern provinces from 2010-2019 were used to conduct a comprehensive systematic evaluation of each indicator of regional ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization (the S-E-U system). The coupled coordination degree model was used to analyze the relationship and trend of coupled and coordinated development of ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization in the three provinces of Northeast China. The results show that the overall development level of the S-E-U system in the Northeast has been relatively stable, and the level of coordinated development is still low. The overall comprehensive development level of the system is characterized by changes in stages, and the variability and consistency coexist in the development level of each subsystem. Except for Liaoning Province, the coupled coordination type of ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization in the other two provinces is “barely coordinated-lagging urbanization”. The development trend of coupling coordination is significantly correlated with fluctuations in ecological environmental quality, and the ecological environment will become a key element in determining regional development.

Key words： ski tourism; ecological environment; urbanization; coupled coordination model

Cite this article

ZHAO Wanqing , ZHANG Yibo . The Coordinated Development of Ski Tourism, the Ecological Environment and Urbanization in Northeast China[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2023 , 14(6) : 1292 -1301 . DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2023.06.017

1 Introduction

As an important part of the tertiary industry, ski tourism promotes the regional economic and social development and industrial structure upgrading, and it promotes the characteristic development and utilization of tourism resources, the natural landscape and cultural customs in mountainous and alpine areas. The ski industry is the driving force for the realization of sustainable economic development and the improvement of ecological environmental governance, and has the unique advantage of promoting the transformation and development (Bao, 2020).
However, the rapid development of the ski industry has also put pressure on the ecological environment. The report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) stressed accelerating eco-civilization construction, promoting green and sustainable development, and further deepening the implementation of new urbanization and the ecological environmental strategy. The development of ski tourism cannot be separated from the guarantee of the ecological environment and the support of regional development. Therefore, understanding the coupling and coordination relationship between ski tourism, ecological environment and urbanization is of great value for the development of the snow and ice economy, the protection of the ecological environment, the acceleration of urbanization construction, the improvement of residents’ quality of life and the realization of sustainable development.
Many scholars have studied the interactions between tourism, the economy and the ecological environment. Before Gladstone (1998) discovered the interaction and coupling of these three systems, Stephen and Smith (1992) and Wall and Wright (1977) had already explained the impact of tourism activities on the ecological environment, and analyzed the interaction mechanism of the two. Day and Cai (2012) specifically analyzed the challenges posed by the ecological environment and energy to the sustainable development of regional tourism in the United States and China. Comparatively, Chinese scholars have produced more abundant research on tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization. The early studies focused on the coupling and coordination analysis of the relationship between the two systems, most of which used individual provinces and cities or developed urban agglomerations as the research scale, and this field experienced an evolutionary process from qualitative research to multi-dimensional research on influencing factors, interaction mechanisms and spatiotemporal evolution characteristics. Han et al. (2018) and Zhou et al. (2016) studied the tourism, urbanization, ecological environment, social and economic relations in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Economic Belt, Silk Road Economic Belt and other regions, and discussed the spatiotemporal evolution of their coupling relations. Li et al. (2016) and Wang and Yu (2019) studied the temporal and spatial differences of the coupling coordination relationships among the three systems from different regions, and conducted an empirical study on the developmental trend and spatially dynamic evolutionary process of the coupling coordination degree among these systems over time.
In recent years, coupling theory has been applied to sports industry research. Yao and Liu (2021) studied the coupling between sports industry agglomeration and economic growth in 15 provinces of China. Ye (2020) conducted an empirical analysis of the coupling coordination relationship between sports industry development and healthy China construction in 11 provinces and cities in eastern China during 2013-2017. Yan (2019) and Zhao and Dai (2019) studied the factors influencing the coupling time sequence relationship between sports events and urban development. Xu and Chen (2020) discussed the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of the coupling coordination degree of the sports industry and the tourism industry in 31 provinces and autonomous regions in China.
In contrast, there are few studies on the correlations between the sports industry and other systems. Studies on tourism, urbanization and the ecological environment have achieved good initial results, but there are still some shortcomings. Existing research areas are mainly concentrated in the eastern region and important urban agglomerations, but there are few cross-regional studies at the macro scale. In addition, most studies only examine a short period of time, and lack of the prediction and analysis of future relationships (Zhai et al., 2020). This study selected the key provinces in the development of the ski industry as the research object, and explored the coupling and coordinated development relationships and trends of ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces in Northeast China. The results have practical guiding significance for the sustainable development of the ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization (S-E-U) system.

