Research on the Development Potential of China’s Pro-Poor Tourism Industry Based on Geographical Nature Evaluation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Overall, this study aims to provide evidence for pro-poor tourism decision-making, and a methodological approach for achieving this evidence, which are worthwhile endeavors. 

 

However, the study, as presented in the paper provided, does not demonstrate any academic rigor or add to the body of knowledge.

 

Presentation of the study that was undertaken may be able to achieve this, if the following are addressed:

• The research needs to be linked to the existing tourism literature. This ‘literature review’ section is currently less than two pages! Topics to include are:

o Pro-poor tourism, including the known “advantages” and “restrictions” 

o Especially details on the “relatively few studies on the influence of geographic spatial capital on pro-poor tourism policies”

o Tourism development research using similar geographical analysis

o Research using this method, both tourism and non-tourism studies

o Any knowledge about these ‘experimental barometer’ pro-poor tourism pilot villages

Focus on pro-poor tourism literature.

Emphasize the goals in the introduction.

Compare with similar works in discussion and conclusion. The discussion section is very weak.

 

Author Response

Reviewers' comments:

-Reviewer 1-

Overall, this study aims to provide evidence for pro-poor tourism decision-making, and a methodological approach for achieving this evidence, which are worthwhile endeavors. However, the study, as presented in the paper provided, does not demonstrate any academic rigor or add to the body of knowledge. Presentation of the study that was undertaken may be able to achieve this, if the following are addressed.

1. The research needs to be linked to the existing tourism literature. This ‘literature review’ section is currently less than two pages! Topics to include are: Pro-poor tourism, including the known “advantages” and “restrictions”; Especially details on the “relatively few studies on the influence of geographic spatial capital on pro-poor tourism policies”; Tourism development research using similar geographical analysis Research using this method, both tourism and non-tourism studies Any knowledge about these ‘experimental barometer’ pro-poor tourism pilot villages.
2. Focus on pro-poor tourism literature.

Response: We appreciate your suggestion. Accounting to your suggestions, we have re-studied and combed the relative literatures, and focused on the analysis of the relationship between tourism industry, poverty alleviation tourism industry and geographical factors. Mainly increased two aspects of the literature review part:

Firstly, the advantages and disadvantages of Pro-poor tourism industry are analyzed. We summarize the different researchers ' attitudes towards pro-poor tourism industry, and analyze the factors affecting pro-poor tourism industry policy.

Secondly, the relationship between tourism industry development and geographical factors is analyzed. In the implementation and formulation of tourism poverty alleviation policies, previous researches have involved diversified geographical factors, and studied the impact of tourism industry development on the spatial distribution of poverty.

The specific modifications are as follows, mainly in the “1.introduction” section, marked with red font. ( Page2, paragraph 3; Page 3-5;).

As an effective means of poverty alleviation, poverty alleviation tourism has been widely recognized by the tourism industry, and its poverty alleviation effect has become an important research hotspot in the tourism industry. In the 1950s, the World Bank started focusing on the influence of geographical factors on poverty and implementing relevant strategies (Bank T W, 2005; Donaldson G, 1985). Poverty alleviation tourism is dominated by government organizations, relying on policy tilt and government support ( Butler R W et al., 2013 ), linking stakeholders to guide social residents in poor areas to participate in tourism activities ( Gohori and van der Merwe, 2020 ; moyo and Tichaawa, 2017 ), introducing tourism to drive socio-economic growth, creating direct or indirect employment opportunities for residents to reap benefits ( Njoya and Seetaram, 2018 ; lor JJ et al., 2019 ).On the contrary, in the process of research, some scholars have questioned that there are limitations in poverty alleviation tourism, and the continuous expansion of tourism can not effectively improve poverty ( Scheyvens, 2007 ; blake et al., 2008 ), may even exclude poor residents from tourism industries, resulting in power inequality and marginalization ( Croes R, 2014 ; medina-Munoz et al., 2016 ). Therefore, the poverty alleviation effect of tourism is complex. The development of tourism can make poor areas get rid of poverty and become rich, and may also make them fall into the poverty trap ( Kwaramba et al., 2012 ). ' Multiplier effect ' and ' leakage effect ' coexist ( Andre and Melchior, 2015 ). The possible reason is that the difference between the actual implementation of regional poverty alleviation policies and policy formulation will lead to unfair distribution of benefits (Goodwin 2008 ), resulting in poor effectiveness of poverty alleviation ( Saayman et al., 2012 ). We also found that the researchers ' research on poverty alleviation tourism mainly focuses on two aspects: ① the research framework of the relationship between tourism and poverty alleviation is constructed. By exploring the internal mechanism and path dependence of tourism poverty alleviation ( Liu YP et al., 2022 ), the measurement model of poverty and tourism measures is constructed from different levels such as geography and tourism scope ( Medina-Munoz et al., 2016 ), and the tourism value chain is introduced ( Thomas, 2014 ; ji et al., 2022 ), power empowerment ( Abdullah et al., 2022 ), capacity resources ( Yu et al., 2019 ) and other factors enrich the theoretical framework to scientifically analyze the relationship between tourism and poverty alleviation. ② the effectiveness of tourism poverty alleviation. Researchers mainly focus on poverty-stricken areas in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Through case or empirical analysis, it is shown that the level of economic development makes the effectiveness of tourism poverty alleviation have a certain threshold (Kim et al., 2016). Tourism models such as voluntary tourism ( Zarandian et al., 2016 ), agricultural tourism ( Pillay and Rogerson, 2013 ), and creative tourism ( Dias et al., 2021 ) can inject new development momentum into tourism poverty alleviation and coordinate the interests of stakeholders such as government-community-enterprise ( Wen et al., 2021 ; medina-Munoz, 2019 ) can also promote the realization of sustainable development of poverty reduction.

