Exploring the synergy between Karst World Heritage site's OUV conservation and buffer zone's tourism industry development: a case study of the Libo-Huanjiang Karst

Karst World Heritage Site (KWHS) combines high-grade landscape resources and a fragile ecological environment. As an essential tool for heritage conservation and maintaining local interests, its buffer zone is primarily located in remote villages, a crucial and challenging area for rural revitalization. The conflict between heritage conservation and development is particularly acute at the site. How to deal with the relationship between the heritage site's OUV conservation and the buffer zone's tourism industry development and realize the synergy between the two subsystems? Few studies have focused on it. There is an urgent need to explore the synergistic mechanism of the KWHS's OUV conservation and the buffer zone's tourism industry development. Accordingly, this study takes the Libo-Huanjiang KWHS, one of the 'South China Karst' series of heritage sites, as a case study. The coupling coordination degree model, gray correlation analysis (GCA), and Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial analysis are used. The results show that: (1) There is a synergistic effect between the Libo-Huanjiang KWHS's OUV conservation and its buffer zone's tourism industry development, showing a favorable trend. The mean value of the coupling coordination degree increased from 0.57 in 2015 to 0.63 in 2020, and the overall situation improved from barely coupling coordination state to primary coupling coordination. (2) Influenced by the main driving factors, such as NDVI, landscape dominance, government support for tourism development, tourists' satisfaction, and residents' support, the coupling coordination of the four tourist scenic areas in the study area differed slightly in 2015 and 2020. Yaoshan Ancient Village Scenic Area is the highest in both years, increasing from 0.69 to 0.81, followed by the Mengliu Buyi Scenic Area (0.59), Wanmu Meiyuan Scenic Area is relatively stable with a slight increase, and Lianshanwan Scenic Area (0.45) is the lowest. (3) The four dimensions of ecological resources, policy drivers, economy drivers, and social facilitators work together to create a synergistic mechanism between the KWHS's OUV conservation and the buffer zone's tourism industry development. Future research can promote synergy between the two by formulating a comprehensive plan, encouraging sustainable tourism, establishing a diversified tourism industry, strengthening heritage education and training, enhancing community participation, and reinforcing stakeholder cooperation.