2 Construction of the theoretical model

The synergistic development of two or more systems through interaction is called coupling. The interactions between subsystems realize the continuous exchange of matter, energy and information, and makes the system move from disorder to order. Ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization constitute an open system with a complex structure and coupling characteristics. The coupling and coordinated development of the three subsystems is the organic coordination among the elements within the system, in which they promote and restrict each other, and the system ultimately constitutes an organic whole with the coexistence of various positive and negative influences.
The three subsystems are closely related to each other, the interaction is complex, and there is coupling coordination. First, the industrial upgrading and structural adjustment driven by ski tourism can relieve the stress of economic activities on the ecological environment to a large extent. Ski tourism is directly related to the fundamentals of urbanization, such as society, the economy and leisure, and promotes the process of urbanization. Secondly, the ecological environment provides the material foundation for the development of ski tourism activities and the creation of a high-quality urban environment. Ski tourism and urbanization development should be carried out within the carrying capacity of the ecological environment and the environmental capacity. Third, urban ski tourism development can provide an infrastructural guarantee for ecological environmental governance in order to provide development power. Therefore, studying the interactions between subsystems is an important prerequisite for realizing the coordinated development of the S-E-U system, as shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 Coupling and coordinated development mechanism analysis of the S-E-U system

2.1 Interaction and model building

2.1.1 The impact of ski tourism on ecological environment and urbanization

As a comprehensive modern service industry, tourism is associated with more than 110 industries. Ski tourism has gradually shown its contributions to regional economic and social development by increasing tax revenue and promoting employment (Kan and Wang, 2016). Ski tourism accelerates the process of new urbanization by promoting an increase in industrial benefits, promoting population gathering, social and economic development and the improvement of supporting facilities (Tang and Xu, 2022).
Ski tourism itself has the characteristics of a strong economic driving force, less environmental pollution, and coordination of the regional economy and ecological environment (Wang et al., 2022). The development of skiing activities urges the relevant governments, enterprises, residents and tourists to pay more attention to the development and protection of the ecological environment (Zhang et al., 2021). At the same time, the development of ski tourism destinations has a threatening effect on the ecological environment. Site facility construction will change the nature of the land, damage mountain vegetation, increase soil erosion and traffic pollution and cause other problems. The ski resort as a unit of economic development will also increase energy consumption and bring pressure to the ecological environment.

2.1.2 The impact of urbanization on ecological environment and ski tourism

The development of urbanization provides support and a guarantee for ski tourism and ecological environmental protection. Regional economic development and ecological environmental protection are important for the agenda of urbanization. Urbanization construction provides certain infrastructure and supporting services for ski tourism, and the level of urbanization development directly determines the income level and leisure capacity of the local residents, thus promoting the development and upgrading of ski tourism.
Urbanization has both promoted and suppressed the ecological environment. Urbanization is a process of the agglomeration of population, industries and factors of production. The efficient allocation of resources is conducive to the centralized control of environmental pollution and the effective implementation of the concept of environmental protection. However, the expansion of urbanization will also have a coercive effect on the ecological environment. Humans continue to exchange materials with the ecological environment in their production and life, which aggravates the ecological contradiction. Urbanization also has impacts on all natural systems in the ecosystem, and there is always a risk of urban space sprawl (Zhao et al., 2017).

