Strategies of Huaian Regional Tourism Integration Development Based on Spatial Structure Optimization〔＊〕

Hong Tao

（Business School Hohai University，Nanjing Jiangsu 211100）

Ⅰ.Main factors on regional tourism development

The financial condition and population are main factors that affect the tourism.Residents go traveling when they are in good financial conditions.In urban tourism activities，tourists are generally in the pursuit of comfortable conditions and high quality services，which determines the need of a considerable economic foundation.The improvement of economic conditions，the reduction of work time and the relative increase in leisure time can effectively promote the tourism；the other important factor that affects the size of the tourist market is population，which is the base of tourism demand.Generally speaking，the larger the population，the relatively larger tourism demand is.The tourism demand and the population are positively related.

Ⅱ.Ways to optimize regional spatial structure

On the integration of resources，a strategy of integrating tourism resources on themes，types and space is put forward to launch a series of tourism products with distinct themes，similar or different types of tourism resources and effective and reasonable layout.In creating high-quality projects，there are three major strategies of high-quality scenic spots，routes and boutique brands.In the design of tourism routes，a multi-objective constrained optimization design scheme is proposed on the basis of time，themes and resource constraints.

In the implementation of brand strategy，via the excavation of the characteristics of tourism products and regional culture，a cultural brand with distinctive cultural features can be built to create a well-known brand of tourism enterprises，and highlight and strengthen the comprehensive effect of tourism brand.

In short，the above strategies can be used in the optimization of tourism spatial structures，with resource orientation，theme orientation and cooperation orientation.And a clear goal-oriented，multi-objective and multi-method integrated regional tourism development model can be achieved.

Ⅲ.Strategies for spatial structure integration

According to three main types of regional tourism spatial structure，namely node type，axis type and network type，and the general principles of spatial structure optimization and the development of tourism，the author proposes the following general strategies：

1.Constructing the theme touring plate and developing agglomeration effect

The overall influential power can be promoted by effectively extracting and mining themes，types and characteristics of different tourism resources，and then integrating similar types and characteristics of those resources to strengthen its relation，agglomeration effect，fame and reputation.

2.Constructing boutique routes and creating the conceptual center

The influence of high quality tourism resources can be developed by connecting top spots together in different places to attract tourists，and high-quality routes can be created to form highly influential conceptual centers so as to improve the general spatial radiation effect of tourism resources.

3.Constructing core metropolitan zones and improving the system of tourism center

Metropolitan zones play a role of gathering and distributing tourists，and have advantages of regional transportation and economic culture.Different metropolitan zones can be linked to establish a center via using their central roles and advantages effectively，and building close contact with the internal and external regions actively.

On the basis of the above three points，three tourism resources optimization models can be concluded from the perspectives of theme，type and space.

Ⅳ.Analysis on the present situation of tourism development in Huaian City

1.A brief introduction of the city

Huaian city is located in northern hinterland in Jiangsu province.The city’s transportation is convenient.Crossing north to south，the Grand Canal and highways of Beijing-Shanghai，Nanjing-Dalian，Nanjing-Xuzhou，Xuzhou-Huaian-Salt city converge in the territory.New railways run through the whole territory as well.So the city is effectively connected with large and mediumsized cities such as Beijing，Qingdao，Harbin and Chengdu.Huaian is a traffic hub in North Jiangsu，and with the construction of civil airport，the expanding of railway and highway network，the advantage will be more extinctive.

Huaihe River is regarded as the dividing line between North and South China，making the culture gathering in Huaian.The city features in a long history and culture，numerous celebrities and historical relics，delicious Huaiyang food，dense lakes and abundant resources revealing excellent ecological environment.A number of special tour routes such as Huaian Red Tour，Celebrity Hometown Tour，Kangxi Canal Tour，Hongze Lake Tour，Xuyi Landscape Tour and Jinhu Lake Ecological Agriculture Sightseeing make Huaian’s tourism gradually mature.

The city’s tourism resources are mainly human landscape of historical heritage，a considerable part of the natural scenes and a certain proportion of modern human attractions.The urban area features in cultural landscape resources；Hongze Lake and Jinhu Lake are natural tourism resources，while Lianshui and Xuyi are both cultural and natural resources.

The natural tourism resources feature in rivers，lakes and forest scenery，while historical cultural resources are featuring in celebrity culture.Celebrity monuments are relatively concentrated in Chuzhou District，such as Zhou Enlai，Wu Chengen and other celebrities’series，and Ming Zuling，the national security unit in Xuyi，constituting the core of Huaian tourism resources and cultural connotation.Modern urban parks，modern water conservancy projects，museums and galleries are typical modern cultural tourism resources.

