Complex Network Study of Yantai Tourism Industry

Jun-yi Ren School of Economics and Management

Yantai Unversity Yantai, China

e-mail: ytrjy@126.com

Abstract—Basic information of tourism industry cluster, some theories and features of complex network, and the advantages and disadvantages of Yantai tourism are introduced firstly. To construct complex network of the tourism industry in Shandong province by utilizing complex network approaches, to determine the network type and analyze network statistical properties, to analyze the position of Yantai Tourism in Shandong Province, and then to give persuasive proposals towards the development of Yantai tourism industry in accordance with its unique resources and its long-term development. To persuade to master complex network development trend of tourism industry in Yantai, to display fully complex network’s characteristics of scale-free network growth and prior connections, and then to develop complex network into a network with dense gathering and strong robustness in order to develop tourism industry in Yantai more vigorously.

Keywords-complex network; topology; Yantai tourism industry

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Overview of the tourism industry cluster Since 1990s, more and more scholars pay attention to

tourism industry cluster phenomenon, and start to define the concept of tourism industry cluster from different perspectives. Bing Tang said that tourism industry cluster meets the need of the close economic relations among tourism core attraction, tourism enterprises and tourism-related supporting enterprises and sectors, which gather geographically and develop jointly coefficient linkages of tourism industry. It can be vertical, or horizontal. Furthermore, it can make across geographical and administrative regions, rely on all the participants of tourism industry chain, and form a single or a combination of tourism products [1]. Most scholars believe that tourism industry itself is a cluster of economic, and tourism industry cluster just embodies the support for tourist consumer activities made by core tourism industries and related industries in the competition and cooperation. It is a product of advanced phase of tourism industry and it adapts to the inevitable trend of development economic globalization and clustering [2].

One of important areas of industry cluster research is the identification of industry clusters, namely, how to determine the existence of industry cluster phenomena. Such surveys started in 1990s, but so far there are still no authoritative measurement methods. Some scholars quoted industry geographical distribution standard deviation coefficient

method, which has been used in Houkai Wei’s writings, to calculate tourism industry cluster in Shandong Province. Under their calculations, standard deviation of Shandong tourism industry geographical distribution in 2005 is STDk=0.97, VCOk=16.4, which represent that there are probably high gathering tourism industry cluster in Shandong Province. In 2006, tourism industry output value of Shandong Peninsula City Group accounted for 71.5 % of that of Shandong Province, that is to say, Shandong Peninsula City Group has probably developed into a regional tourism industry cluster [3].

B. Research of complex network Network can be viewed as the combination of many

nodes and a number of edges that connect two nodes. The network consists of many vertexes and some edges connecting two vertexes, in which vertexes represent different individuals and edges represent individual relationship. If two vertexes have specific relationship, an edge is drawn. Two vertexes with edge are seen as adjacent. Two vertexes with edge are seen as adjacent. Some surveys have proved that different Topological Structures led to differences in network performance. Network Topological Structure will generally be divided into three categories, which are regular network, random network, and complex network. Complex network enjoys some different statistical characteristics from that of regular network and random network, of which small-world effect scale-free property are the most important [4].

Network considered by the traditional graph theory is generally regular network, in which network node and its relationship with the edge are relatively stable. Large clustering coefficient and large average path length are the major statistical characteristics. In 1950s, Erdos and Rényi constructed the basic model of random network of the network, which was uncertain about the links of two nodes, and it wais determined by power-law. Random network is characterized by small clustering coefficient and small average path length, and it obeyed Poisson distribution [5]. In a very long period of time, the real system is considered to be described objectively with random network. It was only in recent years, people realized that the topology of true system is not completely fixed, nor is it completely random, but rather a series of complex networks. The so-called complex network is that network model with complex dynamic behavior and complex topology.

2009 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Computational Intelligence

978-0-7695-3816-7/09 $26.00 © 2009 IEEE

DOI 10.1109/AICI.2009.120

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Figure 1. Topology of three types of network

Complex network embodies many statistical characteristics that differ from regular network and random network, in which the most important is the small-world effect and scale-free property.