2.1.3 The impact of ecological environment on urbanization and ski tourism

Human activities are bound to have a certain impact on the ecological environment, and they promote and restrict each other. A good ecological environment can provide a high-quality environment for the development of ski tourism, but also accommodate the impact of environmental development and resource utilization, so the ecological environment is the natural advantage and an important premise for the healthy development of ski tourism. Ecological civilization also calls for the development of green sports.
The ecological environment carries and restricts the rapid development of urbanization. It provides resource elements for urbanization development, and also puts forward the high-quality development requirements of green environmental protection, energy conservation and emission reduction in urbanization construction. The optimization of the ecological environment and the enhancement of residents' environmental awareness contribute to the enhancement of urban competitiveness. Ecological problems will reverse the development of urbanization. The deterioration of the ecological environment leads to population migration and brain drain, and the resulting deterioration of the investment environment leads to the out-migration of enterprises and the shrinking of the market. This vicious cycle leads to the occurrence of reverse urbanization.

2.2 Index selection and index system construction

The development of ski tourism depends on the ecological environment and natural resources. The Northeast region in China is the region with the highest concentration of snow and ice resources, and the number of ski resorts is steadily increasing, as shown in Table 1. The three Northeastern Provinces have a profound accumulation of ice and snow culture and a long history of ice and snow sports. The ice and snow industry is the main component of economic development in Northeastern China and also the pillar industry for regional sustainable development in the future. In terms of the number of ski resorts and skiers, Northeast China has the largest market share and its ski market is becoming increasingly mature. Therefore, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin provinces in Northeast China were selected as the research objects for analyzing the coupling coordination of the ski tourism, ecological environment and urbanization system.
Table 1 Number of ski resorts in Northeast China from 2016 to 2019
Province 2016 2017 2018 2019
Heilongjiang 122 124 124 124
Liaoning 35 37 38 38
Jilin 38 41 43 45

Note: Data source: Chinese ski industry core data report (2015-2019).

