Spatio-Temporal Dynamics, Driving Forces, and Location–Distance Attenuation Mechanisms of Beautiful Leisure Tourism Villages in China

Beautiful Leisure Tourism Villages (BLTVs) represent an effective pathway for advancing high-quality rural industrial development and promoting comprehensive rural revitalization. They are of great significance to enriching new rural business formats and new functions. The analysis is interpreted within an integrated location–distance attenuation framework. Based on the methods of spatial clustering analysis, geographical linkage rate and geographical weighted regression, the spatio-temporal evolution of 1982 BLTVs in China up to 2023 was examined to uncover the underlying driving mechanisms. Findings indicated that (1) a staged expansion in the number of villages across China, with the most pronounced growth occurring between 2014 and 2018, averaged 124 new villages per year; their stage characteristics showed an obvious “unipolar core-bipolar multi-core-bipolar network” development model; (2) the barycenters of villages were all located in Nanyang City of Henan Province; they migrated from east to west, and formed a push and pull migration trend from east to west and then east; (3) the spatial distribution of villages was highly aggregated and demonstrated marked regional heterogeneity, following a south–north and east–west gradient, with the highest concentration in Jiangzhe and the lowest in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; and (4) natural ecology, hydrological and climatic conditions, socioeconomic context, transportation accessibility, and resource endowment collectively shaped the spatial layout of villages, exhibiting pronounced spatial variation in the intensity of these driving factors. On the whole, topography, social economy, traffic condition and precipitation condition had greater influences on the spatial distribution of villages in the western than in the eastern part of China. In contrast, the effects of resource endowment and temperature on the spatial distribution of BLTVs were stronger in eastern China than in western China. These findings enhance the theoretical understanding of tourism-oriented rural development by integrating spatio-temporal evolution with a location–distance attenuation perspective and provide differentiated guidance for the sustainable development of BLTVs across regions.