2.The advantages and challenges

Several major festivals have been successfully held in the city，which shows a regional and national tourism brand is created.

There are several remarkable advantages：first，with its ideal transportation and location，it has become the gateway of northern Jiangsu area；second，tourism resources are rich with even distribution of different types；third，the social and economic development grow rapidly and the overall competitiveness becomes strong；furthermore，regional tourism cooperation is in good condition in the radiation from Nanjing metropolitan zone and Xuzhou metropolitan zone；finally，industry scale and market development is increasing as the tourism market mature gradually.

At the same time，the city is also facing great challenges.First，the scenic spots in the city are relatively small，and its cultural contents are relatively weak.So it is difficult to form a significant regional tourism brand without a unified integration of different tourism resources；second，there are few comprehensive scenic spots combining participation，knowledge and entertainment，so tourists tend to stay for a short time；besides，the tourist attractions compete with the surroundings due to a lack of integration and effective handling ways.

Ⅴ.Strategies of regional tourism integration development

Based on the optimization of regional tourism spatial structure，strategies of regional tourism integration development are raised as follows：

1.Spatial structure optimization strategy

The optimization of spatial structure of tourism development in Huaian should grasp the spatial structure characteristics and relationship between the inner space and the whole structure of the whole North Jiangsu plate，and then construct the effective spatial structure optimization strategy.

First of all，the spatial structure optimization must focus on its own characteristics of tourism resources，and combine with the spatial distribution pattern，to obtain urban spatial integration and optimization.As a cultural city，the hometown of the Great Canal，a delicacy place，and an ecological place with delicious food，its attractive elements can be highlighted to enhance the overall competitiveness of the whole city.Additionally，the advantage of dislocation development of the overall tourism resources in northern Jiangsu Province is relatively strong，though the northern part is not as prosperous as the south.It’s advisable to strengthen cooperation with the surrounding cities，especially Xuzhou city，Lianyungang city and Suqian city，and enhance the market competitiveness by using advantages of regional integration and aggregation.

2.The implementation of brand strategy

Efforts can be made on the Canal Culture and “celebrities，cultural city，lake，local delicacies”，to improve the core competitiveness and attractive power of Huaian tourism，so as to create a number of outstanding tourism products and a top tourism brand.

There are four major advantages of the construction of Huaian tourism brand：celebrities’hometown，the Grand Canal，famous Hongze Lake and local delicacies.The city is the hometown of three great men in history：the great strat-egist Han Xin in Han Dynasty，Wu Chengen，the author of Journey to the West，and Zhou Enlai，the great prime minister in China.Everything can not be separated from the Grand Canal，which is the mother river of the city.The famous river breeds and feeds the city.As one of the four cities along the Grand Canal in the history，Huaian，has the ancient stakeholder’s mansion，the governor’s house and an ancient town，which is an important stage used by the emperor in ancient time.There is a water conservancy hub and river channel interchange，which is the first in China，the first in Asia and the first in the world.The city used to be an ancient salt transportation center and now is famous for rock salt.Hongze Lake is located in the central Northern Jiangsu Plain，to the west of Huaihe River and east of the Yangtze River and the Yellow Sea.Hongze Lake is one of the famous five freshwater lakes in China，which is the second largest freshwater lake in Jiangsu Province，with beautiful scenery and rich production.Besides，Huaian can be defined as the hometown of oriental delicacy as the birthplace of Huaiyang food，which is strict in material selection，delicate cooking and taste focusing，and the moderate favor is popular nationally.

3.Resource integration and route design

According to the characteristics of tourism resources in Huaian，the existing spatial distribution，tourism infrastructure，and different demands for tourism products，the routes can be designed mainly on prominent celebrities，the Ancient Canal tour，Water Village tour，Hongze Lake scenic tour，Huaiyang delicacy tour and Xuyi landscape tour.Based on the space and integration of different themes and different types of tourism resources，tourism routes can be constructed as follows：a one-day historical tour of Huaian，a five-day Huaiyang delicacy tour，a two-day Huaian-Chuzhou-Xuyi tour，a one-day historical and cultural tour from Huaian to Suzhou，Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall-Huaian government department-the former residence of Zhou Enlai-the former residence of Wu Chengen-Huaian Museum-Qing feast garden，a one-day natural scenery tour，and a route from Kongwangshan scenic to Fishing Bay scenic resort and Lian island beach resort.

Notes：

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〔3〕Yuan Ding，Zhou chunlin，Study on the coupling of city tourism and cultural development and social economy elements in Jiangsu，Social Sciences inNingxia，2010，（5），pp.123-127.

〔4〕Wu Bihu，An analytic framework of RMP for regional tourism development：case study of Luoyang City，Geographical Research，2001，20（1），pp.103-110.