Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper) 2312-5187 ISSN (Online) 2312-5179 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.6, 2015 Spatial Analysis of Regional Distribution of Tourism Industry and Tourism-Related Disciplines: A Case Study of Guangdong Province Yu Huang 1 Mu Zhang 2* 1. School of Management, Jinan University, 601 Huangpu Avenue West, Guangzhou 510632, China 2. *Shenzhen Tourism College, Jinan University, 6 Qiaochengdong Street, Shenzhen 518053, China * E-mail of the corresponding author: [email protected] Abstract With the rapid development of China's tourism industry, the problem of slow development of the educational system for cultivating tourism talents gradually surfaces. And also needs to be urgently tackled is the problem of the asynchronous development of tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation in institutes of higher education in different regions. Deploying Principal Component Analysis Method (PCA) and Sudoku Model and by constructing assessment and indicator systems for evaluating the development of both tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation, the article tries to evaluate the spatial consistency of the development of tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation in institutes of higher education in different regions within Guangdong Province. Conclusions are reached after intent investigation that Pearl River Delta Region sees well-coordinated development of tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation in its local institutes of higher education, Northern and Eastern Guangdong Regions find relatively slow development of the industry and disciplines formation, and Western Guangdong Region lags behind in the whole Guangdong Province in the development of both tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation in its local institutes of higher education. Optimization strategies are thus proposed that "improvements shall be made in inter-city interaction in Pearl River Delta Region in the development of tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation, the standard of tourism-related disciplines formation shall be well raised in Northern and Eastern Guangdong Regions and also a series of tourism-related disciplines to be established in institutes of higher learning in Western Guandgong Region ". Keywords: Tourism Industry; Tourism-Related Disciplines; Spatial Distribution; Principal Component Analysis; Sudoku Model 1. Introduction As an integral part of China's national economy, tourism industry has seen its importance on constant rise in recent years and after the promulgation of "Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of Tourism Industry ", the development of tourism industry has been attached the importance of national strategic level. Consequently, the demand for tourism talents grows tremendously. Although most of colleges and universities in China have set up tourism-related majors, excess establishment of tourism-related disciplines in various universities has made the surplus graduates majoring in tourism-related majors out of work while the shortage of truly versatile tourism talents remains large. Meanwhile, tourism education is, in intrinsic sense, a complex self-organizing system, reflecting the characteristic mostly in its high correlation with policies environment. Thus, the investigation into the problems concerning the spatial layout of tourism-related disciplines in regional institutes of higher education from the perspective of spatial distribution and the corresponding tackling measures of innovative and practical value can hopefully aid in the subsequent decision making processes. Taking Guangdong Province as the study subject, the author deploys Principal Component Analysis Method(PCA), and designs and constructs assessment and indicator systems for evaluating the development of both tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation in institutes of higher education in different regions of Guangdong Province, and analyzes the spatial consistency of the development of tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation in different regions within Guangdong Province utilizing Sudoku Model as well. Bearing in mind the framework of regional cooperation, the author proposes specific optimization strategies to improve the spatial consistency of the development of regional tourism industry and tourism-related disciplines formation in local institutes of higher education. The ultimate goal of this study is to put forward an 45 Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper) 2312-5187 ISSN (Online) 2312-5179 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.6, 2015 educational system for cultivating innovative tourism talents, which will reflect the characteristics of both various tourism activities and tourism industry so as to realize the ideal coordination with the development of tourism industry in different regions within Guangdong Province. 2. Literature Review The research on the relationship between tourism higher education and the development of regional tourism industry traces back to 1974 in "Annals of Tourism Research" initiated by Jafari. The Journal was issued on a yearly basis since 1979, summarizing the relationship between tourism industry and tourism education, and tourism theories and methods as well in each issue.[1] In general, tourism higher eduction in European attaches more importance to skill training and application; and in the United States, the focus is on training higher level managerial staff, while the education in Australia pays more attention to providing pioneering solutions to problems emerged in sustainable development and eco tourism, etc. In all, scholars abroad conducting researches on educational pattern of tourism higher studies explore diverse range of fields and possess unique and penetrating viewpoint in their analysis, thus making their conclusions reflect regional characteristics and applicable in particular locality. Goodenough [2] analyzed the relationship between tourism education and tourism industry and proposed a geography-based tourism educational system; and based on the European integration, Greg Richards [3] proposed a reticular educational system, which can well prompt unified development of European tourism industry in different countries; while Jennifer Churchward and Michael Riley [4] also explored into the relationship between tourism industry and tourism education, and they put forward the idea of combining traditional economics disciplines with geographic perspective in tourism education. At home, researches on tourism education also received due attention from scholars. Taking tourism talents cultivation model featuring combining learning, research and production in Guilin as example, Zhou Jianglin [5] pointed out that tourism higher education should be employment-oriented, and realize the virtuous circle of "base the development of tourism industry on the development of tourism education, accelerate the development of tourism education with the support of the tourism industry and prompt the development of tourism industry with the spur of tourism-related researches; in all, combine learning, research and production". By analyzing current situation of human resources in tourism industry and talent-cultivation in tourism colleges, Ji Peiling and Lu Jun [6] pointed out the human resource contradiction between overall balance and individual imbalance in tourism industry. They suggested readjusting human resource cultivation structure and also put forward the view that the design of individual cultivation pattern should be conducted in different levels in accordance with the requirements of industry development for human resources so as to improve the benefit from human resource cultivation. By analyzing the situation of tourism higher education in Guangxi Province, Ren Guanwen [7] proposed suggestions as to establish independent tourism college and instructing committee of Guangxi tourism education. Recommendations were also made in the aspects of team construction of teaching staff, arrangement of major courses and establishment of the model of higher education which combines producing, study and research. Wu Yaoyu [8] , Yang Zhijun [9] , Dong Xiaomei [10] , Feng Xufang [11] also analyzed current situation of tourism education in Jiangsu, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, and Shanxi Provinces respectively, and they identified the general problems in tourism education as overall small scale, unclear objectives, irrational curriculum structures and the lack of teaching staff in the above mentioned provinces, although in these provinces, a great number of colleges and universities which have or are going to establish tourism-related disciplines sprout. They also proposed corresponding measures for tackling these problems. 3. General Introduction to the Development of Tourism Industry and Tourism-Related Disciplines Formation in Guangdong Province 3.1 Development of Tourism Industry in Guangdong Province The total revenue generated by tourism industry in Guangdong Province reached 380.944 billion yuan in 2010, and 483.527 billion yuan in 2011, making a 26.93% increase year-on-year; and Guangdong's tourism industry development boosted in 2012, and the total revenue reached 579.474 billion yuan that year, accounting for 10.15 percent of the GDP. Meanwhile, tourism value added, foreign exchange earnings from tourism and the number of overseas tourists who stay over in Guangdong also