 In addition, Tourism industry development depends considerably on geographical and natural resources. Development strategies should be established based on the recognition of regional geographic capital to consider the tourism industry as the core driving force of regional poverty reduction. Exploring the spatial layout of poverty areas with the help of GIS (Yang et al., 2021) is important for effectively identifying the impact of spatial poverty. Geographical space studies have become an important branch of studies on pro-poor tourism (Ball M, 2009). Some studies have analyzed and measured the influence of the tourism industry’s development on poverty’s spatial patterns. Steven D (2010) used geographic weighted regression to analyze the spatial changes and influences resulting from American rural pro-poor tourism. Liu Y H et al. (2016) analyzed the influence of the tourism industry on urban–rural space structure and identified that tourism is favorable for narrowing China’s urban–rural gap and changing poverty’s spatial pattern. Studies have analyzed the different influences of the progressive reduction of spatial distance through the tourism economy on the implementation effect of poverty alleviation policies using geographical spatial analysis of poverty to analyze the time and spatial features of pro-poor tourism regions (Daimon T, 2001; Ponce P et al., 2020). Zhu Lei et al. (2016) used pro-poor tourism pilot villages as a study case and analyzed the spatial distribution features of villages in which tourism policy was mainly emphasized. Rogerson J M (2020) took adventurous tourism as the poverty alleviation development strategy and enabled it to become an advantageous industry, encouraging economic development based on South Africa’s excellent geographical location and unique natural landscape.

3. Emphasize the goals in the introduction.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We rethink and refine the research goals part of this paper. The first part of the article was modified. We establish a systematic cognition of geographic capital in poverty-stricken areas, and combines regional geographic capital analysis with poverty alleviation strategy formulation, so as to provide support for the formulation of accurate and effective poverty alleviation measures. The research objectives of this paper are as follows: (Page 5, lines161-178 ).

• Establishing the theoretical framework of geographical nature. We define the geographical capital depending on the development of tourism industry in poverty alleviation regions into three dimensions: resource endowment, market development potential and space accessibility, and we analyze the structural relationship within the system;
• Newton's basic spatial gravity model is introduced to establish the measurement model of resource endowment, market development potential and space accessibility. We calculate the geographical capital status of each poverty-alleviation village and classify the tourism poverty-alleviation villages’ types according to the geographical capital status and distribution characteristics;
• By analyzing the geographical nature of pro-poor tourism villages, we can understand the advantages of pro-poor tourism industry development, identify the core factors that restrict tourism, and then put forward the pro-poor tourism strategy that is suitable for regional geographical characteristics, so as to improve the applicability and effectiveness of the poverty alleviation strategy.

