Evaluating and identifying paths for cultural tourism development (CTD) in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) is crucial for establishing the Yellow River Cultural Tourism Belt in China. This study utilised Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to address the complex factors affecting CTD, unlike econometric approaches. An evaluation framework based on sustainable development and inclusive growth, consisting of 24 factors across three rule layers, was created to assess 78 cities in the YRB, China, using the entropy weight–TOPSIS method. Analysis with ArcGIS 10.5 revealed that from 2004 to 2019, CTD increased overall, with notable regional disparities: downstream and central regions thrived, while northern and southern regions lagged. High development followed three paths: policy-assisted consumer market-driven, economic investment-driven, and government-guided economic investment and innovation-driven development. Conversely, low development followed three paths: insufficient economic policies and innovation, deficient economy and consumer market, and insufficient economic and social investment. These findings could help develop sustainable cultural tourism in the birthplaces of global civilisations, specifically within the Chinese context.
Zhang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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