Spatial structure and influencing factors of countryside tourist attractions in Shandong Province

Countryside tourism has become a new type of industry. In order to explore their spatial distribution pattern and characteristics, 193 countryside tourist attractions in Shandong Province were studies. The spatial distribution patterns of the countryside tourist attractions were analyzed using Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial analysis methods, such as the nearest neighbor index, multi-distance spatial clustering analysis, Ripley's function and kernel density analysis. Considering the overall and local advantages and disadvantages of multi-scale density analysis, Ripley's function was used to determine the optimal search radius for density, cold point and hot spot analysis. Shandong Province countryside tourist attractions had a nearest neighbor index (R) of 0.74, which indicates a typical spatial gathering distribution, mainly distributed in Qingdao, Jinan, Linyi, and Zaozhuang. The spatial differences in hot and cold areas were clearly detected and at the provincial level, showed a significant "block" distribution. Shandong Province countryside tourist attractions were influenced by traffic conditions, location, socioeconomic level, tourism resource endowment, topographical features and other factors. Based on these results, we put forward two proposals combined for the development of Shandong countryside tourism. Firstly, we propose the strengthening of the cooperation between the four regions of eastern Shandong, western Shandong, northern Shandong, and central Shandong to build multiple "core-edge" countryside tourism development areas. Secondly, we propose improvements in the tourist transportation network and the realization of links between different countryside tourist attractions.