Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Internet Attention Towards Coastal Tourist Destinations in Jiangmen City

Abstract

This study, based on the Baidu Index, delves into the spatiotemporal characteristics of Internet attention towards coastal tourist destinations in Jiangmen City. Through an analysis of data from 2016 to 2020, it was found that the Internet attention towards Jiangmen’s coastal tourist destinations increased in 2017 compared to 2016 but showed a negative growth trend starting from 2018. Moreover, the study reveals that Internet attention is primarily concentrated in the pre-holiday period of the "May Day" and "National Day" holidays, with the lead effect being more noticeable for the "May Day" holiday. Spatially, core cities in the Pearl River Delta such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen are identified as primary tourist source markets for Jiangmen. Based on these findings, it is recommended that Jiangmen City strengthen marketing efforts in areas with low levels of attention, leverage big data for precise market targeting, and enhance tourism cooperation with neighboring cities to improve the overall competitiveness of the regional tourism industry.