Based on previous studies and according to the developmental status of the ski service industry, key indicators reflecting system characteristics were selected to construct an evaluation system that includes multiple indicators in order to evaluate the comprehensive system (Xiong and Li, 2014; Wang et al., 2015; Yang and Xu, 2019). Ultimately, 45 indicators were selected. The ski tourism system (S) is decomposed into four categories and 12 individual indexes: industrial scale, industrial structure, economic benefits and service support. The eco-environmental system (E) can be divided into three categories and 16 individual indicators: eco-environmental state, eco-environmental pressure and eco-environmental response. The urbanization system (U) is decomposed into four categories and 17 individual indicators, including population urbanization, economic urbanization, social urbanization and spatial urbanization. The coupling and coordinated evaluation index system of the ski tourism-ecological environment-urbanization system was then constructed (Tables 2, 3 and 4).
Table 2 Evaluation index system of the ski tourism subsystem
System layer Primary index Weight Code Secondary index Character Correction weight
Ski tourism (S) Industrial scale (S1) 0.2926 S11 Total output value of ski tourism (108 yuan) Positive 0.1820
S12 Domestic passenger numbers Positive 0.0625
S13 Inbound tourists Positive 0.0481
Industrial structure (S2) 0.1842 S21 The proportion of ski industry in the tertiary industry Positive 0.1842
Economic benefits (S3) 0.2938 S31 Domestic ski tourism revenue (108 yuan) Positive 0.0977
S32 Income from inbound ski tourism (108 yuan) Positive 0.0797
S33 Total ski tourism revenue to GDP Positive 0.0609
S34 Consumption per capita(yuan) Positive 0.0555
Service support (S4) 0.2294 S41 Number of star-rated hotels Positive 0.0499
S42 Number of travel agencies Positive 0.0452
S43 Number of direct skiers in tourism Positive 0.0569
S44 Number of ski resorts Positive 0.0774
Table 3 Evaluation index system of the ecological environment subsystem
System layer Primary index Weight Code Secondary index Character Correction weight
Ecological environment (E) Eco-environmental state (E1) 0.3658 E11 Forest coverage rate Positive 0.1020
E12 Per capita available water resources (t) Positive 0.0603
E13 Per capita cultivated land area (ha) Positive 0.0349
E14 Greening coverage rate of built-up areas Positive 0.0283
E15 Per capita park green space area (m²) Positive 0.1403
Eco-environmental pressure (E2) 0.3509 E21 Per capita industrial wastewater discharge (t) Negative 0.0649
E22 Per capita industrial waste gas emissions (m³) Negative 0.0256
E23 Per capita industrial solid waste discharge (t) Negative 0.0586
E24 Urban domestic garbage output (t) Negative 0.0646
E25 Per capita domestic water consumption (m³) Negative 0.0594
E26 Ten thousand yuan GDP energy consumption (tce) Negative 0.0778
Eco-environmental response (E3) 0.2833 E31 Compliance rate of industrial wastewater discharge Positive 0.0424
E32 Harmless treatment rate of domestic garbage Positive 0.0575
E33 Comprehensive utilization rate of industrial solid waste Positive 0.0615
E34 Proportion of environmental protection investment in GDP Positive 0.0836
E35 Centralized sewage treatment rate Positive 0.0383
Table 4 Evaluation index system of the urbanization subsystem
System layer Primary index Weight Code Secondary index Character Correction weight
Urbanization (U) Population urbanization
(U1)		 0.167 U11 Proportion of urban population Positive 0.023
U12 Urban population density (person km-2) Positive 0.032
U13 Proportion of employment in tertiary industry Positive 0.027
U14 Urbanization rate Positive 0.053
U15 Registered urban unemployment rate Positive 0.032
Economic urbanization
(U2)		 0.336 U21 Per capita GDP (yuan) Positive 0.081
U22 Per capita investment in urban fixed assets (108 yuan) Positive 0.046
U23 Urban per capita disposable income (yuan) Positive 0.076
U24 Total retail sales of social consumer goods per capita (yuan) Positive 0.091
U25 Gross output value of tertiary industry (108 yuan) Positive 0.042
Social urbanization
(U3)		 0.351 U31 Number of buses owned per ten thousand people in cities and towns Positive 0.071
U32 Number of beds in urban health institutions Positive 0.064
U33 Number of Internet broadband access users in cities and towns Positive 0.062
U34 Proportion of educational expenditure to financial indication Positive 0.153
Spatial urbanization
(U4)		 0.146 U41 Per capita built-up area (m²) Positive 0.035
U42 Proportion of built-up area to urban area Positive 0.096
U43 Urban road area per capita (m²) Positive 0.015

3 Methods

3.1 Regional overview

The three Northeastern provinces account for 8.2% of China’s total land area and one-fourteenth of China’s total resident population. Their urbanization level is close to the national average. As the leading provinces for skiing in China, they have a large amount of snow in winter, a long snow period, a good ecological environment and a moderate slope, which are suitable for skiing. The three Northeastern provinces regard ice and snow tourism as a characteristic industry that supports tourism, and have an interest in accelerating the development of the ski industry through joint development, open development and diversified development. Ski tourism has become an important source of income for tourism in the three Northeastern provinces, and there is an urgent need to upgrade the ski tourism industry through urban agglomeration economic high-quality development, green ecological development.

