The Impact Of Distance On Tourism Service Trade

As a sub-divisional industry in traditional service trade,tourism service trade has played a pivotal role for a long time.In the past ten years,the global tourism industry has made tremendous breakthroughs.The proportion of profits it has created in the service industry has hit record highs.Tourism service trade has become one of the world’s largest economic sectors and keeps fast development.However,there has been a significant deficit in tourism service trade in China’s Mainland,and the developing situation of the industry is not optimal.While China’s Mainland owns abundant and high-quality tourism resources,the reason why its tourism service trade has been in the deficit is worth to be discussed.On the other hand,among all the cities in China,Hong Kong is one of the most famous tourist cities in the world.It ranked 11 th in the Tourism Competitiveness Report released by World Economic Forum in 2017.Therefore,Hong Kong is a good reference for tourist cities in China’s Mainland.Hong Kong’s valuable experience in tourism service trade can guide China’s Mainland to improve its competitiveness,and it has a positive impetus for China’s economic development.Based on the traditional gravity model,this paper expands the distance variables,analyzing the impact of distance on inbound tourism service trade in Hong Kong from three different dimensions,which are geography,culture and policy.The result of empirical research shows that GDP variable of tourist source country or region has a positive impact on inbound tourism service trade in Hong Kong,but geographical,cultural and institutional distance has negative impact on it.There are several policy implications of this paper.Firstly,we should pay attention to the changes in the level of economic development in tourist source countries and regions when developing local tourism service trade.Secondly,we should develop inbound tourism products in accordance with the local conditions and needs.Thirdly,we should attach importance to cultural distance and make good use of humanistic resources.Fourthly,we should improve the institutional environment and provide convenience for target segments to visit the city.Lastly,we should strengthen the quality of tourism service and build a high-quality tourism service team.