In 1998, Watts and Strogatz to cut off the original rules of the network side through a very small probability p and randomly select a new endpoint to re-connect and construct another new network named WS network. Later, the physiologist combined the characteristics of the two statistical features that are large clustering coefficient and small average path length and named it as the small-world effect. A network with this effect is small world network. Fig.1 shows the evolution process of small world network. When p = 0, they get regular network, p = 1 corresponding to the random network, and if p is between 0 and 1, p corresponding to small world network.

In 1999, Barabási and Albert gives evolution model that structured scale-free network. They owed two main factors of true system generating into the scale-free network of self-organizing system to the growth and priority connections [6]. Their network model, BA network, was designed by the simulation of these two key mechanisms (see Figure 2.).

TABLE I. TOPOLOGY FEATURES OF A VARIETY OF NETWORK

Network type The

average path length

Clustering coefficient

Degree distribution

Regular network Large Large δ function

ER random network Small Small Poisson

distribution WS small-

world network Small Large Exponential distribution

BA scale-free network Small Small Power-law

distribution

Many true network Small Large

Approximate power-law distribution

II. THE STATUS QUO OF TOURISM INDUSTRY IN YANTAI Located in the eastern part of Shandong Peninsula, facing

Korea and Japan across Yellow Sea, Yantai is one of the major cities in Central Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea Economic Community. Yantai is a beautiful coastal city with 909 kilometers long coastline, enjoying abundant ocean resources and the annual average temperature around 12 0C. In Yantai, mountain, sea and the city exist harmoniously, while island, forestry, and foundation blend well. Besides, Yantai has a strong historic character as a city of culture and folk customs.

Yantai is up against fierce competitions from other cities in tourism industry both inside and outside Shandong

province. In Shandong Province, the overall development of tourism industry in Jinan, Tai'an, and Qufu is higher than that in Yantai. In recent years, the tourism industry in Linyi, Rizhao, Dongying and other cities also develop obviously. For instance, Rizhao City with its large number of open beaches, relatively primitive and ecological seashore environment, and lower price, become popular among tourists from the Chinese central Plain, Beijing and Tianjin district, and Jinan markets, which reduce some Yantai tourists. Yantai is in the same tourism cluster with Qingdao and Dalian. They share the tourists with one another, while they are in cooperative and competitive complex relationship. In the long run, Yantai tourism industry falls behind Qingdao and Dalian. Besides, so far, Yantai is still lack of rich tourism resources in the professional integration. Comparing with Qingdao and Dalian, Yantai tourism is not so popular and well-known. The capacity for accommodating tourists, and the tourism industry scale and structure in Yantai are also relatively low. Therefore, the tourism industry in Yantai will face substitute and competition from several cities like Qingdao, Dalian, and Weihai and so on in the near future.

At present, the seashore tourism is in great demand in the international market. The domestic market demand is also rising rapidly. In China, Hainan province ranks first among all the provinces with coastal tourism resources, while Shandong the second, and then Liaoning. However, as a seashore resort, Yantai has larger gap with Qingdao and Hainan in its Market scale and market influence. Therefore, there is still a long way ahead for Yantai to develop into a competitive and well-known Chinese seaside resort.

TABLE II. THE TOURISM OUTPUT VALUE OF CITIES IN SHANDONG IN 2006 (UNIT: 0.1 BILLION)

City/Node Tourism output value Proportion

Qingdao 325.2 24.6%

Yantai 147.85 11.2%

Jinan 146.4 11.1%

Weihai 101.78 7.7%

Jining 100.6 7.6%

Linyi 100.3 7.6%

Taian 87.6 6.6%

Zibo 77.34 5.8%

Weifang 62.9 4.8%

Rizhao 50.8 3.8%

Zaozhuang 28.29 2.1%

Liaocheng 24.78 1.9%

Bingzhou 17 1.3%

Dezhou 15.95 1.2%

Dongying 14.4 1.1%

Heze 12.01 0.9%

Laiwu 9.3 0.7%

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III. COMPLEX NETWORK MODEL

A. Complex Network Model Construction of Tourism Industry in Shandong First of all, we define tourism industry complex network.

