Temporal and spatial characteristics of network attention to show cave:A case study of five beautiful show caves

Cave tourism is an important form of tourist activities, which refers to the natural karst cave as the basis, through the transformation and utilization of caves, to carry out sightseeing, adventure, entertainment, medical and other tourist activities. Tourism resources of karst caves are very rich in China, where more than four hundred karst caves have been developed for tourism purpose. They are the most representative show caves in China which are selected in the most-beautiful-show-cave activity in 2005. Network attention rate of tourists is an intuitive measurement of their demand conditions and behavior habit on the Internet. Analyzing the spatial and temporal characteristics of network attention to show caves and their causes facilitates to delineate current development of show caves and the diversity of tourism demands, which can provide scientific guidance for the development of karst cave tourism. Based on the methods of Baidu index, statistical variation coefficients and Gini coefficient, this paper analyzes temporal and spatial characteristics of network attention rate to show cave in China. Time dimension analysis includes two levels, year and month. Spatial dimension analysis is on a provincial basis, to explore the inter-provincial differences of the attention. The results show that the network attention to show cave is of a high degree and shows a tendency of growth. The monthly changes exhibit a double M-shaped curve. The provincial differences of network attention are obvious. The provinces with higher attention concentrate in native places, neighboring provinces and economically developed eastern areas. This research also indicates that there is strong coherence between the fluctuation of network attention to show cave and seasonal differences of tourism activities. The attraction and attraction scope of karst cave resources are provincially different. The research provides some enlightenment for the development of cave tourism, for which more attention should be paid to the role of internet in the marketing of karst caves, take the network attention rate as an important measure for the management of show cave, and strengthen the cooperation with surrounding scenic spots.