3.2 Data source

Industrial scale and benefit are the direct factors for measuring the level of industrial development, and according to modern industrial development theory, the servitization of industrial structure is the direction of industrial optimization and upgrading. The tertiary industry, represented by the service industry, is characterized by strong industrial correlation. Therefore, the evaluation of the ski tourism system in this study used four first-level indicators: industrial scale, industrial structure, economic benefits and service support. The eco-environmental assessment draws on the PSR model jointly established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The interaction between economy and environment is reflected from three aspects: Pressure of ecological environment, ecological environmental capital (State) and ecological response. The transformation of urbanization is reflected in demography, the migration of people to cities and in economics, the concentration of non-agricultural activities in cities. The geographical level refers to the transformation of spatial structure to urban area, and on the sociological level, lifestyles converge toward urban society. The evaluation of the urbanization system follows the above theoretical interpretations, and the evaluation system was constructed from the four dimensions of population urbanization, economic urbanization, spatial urbanization and social urbanization.
Taking 2010-2019 as the time series, this study collected and collated the data for the four indicators in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces. After standardized processing of the original data, the comprehensive evaluation indexes of ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization were calculated separately. The data required for this study were all obtained from the China Statistical Yearbook, China Environmental Statistical Yearbook, China Tourism Statistical Yearbook, China City Statistical Yearbook, Ice and Snow Blue Book China Ski Industry Development Report, as well as the statistical yearbooks and statistical bulletins of the three provinces, related websites and the literature.

3.3 Entropy weight method

This study constructed a rating index system based on the statistics of 52 published studies (Tables 2, 3 and 4). The entropy weight method was used to determine the objective weights according to the index variability. Forty-five evaluation indicators were selected based on the dimensions of the three provinces, and 10 matrices were established based on the selected decade of data. First, the range method was used for dimensionless processing of the original data, and then the entropy method was used to calculate the weights of the indicators in each system.

3.3.1 Standardized treatment

In this study, the range method was used for dimensionless processing to eliminate the impact of the dimensional inconsistency among the evaluation indexes. The formula is as follows:
${{Y}_{i}}=\frac{{{x}_{i}}-{{x}_{\min }}}{{{x}_{\max }}-{{x}_{\begin{matrix} \min \\\end{matrix}}}}$
where Yi represents the index conversion value; xi represents the actual value of the i-th index; xmax represents the maximum value in the i-th index, and xmin represents the minimum value in the i-th index.

3.3.2 Index weight determination

In information theory, the smaller the value of information entropy, then the more significant the differences among the indicators, the more information they contain, and the greater the weights of the indicators. After standardization by the range method, the entropy value and redundancy were calculated, and the weight of item j in the i-th year is:
${{P}_{ij}}=\frac{{{Y}_{ij}}}{\sum\limits_{i=1}^{m}{{{Y}_{ij}}}}$
where Pij is the weight of item j in the i-th year; Yij indicates the conversion value of the j-th indicator in the i-th year; m is the total year. The information entropy Gij of the j-th term is calculated as:
${{G}_{ij}}=-k\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{\mathop \sum }}\,{{P}_{ij}}\ln {{P}_{ij}},\text{ }k=\frac{1}{\ln m}$
where Gij is the information entropy of the j-th indicator in the i-th year; Pij is the weight of item j in the i-th year, k is the adjustment coefficient, and k=1/lnm, m is the total year. When Pij=0, then Pijln Pij=0. The difference coefficient Ej of the calculated index is:
${{E}_{j}}=1-{{G}_{\begin{matrix} j \\\end{matrix}}}$
where Ej is the difference coefficient of the j-th index, and Gj is the information entropy of the j-th indicator. The larger the difference between the index values in the system, the smaller the information entropy, and the larger the Ej; indicating a greater the effect of this index on the system. In the comprehensive evaluation, the weight of each index is the information utility value ratio:
${{W}_{j}}=\frac{{{E}_{j}}}{\sum\limits_{j=1}^{n}{{{E}_{j}}}}\text{ }\left( j=1,2,\cdots,n \right)$
where Wj is the weight of the jth index in the comprehensive evaluation; Ej is the difference coefficient of the j-th index; and n indicates the number of indicators.

