Work

Grassland Tourism Evolves from Quantity- to Quality-Oriented with Lessening Ecological Disturbance: Evidence from Hulunbuir, China

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Tourism, a key driver of regional economies and perceived “green industry,” faces challenges from irrational resource allocation and spatial overlaps, undermining sustainability. This study examines 825 tourism resources in China’s Hulunbuir Grassland, analyzing spatiotemporal patterns, influencing factors, and ecological impacts using GPP and NDVI data. Three development phases emerged: essential development, rapid growth, and upgrading. They present a spatial pattern with Hailar and Chen Barag as the center, and multiple other points, mainly affected by ethnic minority population proportions, tourist reception, tourist attraction density, and river networks. Ecological analysis reveals that tourism-induced disturbances cause less environmental stress than other human activities, with grassland NDVI in tourism areas improving during upgrading. However, the NDVI of grasslands under non-tourism disturbance is still superior to that of grasslands under tourism disturbance. The findings emphasize the need for optimized resource allocation and proactive monitoring of tourism’s ecological footprint to advance sustainable grassland tourism.

Source: Sustainability

DOI: 10.3390/su17219788

Authors: Lu Han, Boyu Wang, Baohui Dong, Bochuan Zhao, Yuhui Xu, An Chang

Institutions: Inner Mongolia Normal University, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Tongji University

Language: English

Topic: Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896