Evaluating the symbiosis status of tourist towns: The case of Guizhou Province, China

This study examines the symbiosis status of tourist towns by analyzing the dynamism between two subsystems of tourist town development: the town subsystem and the tourism subsystem. Drawing on the Lotka-Volterra model, we first developed a model for evaluating the status of harmonious symbiosis development for tourist towns, and then formulated a set of indicators to measure the key components in the model. An empirical study applying the model was conducted focusing on 18 tourist towns in Guizhou Province, China. Recommendations were proposed for more harmonious development of the tourist towns. This is among the first tourism studies that adopt the symbiosis systems approach and our proposed model provides fresh insights into tourist town development.