The coupling coordination between rural public services and rural tourism and its causative factors: The case study of southwestern China

Rural public services and rural tourism are interdependent, and their coordinated development is crucial for promoting rural revitalization and overall growth in China. So far, the existing studies mainly focus on the mutual influence, mutual promotion, and coordination paths of rural public services and rural tourism but fail to conduct an empirical analysis on the coupling coordination of rural public services and rural tourism or summarize the spatial and temporal differences of the coupling coordination. Therefore, we adopt an evaluation index system for rural public services and rural tourism. To measure the development level and the coupling coordination degree of rural public services and rural tourism in southwestern China from 2012 to 2019, we used a comprehensive evaluation model and a coupling coordination degree model. Additionally, geographic detectors were utilised to detect the causative factors of their coupling coordination development. Based on the analysis of research results, we made the following observations. In southwestern China, the comprehensive development of rural public services and rural tourism indicated an upward trend. An additional interactive coupling relationship between the two systems is observed, and its coupling coordination degree increases, with the increment varying from slow to rapid. The type of coupling coordination changes from rural tourism lagging type to rural public service lagging type, and there are spatial differences in the degree of coupling coordination between the two. The coupling coordination development of the two systems is affected by multiple causative forces, such as economic, industrial, resource attraction, and service guarantee forces, and some differences distinguish the driving strengths of both single and interaction factors. The main contribution of this article is to reveal the coupling and coordination relationship between rural public services and rural tourism, to explore the driving factors affecting the degree of coupling and coordination between them, and to make relevant policy recommendations.