THE SPATIAL EFFECT OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL ON REGIONAL TOURISM ECONOMY IN A CHINESE URBAN AGGLOMERATION

High-speed rail (HSR) offers great potential for leveraging city-level cooperation within a certain district. However, the possible existence of spatial correlation as for the effect of HSR on the regional tourism economy is seldom examined. This study, based on the case of Wuhan urban agglomeration in China, investigated the effect of an HSR network on the tourism economy under the consideration of spatial correlations. A spatial error regression model with the regional geographic weights was employed. Main findings - When considering spatial correlations, the frequency of HSR, together with the endowment of tourist resources and the development level of the hospitality industry positively affects regional tourism revenue; however, the effect of the operation mileage of HSR is negative. This study contributes by providing more detailed evidence on the effects of an HSR network on regional tourism economy through the case of a Chinese urban agglomeration, thus gains understandings on how to leverage the benefits of an HSR network among cities within a region.