Differences in spatial imagery from the dual perspectives of residents and tourists: A case study of Shiwei village

Spatial imagery (SI) refers to people’s experiential understanding of the surrounding environment. Residents’ and tourists’ spatial imagery (SI) of rural tourism destinations can provide important references for the coordinated development and spatial optimization of destinations. This study has constructed a theoretical framework of “SI elements-SI structure-SI pattern”, and employed a mixed approach including interviews, cognitive map (CM), spatial interpolation methods, and GIS spatial analysis to reveal the differences in SI between residents and tourists in Shiwei village. The results show that: (1) In terms of SI elements, residents primarily organize SI through region and path elements, emphasizing spatial continuity, familiarity, and daily practicality; whereas tourists mainly rely on landmark elements to perceive SI, focusing on symbolic uniqueness tourism and functionality. (2) In terms of SI structure, residents frequently employ high-level sequential CM, whereas tourists primarily utilize low-level monolithic CM. (3) In terms of SI pattern, the image hotspots of residents exhibit an elliptical clustering pattern with a “dense in the north, sparse in the south” spatial distribution; whereas the image hotspots of tourists are distributed in multiple clusters concentrated in three main areas, forming an overall arc-shaped distribution pattern. This research provides empirically grounded insights for the development and spatial planning of rural tourism destinations and represents a methodologically rigorous attempt to analyze village SI using a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach at a micro-scale.