3.4 Comprehensive development evaluation model

The comprehensive evaluation function was constructed by the linear weighting method. The system comprehensive indexes (Si), (Ei) and (Ui) for ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization were calculated, respectively. The calculation formulas are:
${{S}_{i}}=\sum\limits_{h=1}^{n}{{{W}_{h}}{{s}_{h}}}$
${{E}_{i}}=\sum\limits_{j=1}^{n}{{{X}_{j}}{{e}_{j}}}$
${{U}_{i}}=\sum\limits_{k=1}^{n}{{{Y}_{k}}{{u}_{k}}}$
where Si, Ei and Ui represent the comprehensive development index of ski tourism, ecological environment and urbanization, respectively; Wh, Xj and Yk represent the weight of each index in the three subsystems; sh, ej and uk represent the the index conversion value of ski tourism, ecological environment and urbanization, respectively; h, j and k represent the index quantity of the three subsystems, n indicates the number of indicators.

3.5 Coupling coordination degree model

A coupling degree model was used to measure the degree of interaction between systems. The coordination degree model was used to measure the level of coordination in the development between systems. The expression of the coupling degree calculation is:
$C={{\left[ \frac{{{S}_{i}}\times {{E}_{\begin{matrix} i \\\end{matrix}}}\times {{U}_{i}}}{{{\left( \frac{{{S}_{i}}+{{E}_{\begin{matrix} i \\\end{matrix}}}+{{U}_{i}}}{3} \right)}^{3}}} \right]}^{\frac{1}{3}}}$
where C is the coupling degree, the mean value of C is between 0 and 1, and the larger the value, the higher the coupling coordination degree (Table 5).
Table 5 Classification of coupling degrees
Order Coupling C Coupled development stage
1 0≤C<0.1 The correlation is small and disordered
2 0.1≤C<0.3 Low-level coupling phase
3 0.3≤C<0.5 Antagonism phase
4 0.5≤C<0.8 Running-in stage
5 0.8≤C<0.9 High-level coupling phase
6 0.9≤C≤1.0 The system achieves benign coupling resonance and orderly development
The coupling coordination degree formula was introduced to analyze the coordination degree within the ski tourism, ecological environment and urbanization system. The formulas are:
$T=\alpha {{S}_{i}}+\beta {{E}_{\begin{matrix} i \\\end{matrix}}}+\varepsilon {{U}_{\begin{matrix} i \\\end{matrix}}}$
$D=\sqrt{C\times T}$
where T is the comprehensive development level index, and D is the coupling coordination degree. The parameters α, β, and ε are undetermined coefficients, representing the importance of ski tourism, the ecological environment and the urbanization system evaluation values respectively, which are usually α=β=ε=0.33.
According to Liao Chongbin’s relevant research (Liao, 1999), the classification standard of the coupling coordination degree and the definition of coordination development stage are shown in Table 6. According to the existing research, the system is divided into 10 coordination levels according to the different coordination intervals, and they are classified into three categories: maladjustment, transitional and coordination. According to the relationship of the sizes of S, E and U, the characteristics of the coordinated development stage of the ski tourism-ecological environment-urbanization system can be determined. Sequences of Si<Ei<Ui and Ei<Si<Ui indicate that urbanization develops well, while ski tourism and ecological environment lag behind; while Ei<Ui<Si and Ui<Ei<Si indicate that the development of ski tourism is advancing, and the development of the ecological environment and urbanization lag behind; and Ui<Si<Ei and Si<Ui<Ei indicate that the ecological environment is of high quality, and the development of ski tourism and urbanization are relatively underdeveloped.
Table 6 Classification of coupling coordination degree
Order Coupling coordination degree Degree of coordination
1 0-0.09 Extreme disorder
2 0.10-0.19 Severe disorders
3 0.20-0.29 Moderate disorders
4 0.30-0.39 Mild disorder
5 0.40-0.49 Slight disorder
6 0.50-0.59 Barely coordinated
7 0.60-0.69 Mild coordination
8 0.70-0.79 Moderate coordination
9 0.80-0.89 Good coordinated
10 0.90-1.00 High-quality coordination

4 Results

4.1 Comprehensive development level analysis

The comprehensive development level of each subsystem was calculated. On the whole, the three subsystems showed varying degrees of fluctuating growth. Among them, the skiing tourism system fluctuates the most, while the ecological environment system of each province stagnated in the fluctuation process. The detailed analysis results of the comprehensive evaluation of each subsystem are shown below.

