Based on the niche theory and methods, this article uses the evaluation index system of Provincial Tourism Competitiveness which grow out of <MOE Serial Report on Developments in Humanities and Social Sciences:China’s Tourism Development Report> to analyze the changes of niche tourism competitiveness of the 11 provinces in the Yangtze River Economic Belt during 2009-2012. Using cluster analysis method and the niche overlap index, this paper tries to present the tourism development status, advantages, disadvantages and the competitive situation in the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in the ways of quantification. At the same time, it Provides recommendations for the development of regional tourism according to the above analysis. This article mainly has the following results:1.Different dimensions of niche tourism value(containing Scale-dimensional niche, Benefit-dimensional niche, Speed-dimensional niche, Elements of market- dimensional n iche, Elements of production- dimensional niche, Socio-economic environment- dimensi onal niche and Natural environment-dimension Niche) are compared and the degree of ch ange in four years about the integrated tourism niche are analyzed. In the areas of integrat ed tourism niche, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang integrated tourism niche of which scores w ere above 0.02 are in the forefront of the Yangtze River Economic Belt provinces. The ni che of Hubei, Anhui, Hunan, Sichuan, Chongqing and Yunnan provinces gradually beco me consistent. Their divergence is gradually reduced and their scores is near 0.016.The to urism niche of Jiangxi and Guizhou province is located in the Yangtze River Economic Belt provinces to the end, showing a decreasing trend.2.On the basis of the scores of the niche,11 provinces are classified to three differe nt regions. Tourism development suggestions according to the different categories of regi onal are put forward. By using cluster analysis and integrated tourism niche, The Yangtze River Economic Belt provinces can be divided into three categories. The first area is the Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang; second class area is Hubei, Sichuan, Hunan, Anhui and Cho ngqing, Yunnan, third class area is Guizhou and Jiangxi. Judging from the spatial scale, t he first area is mainly in eastern coastal area of Yangtze River economic belt. The second area and third area contains provinces of the Central and western China. Finally, differe nt types of niche expansion, generalization and specialization strategies are proposed.3.Based on the niche overlap theory and method, competition between provinces in The Yangtze River Economic Belt is embodied in the number. The analysis shows that di vided dimension overlap values are high in the 11 provinces. Consistent with the dimens ions of niche overlap, the overlap of the provinces integrated tourism niches is also gene rally high, but generally lower than the dimensions of overlap. At the same time, differen ces exist in the degree of overlap between various provinces. Although the 11 provinces are along the Yangtze River in linear distribution and they are not mutually bordering ea ch other, but they are still belong to the same regional competition, competing with each other vehemently... |