Hindawi Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society Volume 2020, Article ID 9723587, 13 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/9723587 Research Article Coordinated Development between Assistance to Tibet and Tourism Development: Spatial Patterns and Influencing Factors Song Liu ,1 Xia Xie ,2,3 Xiaofei Zhang ,1 Chunshan Zhou ,1,2,3 and Yonglong Cai 4 1School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China 2Key Laboratory of the Sustainable Development of Xinjiang’s Historical and Cultural Tourism, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China 3College of Tourism, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830049, China 4School of Geography, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China Correspondence should be addressed to Xia Xie; [email protected] Received 1 August 2020; Accepted 24 September 2020; Published 16 October 2020 Academic Editor: Lifei Chen Copyright © 2020 Song Liu et al. )is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. )e Chinese government has provided various forms of assistance to the Tibet Autonomous Region and has substantially improved their facilities, which has had a positive influence on the development of tourism in Tibet. )e present study investigated how assistance to Tibet (AT) coordinates with tourism development (TD) by exploring the patterns and influencing factors of AT and TD using statistical data from 74 prefectural units from 1991 to 2015. )e findings led to several conclusions: (1) ATdisplayed strong and constant coupling interactions with TD, and the coupling coordination degree increased from moderately unbalanced development (MUD) to barely balanced development (BBD). However, the coupling coordination degree remains low (MUD) in most prefectural units; (2) in 2015, the degree of coupling coordination displayed a “core-periphery” spatial pattern (i.e., low in center and high in the periphery), which highly coincides with the patterns of AT (x) and TD (y), and should thus be improved further; and (3) both AT factors and TD factors have significant effects on the spatial differentiation of coupling coordination degree but not on the coupling degree. )is study expands research on coupling coordination and AT and provides scientific guidance for further coordinating AT and TD. 1. Introduction and western regions [4]; therefore, promoting the coordi- nated development of western regions, especially the mar- Since the reform and opening-up, China’s economic growth ginal areas, is crucial. has adopted a “two-step” strategy based on the unbalanced Assistance to Tibet (AT) refers to the sum of assistance growth and balanced growth theories [1]. From 1978 to the received by the Tibet Autonomous Region, which is a system early 1990s, China implemented an unbalanced develop- of economic assistance (e.g., finance and funds), projects, ment strategy that prioritized the eastern region. From the talent, education, and technical assistance [5]. ATis regarded early 1990s to the beginning of the twenty-first century, as a systematic project. AT is a valuable means of macro- China continued the unbalanced development strategy that control by the Chinese government by promoting Tibet’s prioritized the development of the eastern region, but also socioeconomic development through the reallocation of considered the central and western regions (Western de- assistance resources to reduce the regional gaps and promote velopment strategy, 2000; Rise of Central China Plan, 2004). the coordinated development of Tibet [6]. After the early twenty-first century, a balanced and coor- Tibet Autonomous Region, which is located in marginal dinated development strategy was implemented [2, 3]. China, has been in an inferior position in terms of the Under the unbalanced development strategy, the regional national economic pattern since 1951 [7]. CPC Central disparity of China’s economy grew in the eastern, central, Committee provided various forms of assistance and held six 2 Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society “Work Forum on Tibet” (WFT) [8], which promoted the ecological, and transportation improvement have been socioeconomic development of Tibet. However, tourism demonstrated to have coupling relationships with TD. development (TD) in Tibet has not garnered sufficient at- Urbanization improves several factors that are crucial in tention, and the AT prioritizes urban development and tourism, such as infrastructure, products, services, and livelihood improvement projects rather than tourism [6], image [37, 38]; the regional economy increases the dis- which caused the decoupling of TD and AT. Moreover, AT posable income of households and improves the tourism also caused regional inequalities within Tibet because of infrastructure by increasing investments [39, 40]; the eco- imbalances and reallocation of assistance [6, 9]. )erefore, logical environment provides tourists with authentic tour- coordinating the development of AT and TD in Tibet was ism products [41, 42]; transportation improves tourism addressed. accessibility [43–45]. )ese factors promote tourism by After the third WFT (1994), tourism assistance increased accelerating the growth of related industries. [10]. Tourism in Tibet became a dominant sector in the AT has high coupling relationships with ED and UR in tertiary industry, accounting for 61% of tertiary industry Tibet. However, the coordinated development level is still output in 2019 (9% in 1994). A further increase in assistance low and spatially varied [5, 46]. )e results indicate that AT was proposed in the sixth WFT (2015), which also provided is vital to Tibet and should be further intensified. the opportunity for TD. Investigating the coupling rela- Previous studies are focused on “what is AT?” “why is AT tionships between AT and TD could provide further de- important?” and “how can AT be improved?” For the first velopment guidance. question, scholars are concerned about where AT systems )erefore, the present study focused on the coordination originate and how they evolve [47, 48]. Scholars have of AT with TD by exploring the types, spatial distributions, concluded that AT originates from first-generation Chinese and influencing factors of coordinated development of AT national leaders who strived for the equal development of and TD, using statistical data from 74 prefectural units in Tibet by implementing the assistance strategy [49]. )e Tibet from 1991 to 2015. evolution of “strategy to system” focuses on the economy, Coupling is a widespread method to evaluate the in- staff, education, and techniques [50] developed by five terrelationships between systems or geographical features generations of national leaders [51]. For the second question, and aspects, such as economic development (ED), urbani- studies have determined that AT promoted the socioeco- zation (UR), eco-environment (ECE), resource utilization nomic development of Tibet [52] and changed the industry (RU), and land use (LU), in China. In the late 1990s to early structure [53]. Furthermore, AT strengthened the atypical 2000s, as eco-environment topics emerged because of the dual economic structure of Tibet society [54]. For the third rapid development of the economy and urbanization, question, findings have emphasized that improving Tibet’s scholars began exploring the coupling relationship between self-development ability is crucial [55]. Promoting the ef- ED and ECE, as well as UR and ECE, to enable coordinated fectiveness and reallocation of AT is also vital [6, 9]. Fur- and sustainable development [11, 12]. From 2010 to 2020, thermore, tourism assistance was analyzed [56, 57]. )e TD the eco-environment has received increasing attention by in Tibet and literature on the exploitation of tourism re- the Chinese government, and research on the coupling sources and tourism-related industries were discussed coordination of ECE and ED, as well as ECE and UR, is [58, 59]. becoming increasingly popular and crucial topics in cou- )e aforementioned studies have investigated the de- pling coordination research [13–16]. )e coupling coordi- velopment of AT and TD. However, the coordinated de- nation relationship of UR and LU is also an increasingly velopment in coupling relationships between AT and TD popular and vital topic. Land-use efficiency and the intensive warrants further investigation. use of land are especially emphasized [17–19]. Moreover, the To bridge the gap in knowledge, we suggested that the coupling relationship between RU and UR, RU and ECE, coupling relationship and coordinated development of AT and LU and ECE are also regarded as critical topics to be and TD should be considered when exploring the devel- discussed [20–22]. Moreover, numerous new studies have opment of AT and TD in Tibet. investigated the coupling coordination relationships be- )e present study aims to fulfill the three objectives to tween ED, UR, ECE, RU, and LU and geographical features reduce the economic gap: first, the temporal changes and (such as carbon emission, environment carrying capacity, spatial distribution characteristics of the coupling and co- infrastructural development, tourism development, liveli- ordination of AT and TD are assessed; second, the coupling hood level, and rural hollowing, respectively) [23–28]. coordination patterns of ATand TD and their distribution in China’s socioeconomic diversification in the 2000s and space are assessed; third, the influencing