An Analysis on the Spatial Diffusion Network of Shanghai World Expo Tourists

This paper examines 16 cities that serve as tourist nodes in the Yangtze River Delta.It is based on a social network analysis method that forms a spatial diffusion network,evaluates the network's whole and node characteristics,and analyzes each city's ability to cluster,diffuse and transfer the tourist flow of the Shanghai World Expo.The tourist flow data were obtained through a questionnaire survey that was conducted during the Shanghai World Expo.In addition,data have also been gathered through a search of the network travel notes.This paper required that the tourist's route contain two or more cities in the Yangtze River Delta;from this we received 167 valid questionnaires and 41 valid network travel notes.The tourist flow data are constructed in two matrices that contain the flow direction and flow vector.However,a QAP correlation analysis shows that the two tourist flow matrices that are based on two types of data have a positive correlation.Therefore,the two matrices were merged and then binarized.In addition,this research built a tourism network schematic diagram of the Yangtze River Delta.Meanwhile,it evaluates the structure of overall network by density and diameter.It also evaluates the node city's ability to cluster,diffuse and transfer the tourist flow by degree of centrality,and between centrality and close centrality.The node city's competitive advantage in the network is evaluated by structure hole.The results show that the overall density of the tourist flow network is 0.2583,which means that the whole tourism flow interaction is not obvious.Meanwhile,the network diameter is 4,which means that most tourists arranged four cities on their tourist route.Some node cities(such as Shanghai,Suzhou,and Hangzhou) were found to have had a competitive advantage in the Shanghai World Expo tourist spatial diffusion network and their siphon effect on tourist flow is strong.Therefore,Shanghai,Hangzhou and Suzhou are located in the core of the network and have a powerful function of clustering,diffusing and transferring tourist flows.Nanjing,Wuxi,Jiaxing are sub-core node cities that have weaker functions of clustering,diffusing and transferring of the tourist flow.Changzhou,Ningbo,Shaoxing,Yangzhou and Zhenjiang are secondary edge node cities.Huzhou is an isolated city.The other cities are edge node cities in the Yangtze River Delta.In contrast to Gao's(2008) work on the tourist flow network in the Yangtze River Delta,we have found that the tourism spatial radiation effect of the Shanghai World Expo on the node city has certain differences in the Yangtze River Delta;for example,they are affected by spatial distance,tourism resources,and tourism development.The Shanghai World Expo enhanced the capability of gathering tourist flow in Shanghai city,whose status is more prominent as the polar nucleus.However,the radiation effect that Suzhou,Hangzhou,Nanjing received is not obvious.The tourist flow diffused from Shanghai was less than that inputted to Shanghai from these cities.Meanwhile,Wuxi,Changzhou,Zhenjiang,Nantong,Taizhou received an obvious positive radiation effect.The other cities suffered a negative radiation effect from the Shanghai World Expo.Taking the Yangtze River Delta as a whole,the agglomeration effect on tourist flow of the Shanghai World Expo is shown to be stronger than its spatial radiation effect on surrounding areas.