Study on Spatio-Temporal Distribution and Evolution of Tourism Innovation Ability in China's Provinces

The paper analyses the regional tourism innovation ability in China which highly affects the new tourism product creation. According to the paper, regional tourism innovation ability refers to the ability of a specific region to create new tourism products. Based on the tourism innovation ability data of 31 provinces in China from 2000 to 2016, the paper studies the spatial and temporal pattern and evolution characteristics of China's tourism innovation ability. The reasons of forming such spatial and temporal pattern are also identified in the paper. Stable and continuous policy for tourism innovation, increased investment and improved innovation environment in the past decade in many regions are among those reasons. The paper also finds out an expanded gap in tourism innovation between coastal and inland regions, and suggests paying more attention to the coordinated development of regions in the future.