Specialty restaurants are a key part of the urban public service system, enhancing residents’ quality of life and supporting tourism. Specialty restaurants not only serve residents but also attract large numbers of tourists. Against the backdrop of overtourism, problems such as the uneven distribution of urban tourism resources and the excessive encroachment of the tourism industry on the lives of residents are becoming increasingly prominent. Studying the resident-tourist sharing mechanism of specialty restaurants is of great practical significance for achieving sustainable tourism and promoting inclusive urban development. However, the extent of spatial sharing between the specialty restaurants is unclear. This study, based on Yangzhou, measures the degree of resident-tourist sharing in 84 specialty restaurants and analyzes its influencing factors using correlation analysis and multiple linear regression (MLR). The findings are as follows: (i) The overall sharing degree is moderate, with significant differences across restaurant types. Specialty upscale restaurants exhibit the highest sharing levels, explained by their cultural distinctiveness, symbolic value, and behavioral biases in check-in practices. (ii) Online ratings emerge as the dominant predictor of sharing degree, while accessibility, location, and surrounding facilities show weaker or even non-significant effects in multivariate tests. (iii) With the development of online review platforms, people’s dining choices are more influenced by online ratings rather than the physical spaces of restaurants. Specialty restaurants with higher online ratings are more likely to attract both residents and tourists simultaneously, thus having a good degree of spatial sharing. These results provide insights for restaurant operators, urban governance, and tourism development, emphasizing the importance of digital visibility and cultural distinctiveness in promoting equitable resident-tourist sharing.
Zhao et al. (Thu,) studied this question.