In our definition, nodes represent each city, district or county with overall tourism revenue, while edges refer to major tourist business relations that include competition cooperation and businesses correlation. According to the definition of the network, we can construct complex network model of tourism industry in Shandong Province, and then draw the complex network topology figure (see Figure 2.).

Figure 2. Complex network topology figure of Shandong tourism industry

B. Calculation of Complex Network Indicators 1) Degree and Degree Distribution: Degree refers to

ki, namely, the number of edges that node i is connecting with other nodes. Degree is a basic parameter to describe partial characteristics of the network. Node degree distribution refers to the law of p(k) variations in accordance with the changing of degree k, in which p(k) is probability of nodes, while k is a degree in the network. Node degree distribution function reflects macro-statistics characteristics of the network system. We calculated the degrees of each node of complex network of Shandong tourism industry.

TABLE III. DEGREES OF COMPLEX NETWORK OF SHANDONG TOURISM INDUSTRY

Degree

≥15 Jinan, Linyi, Qingdao, Weifang, Yantai, Jining

10-14

Zaozhuang, Zibo, Taian

5-9 Binzhou, Heze, Dongying, Dezhou, Weihai, Rizhao, Liaocheng

Seen from statistical results of TABLE III, six prefecture level cities consisting of Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, Linyi, Weifang, and Jining, have denser degree distribution than

other eleven prefecture level cities of Shandong Province. These Six cities connect with other cities more closely, and they lie in the central and the most important location of the network. We further calculate degree distribution and draw degree distribution map (see Figure 3.).

Figure 3. Degree distribution map

Seen from the degree distribution map in Figure 3, degree distribution of Shandong tourism industry is essentially power-law distribution.

2) Cluster density: Network density refers to closeness degree of nodes in the network, that is to say, the connection degree of nodes in the network. If network density is closer to 1, the correlation among tourist cities is more closely. After calculations, Shandong tourism industry cluster density is summarized as a format, which is Density (matrix average) = 0.1014. The result shows that Shandong tourism industry cluster density was not high. Many nodes are not linked to each other. However, it is not to say that the higher the density, the better. Because each contact between nodes needs transaction costs, and increase of transaction costs will reduce the positive impact of industrial clustering effect.

3) Clustering Coefficient: Clustering Coefficient reflects the clustering degree of the network. The significance of clustering degree is group degree of the network, namely, the tendency of inter- clustering. After calculations, Overall graph clustering coefficient = 0.056, that is to say, clustering coefficient is small.

4) The Average Path Length: The shortest path length Lij is the length of one path or several paths with least points or vertices among all paths connecting i and j in (i, j). Network average path length is the average value of the shortest path lengths of each pair of arbitrary vertices. Network average path length describes the average step to isolate any two vertices of the network, that is, the network separation degree of nodes, and the network size. After calculation, Average distance (among reachable pairs) = 2.025. The value shows that average path length of Shandong tourism industry is relatively short.

Considering all these statistical indicators of complex network, small clustering coefficient, short average path length, and power-law degree distribution characterize the complex network of Shandong tourism industry. We can conclude that the complex network of Shandong tourism

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industry is scale-free network, and has a series of features of scale-free network. Shandong tourism industry keeps on developing, and these newly increased tourism projects will firstly connect to those priority cities, such as Qingdao, Yantai and Jinan.

IV. CONCLUSION Firstly, clustering tendency of tourism industry in

Shandong province is not high. According to specific development conditions and the overall strength of the cluster, the cluster is in a natural gathering stage, and it have not assembled a high clustering cluster that could control the development tendency of the entire tourism complex network.

Secondly, output value of Yantai tourism industry is among the forefront cities in output value and degree. Its added value is in the second position on the whole, and it is the central network node in Shandong complex network. However, the low level of aggregation and low connection trend of the scale-free network of Shandong tourism industry will largely influence the development of Yantai tourism industry.

Thirdly, Yantai is a central network node in the scale-free network of Shandong tourism industry. Thus, the newly increased business opportunities will priorly connected to Yantai, which allows the potentials for tourism development in Yantai.

