Spatial suitability of forest-based health and wellness tourism in Beijing

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the healthy china and rural revitalization strategy, forest- based health and wellness tourism not only meets people's natural needs, but also provides new ideas for the transformation and development of rural tourism. This study constructed a spatial suitability evaluation system for forest- based health and wellness tourism from three dimensions: Comfort, ecological sensitivity, and development conditions. Taking Beijing—a city with great potential for forest therapy tourism market demand and development—as an example, quantitative evaluation and visualization were carried out by combining multi-criteria decision-making AHP and GIS spatial analysis tools. The results show that: 1) Among the first- level indicators of the spatial suitability evaluation system of forest- based health and wellness tourism, comfort has the highest importance; Among the secondary indicators, quality of vegetation has the highest importance, and excellent forest resources are the primary conditions for forest therapy tourism. 2) The spatial suitability grade of forest-based health and wellness tourism in Beijing was divided into four grades from low to high, namely, grade I, grade II, grade III, and grade IV, of which grades III and IV areas account for 53% of the total, mainly concentrated in the northwestern mountains of Beijing. 3) From the perspective of natural zoning, the shallow mountain areas are dominated by grades III and IV areas, and the deep mountain area are dominated by grades II and III areas. As a whole, 75% of the grades III and IV areas are distributed in the deep mountain areas. The plain areas provide residents with daily forest recreation space, the shallow mountain areas are dominated by standard forest products, and the deep mountain areas meet the personalized needs of tourists. 4) From the perspective of administrative region, the spatial suitability level of forest- based health and wellness tourism in each administrative district is unevenly distributed, and the spatial suitability grade is gradually decreasing from northwest to southeast. Yanqing District, Huairou District, and Miyun District can be the priority development areas of forest-based health and wellness tourism in Beijing. 5) In terms of development strategy, considering the impact of tourism resources on the spatial distribution of forest- based health and wellness tourism, Yanqing District is forming a characteristic development mode of "rural homestay + winter skiing + Great Wall culture"; The forest resources of Huairou District rank the highest in the city, and the district is forming a characteristic development mode of "living in the forest: Green health food + mountain town + forest oxygen bar", which combines in- depth experience with "standard forest products"; A development mode of "family tourism + mountain hot spring" is formed around the Miyun Reservoir in Miyun District. The results of this study can provide a decision-making basis for the spatial optimization of forest-based health and wellness tourism and the high-quality development of rural tourism.