4.1.1 Comprehensive evaluation of ski tourism development

The ski tourism development index from 2010 to 2019 was calculated according to formulas (1) to (11) (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 Systematic evaluation of ski tourism in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning
The overall development level of ski tourism shows a fluctuating upward trend. According to Fig. 2, among the three provinces in Northeast China, Heilongjiang continues to take the lead in ski tourism. The three provinces show a strong correlation with the development of ski tourism. Especially after the General Administration of Sport of China issued the Development Plan for Ice and Snow Sports (2016-2025) in 2016, with the widespread promotion of 5G network access and short video technology, China’s ski tourism market has attracted numerous domestic and foreign tourists under the influence of policies and network media.

4.1.2 Comprehensive evaluation of ecological and environmental development

The ecological environmental development index from 2010 to 2019 was calculated based on formulas 1 to 11 (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3 Ecological environment system evaluation in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning
The data in Fig. 3 show that the ecological environment index is different from the development of ski tourism, and has strong regional characteristics. To some extent, the ecological environment index shows the opposite ranking characteristics of ski tourism. The development of the ecological environment in Heilongjiang Province is moving in the wrong direction, and the restrictive effect of economic development and continuous urbanization on the ecological environment gradually appears.

4.1.3 Comprehensive evaluation of urbanization development

The urbanization development index from 2010 to 2019 was calculated based on formulas (1) to (11) (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 Systematic evaluation of urbanization in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning
The urbanization development index of the three provinces showed an overall trend of rising volatility, and the spatial adjustment of urbanization was significant, but the growth rate was slightly lower than the development of the ski industry. The urbanization in Northeast China began with the strategy of giving priority to the development of heavy industry. The resulting limited employment absorption capacity and environmental pollution are not conducive to the sustainable development of urbanization.

4.2 Coupling coordination degree analysis

The coupling coordination index values of the three subsystems in the three provinces were calculated separately, and the trends of change in the coupling coordination index of the S-E-U system were graphed (Figs. 5 and 6). From the perspective of development type, the S-E-U system in Heilongjiang province has maintained a high-level coupling degree during the study period. This shows that the synergistic effect of the ski tourism development system, the ecological environment system and the urbanization system has been in a strongly influential stage, maintaining an orderly interactive relationship. The coupling degrees of the three subsystems in Jilin Province have been in the running-in stage for a long time, and the development gap between them and the high-level coupling is obvious. The data show that from 2010 to 2019, except for Liaoning Province, urbanization development was mainly lagging, the ski tourism industry was developing well, and the ecological environment had not been seriously damaged.
Fig. 5 Coupling coordination degree of the ski tourism- ecological environment-urbanization system in the three provinces
Fig. 6 Radar diagram of the S-E-U system coupling coordination degree in 2010, 2015 and 2019
From the perspective of regional layout, the three provinces had the same development trends of S-E-U system coupling coordination from 2010 to 2019, but there were differences in the comprehensive development levels of ski tourism, urbanization and the ecological environment. Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces have been in the stage of reluctant coordination for a long time. In particular, Heilongjiang province is facing the problems of lagging urbanization and slow social and economic development. The system coupling and coordinated development of Jilin Province was on the verge of imbalance from 2013 to 2015. However, the coupling coordination degree among the provincial systems shows an increasing trend, and the regional gap is gradually narrowing, except in some regions with special advantages and policy support.