Although the eight cities in Shandong peninsula city group have signed the “Declaration on Tourism Cooperation in Shandong Peninsula City Group” in 2004 and they have tried to cooperate, the substantial integration and division of labor has not got started. Factors like excessive competitions within the tourism cluster, repeated development of similar tourism resources, lack of tourist talents, and singular market structure have largely affected the full play of the overall advantage of cluster group. Therefore, we need to require outside forces to get the help of government or industry to promote the tourism industry in the cluster group cities to a higher stage of development associations to promote tourism industry cluster of city group to a higher stage of development.

V. SUGGESTIONS

A. To strengthen tourism brand and to enhance clustering of tourism industry in Yantai Yantai tourism industry is a central node in Shandong

tourism network, and has a self-evident important role. The low clustering coefficient of Shandong province has restricted the further development in Yantai to some extent. So this calls for the Yantai government to strengthen its effort in promoting Yantai tourism brand, to increase Yantai’s reputation both at home and abroad, and thus to enhance aggregation.

B. To distinguish tourism positioning and development tendency, to highlight unique characteristics, and to excavate cultural resources In the strategic positioning of tourism development,

many cities are the same more or less. In the eleventh five year plan, Yantai, Qingdao, Wehai, and Dalian position similarly their development goals with ecological, cultural, and marine features. The plan is to become one of best vocation leisure and tourism city in China in 5 to 10 years time. Such singular development goals will lead to another competition in tourism. Therefore, Yantai should further divide its positioning in details to highlight its unique characteristics so as to complete with the neighborhood seaside cities. Personally speaking, the most unique characteristic of each city is its historical and cultural characteristic. So I advise to encourage the citizens and experts to further explore Yantai’s historical and cultural characteristics, and then concise it so as to get the core of Yantai’s development in tourism.

C. To extend the tourism industry chain, and to enhance facilities and services Tourism in Yantai is now basically limited to view. It

lacks related equipments, and I advise to further improve and expand the basic necessities of eating, living, trip, purchase and entertainment so as to let the tourists really enjoy high quality service of Yantai tourism, and feel comfortable and at ease. Thus we should improve transportation, tourism information service, catering and other accommodation facilities to realize the integrity of the tourism industry chain.

D. The further development of tourism resources in Yantai 1) To make full use of local geothermal resources,

activating the winter tourism market: Yantai is rich in geothermal resources, and hot springs in Muping, Qixia, and Zhaoyuan all have their own features. However lots of hot springs now are still in the public level as a bathing place. There are no perfectly related facilities. It is pressing to construct hot springs resources into popular and public tourism products with the combination of local Jiaodong characteristics.

2) To develop the consumer market at night: Many tourists complain about Yantai’s poor night tourism projects, especially in summer tourism seasons. So I advise to change the original life style and add more night programs with its own characters.

3) To strengthen the tourist souvenirs and merchandise development: Research findings show that there are few tourist souvenirs in Yantai, especially those with its unique characteristics. So I advise the related organizations to improve the distinctive features of tourism souvenirs, to make lists of goods and develop its own brand, and to promote the construction of standardized stores and market.

4) To vigorously develop tourism festival exhibitions focus on building an international wine city, and to promote drive-related industrial chain: The construction of international wine city conforms to the positioning goal to form leisure vocation tourist resources. It will be useful to form an industry chain including a series of new tourism

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projects like agricultural tourism, industry tourism, cultural tourism, festival tourism, ECO tourism, study tourism and so on.

5) To further develop scenic spots and to enhance participation: Tourist attractions in Yantai are mainly for view, and there are few projects for visitors to participate. Now in the prevalent economy era, it is recommended to have a further development of tourist attractions in Yantai to increase the availability and participation of tourists in projects. Thus, to enhance fun and recognition, to bring a good reputation, so as to enhance quality of the tourism product in Yantai.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was supported by the Social Science Program

of Shandong Province (07CJGZ22), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province of China (Y2007H18), "Principles of Management" excellent course of Yantai University, and the project of network-assisted teaching platform of “Principles of Management” course of Yantai University.

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