Spatial Heterogeneity and Influencing Factors of High-Grade Tourist Attractions in the Tibetan Plateau

The construction of the world tourism destination on the Tibetan Plateau is inseparable from the traditional tourist attractions, which are significant landscape ecological units. Based on the data of high-grade tourist attractions on the Tibetan Plateau, the spatial heterogeneity and influence factors are studied employing the Standard Deviation Ellipse (SDE), Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), spatial autocorrelation (SA), and modified tourism gravity model methods. The results show that: (1) the overall spatial distribution characteristic of high-grade tourist attractions is in the direction of northeast-southwest, with solid centripetal force, and the center of gravity of the ellipse is in Yushu City. (2) The spatial heterogeneity of the kernel density distribution is remarkable, clustered in the southeastern half of the plateau, showing a double nucleus-driven and strip-connected pattern. The distribution among cities has a hierarchical heterogeneity, and the two capital cities of Xining and Lhasa play a crucial role. (3) The high-grade tourist attractions are spatially dependent, with evident characteristics of large dispersion and small clustering, and the spatial association type is mainly negative. (4) This paper verifies the significant single-factor mechanism affecting the spatial distribution from supportive and intrinsic dimensions with natural environmental base, tourism resource endowment, socio-economic development, transportation location constraints, and spatial tourism linkages. Finally, the article provides suggestions for the high-quality development of high-grade tourist attractions on the Tibetan Plateau.