5 Discussion

5.1 Development characteristics of the S-E-U system

The ski tourism-ecological environment-urbanization system presents high coupling and low coordination. The coupling degree of the three subsystems is high, but the overall coupling and coordination degree is low. There is close interaction among the subsystems, and the trends of the change curves for the comprehensive level of the ecological environment and the level of urbanization development are generally similar, that is, the two develop simultaneously. The development trend of the coupling coordination degree is significantly correlated with the fluctuations in ecological environmental quality. The alternating development of ski tourism and urbanization increases the environmental pressure and prevents the whole system from entering the coordinated development stage.

5.2 Ecological environmental requirements and the urban construction background of ski tourism development

Type analysis of the coupled coordinated development can clearly show the overall evolution of the system and further delineate the law of coordinated development within the system. In this case, the coupling development type is mainly the advanced development of the ecological environment, which meets the environmental requirements of the development of ski tourism, while the lagging development of urbanization has become a factor that realistically interferes with the economic and social development. China’s urbanization has entered a stage of relatively slow development. In 2020, the population of Northeast China had declined by 11.01 million compared with 10 years ago, showing negative population growth for 10 consecutive years. In the long run, the healthy development of urbanization cannot be separated from the support for economic growth. The strong growth of ski tourism will be based on the huge thrust of urban construction.

5.3 Strengthening the endogenous power of S-E-U system coordination in Northeast China

The comprehensive evaluation system of urbanization shows that economic factors have a significant impact on urbanization development, but the deviation between the industrial structure and the employment structure is large. Endowed with natural resources, the industrial cities in Northeast China have natural advantages for developing ski tourism, relying on snow and ice resources to build snow and ice towns and ski resorts. This development can increase both economic and ecological benefits, and at the same time, the protection of agricultural land is guaranteed, the rational allocation of land resources is realized, and the two-way promotion of ski tourism and the ecological environmental development level is promoted. The second-tier cities in Northeast China, such as Shenyang, Dalian and Harbin, show significant metropolitan circle effects, which is an important feature for promoting a new type of people-centered urbanization. This feature can strengthen the construction of metropolitan areas, play a role in radiating to the surrounding areas, and promote regional integration (Song et al., 2022). High-quality new urbanization is not only reflected in the people-oriented development requirements, but also needs to be coordinated and unified with population agglomeration, employment transfer and industrial support. An important pathway is to promote urbanization through building and developing cities based on industry and promoting the integration of industries and small towns (Fang et al., 2017).

6 Conclusions

This study used the comprehensive evaluation model and the coupled coordination model to analyze the relationships and trends of the coupled and coordinated development of ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization in the three provinces of Northeast China. This analysis led to three basic conclusions.
(1) The overall development level of the provinces is relatively stable, but the level of coordinated development is still low, with significant regional differences. On the whole, the development level of ski tourism, the quality of ecological environment, the level of urbanization and the level of coordinated development of system coupling have improved to varying degrees, showing a coordinated development and evolutionary trend of “running-coordination”. With the continuous improvement in the urban development path, the level of coordination among the three subsystems will gradually improve and become more coordinated and active in the continuous running-in.
(2) In terms of time series, the integrated development level of the regional ski tourism, ecological environment and urbanization system shows the characteristics of changes in stages. According to the three major development stages, the development of the S-E-U systems in the three Northeastern provinces are all in a transitional stage. As the level of socio-economic development increases, national environmental quality standards are adjusted, and people’s demand for high environmental quality increases, so the ecological environment will become a key element in determining regional development.
(3) From the spatial scale, except for Liaoning Province, the coupled coordination type of ski tourism, the ecological environment and urbanization in the other two provinces is “barely coordinated-lagging urbanization”. In 2013-2015, the level of ski tourism development in Jilin Province increased significantly, and the type of coupling coordination was at the stage of near dissonance. The coupling coordination of the S-E-U system in Heilongjiang Province is high, and the ski industry is more coordinated with the regional ecological environment and town development.

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