Linking Platform-Recorded Tourism-Resource Supply and Platform-Observed Visitor Interest with Tourist-Flow Networks for Sustainable Tourism Planning: Evidence from the Upper Yangtze River Basin

Sustainable tourism planning in large river basins requires evidence on whether tourism-resource provision, observed visitation, and cross-regional movement coincide. From a recorded-resource–reported-flow–visitor-interest perspective, this study links supply–interest matching with tourist-flow networks in the Upper Yangtze River Basin using Amap point-of-interest datasets and Ctrip and Mafengwo travelogues grouped into three publication-year cohorts (2023–2025). Platform-recorded tourism-resource supply and platform-observed visitor interest were estimated using kernel density estimation with a 30 km search radius and aligned to a 5 km × 5 km grid. Nine matching types were identified using side-specific thresholds fitted to the pooled 2023–2025 distributions and held fixed across cohorts, and reported consecutive visits were reconstructed as directed weighted networks. Recreation represented 43% of recorded supply but 72.39–75.54% of node visits, indicating stronger functional concentration in platform-observed visitor interest. Low-low cells dominated the grid (73.67–75.81%); medium-medium and high-high cells together occupied 5.22–6.14%. Distinguishing these classes shows that the 79.77–81.02% categorical balance primarily reflects low-intensity correspondence. Recorded resource locations formed a core centred on Chengdu–Chongqing and the Sichuan Basin, whereas visitor interest was multicentric and the strongest network nodes clustered in northwestern Yunnan. Within-province transitions dominated; interprovincial transitions represented 11.54–16.56% of total transition weight, with Sichuan–Yunnan and Sichuan–Chongqing forming the main cross-boundary backbone. The combined analysis identifies where recorded resources, visitor interest and itinerary connections converge, informing the selection of areas for visitor monitoring and resource assessment.