Network construction and spatial classification of cultural heritage tourism corridor in the Yellow River Cultural Tourism Belt of China

Scientific identification of the network of heritage tourism corridors is of great significance for the revitalization of regional cultural heritage and the optimization of the heritage tourism destination system. Taking the Yellow River Cultural Tourism Belt (YRCTB) of China as the research area, this study constructs a potential cultural heritage tourism corridor network and classifies it, then uses virtual tourism flow data to verify its scientificity and rationality, and proposes optimization strategies. Key findings include: The YRCTB has two belt-like clusters of cultural heritages, eight multi-core clusters and seven single-core clusters. The YRCTB has identified 40 sources of heritage tourism and 106 potential heritage tourism corridors. Based on the gravity model, 106 cultural heritage tourism corridors were classified into five levels, forming a hierarchical structure system of “9 + 14 + 28 + 28 + 27”. The comparison results show that heritage tourism corridors receive a medium to high level of response in the virtual tourism flow network.