Spatial Mismatch Between Transportation Development and Tourism Spatial Vitality in Yunnan Province in the Context of Urban–Rural Integration

As China’s urban–rural integration progresses, the connections between urban and rural areas continue to strengthen, making the spatial matching between transportation infrastructure and tourism resources increasingly crucial for coordinated regional development. This study investigates the spatial–temporal mismatch between transportation development and tourism spatial vitality in Yunnan Province, proposing optimization strategies to improve their coordination. Using Weibo check-in big data and OpenStreetMap transportation network data, we apply Convolutional Long Short-Term Memory (ConvLSTM) networks and bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis to examine this relationship. The results show strong transportation–tourism matching in Kunming and surrounding areas. However, northwest and southern Yunnan exhibit significant mismatches—despite transportation improvements, underdeveloped tourism resources constrain vitality growth. Particularly in some remote regions, well-developed transportation infrastructure coexists with low tourism vitality, revealing persistent spatial mismatches between transport facilities and tourism resources. In general, transportation infrastructure development generally enhances tourism spatial vitality, but requires coordinated tourism resource development and market demand alignment. The study results provide a basis for improving the coordinated development of transportation and tourism, offering practical guidance for policymakers to promote balanced regional development and urban–rural integration.