4. Compare with similar works in discussion and conclusion. The discussion section is very weak.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We rethink and refine the research goals part of this paper. Accounting to your suggestion, we rewrite “conclusion and discussion” section of the paper. In this modification, we are divided into two parts:

The first part: In discussion section. We mainly discuss 4 sections, and comparative analyze relative research results combined with previous research: (Page 22-24, lines582-667).

• The quality of geographic capital is often regarded as a prerequisite for determining the spatial distribution of poverty (Luo and others, 2020). Compared with the poverty spatial distribution, geographical capital is also an important determinant of the spatial distribution of tourism industry, affecting regions’ development mode and industrial viability .Therefore, tourism industry is regarded as a core poverty alleviation industry in a region, and its industrial development strategy will be more determined and influenced by regional geographic capital. In order to improve the accuracy and implementation of the tourism poverty alleviation policy, the government should evaluate and recognize the differentiated geospatial capital before formulating the tourism poverty alleviation policy and importing the tourism industry development mode, so as to effectively improve the sustainability and adaptability of the tourism poverty alleviation policy.
• We regard the study of geographical nature as a systematic and comprehensive system and emphasis on the combined utility and interaction of various geographical elements, rather than emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages of individual elements.
• Newton's basic spatial gravity model is introduced, which is divided into three modules for respectively measuring the indexes of three dimensions and comprehensively evaluating the development potential of the tourism industry. In the evaluation of three dimensions, we selected a new evaluation model that is more suitable for the development status of tourism poverty alleviation villages. Based on this innovative research model, we also obtained new research findings and explored new potential points for the development of tourism poverty alleviation villages.
• On the basis of comprehensive evaluation, we classify the tourism poverty alleviation villages, focusing on mining the development advantages of each type, and design its high-quality development path. We pay more attention to the identification of the development advantages of tourism poverty alleviation villages, and formulate distinctive development strategies for different types of tourism poverty alleviation villages.

The second part: In conclusion section. The summary of the research conclusions is mainly divided into three aspects (Page24-25, lines668-711).:

• This study uses the data of 560 tourism poverty alleviation villages in China to conduct empirical research, and analyzes and evaluates the comprehensive potential of tourism industry development of poverty alleviation villages. The study divides tourism poverty alleviation villages into three types, and puts forward development strategy suggestions.
• This paper considers the geographic capital of poverty alleviation strategies as the core index of tourism development potential evaluation, analyzes the development path and policy needs of tourism poverty alleviation villages from the perspective of geographical nature analysis. It has scientific guiding significance for optimizing the strategy of rural tourism poverty alleviation villages, rationally allocating tourism policy resources, and promoting the sustainable development of rural tourism.
• In a follow-up study, we will further enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of the research, we will choose the different types of the typical geographic cluster of tourism poverty alleviation village for field research and case studies In the future research, we will further carry out thematic research on promoting the sustainable development of local rural tourism and the implementation effect of poverty alleviation policies.

 

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

On behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate editor and reviewers very much for their positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Research on the Development Potential of China’s Pro-Poor Tourism Industry Based on Geographical Nature Evaluation”. We sincerely appreciate the thorough review provided by the reviewers. A full account of our responses to the comments from the reviewers is presented below, and necessary revisions have been made to the manuscript accordingly. Additions and modifications have been marked in red in the revised manuscript. Thank you very much.

 

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-Reviewer 2-

Congratulations for the work done in making this article. It is clear that you have made a sustained effort, but publishing an article is a process of continuous learning. As a result, please find below some remarks, on each section. I encourage you to implement each one separately, so that the article has a better quality than the current one.

1. Introduction：1- Why do you implement this study? 2- Contribution of this paper.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We have mainly modified two parts:

First part: we rethink and refine the research goals part of this paper. The first part of the article was modified. This study establishes a systematic cognition of geographic capital in poverty-stricken areas, and combines regional geographic capital analysis with poverty alleviation strategy formulation, so as to provide support for the formulation of accurate and effective poverty alleviation measures. The research objectives of this paper are as follows (Page 5, lines161-178 ).:

• Establishing the theoretical framework of geographical nature. We define the geographical capital depending on the development of tourism industry in poverty alleviation regions into three dimensions: resource endowment, market development potential and space accessibility, and we analyze the structural relationship within the system;
• Newton's basic spatial gravity model is introduced to establish the measurement model of resource endowment, market development potential and space accessibility. We calculate the geographical capital status of each poverty-alleviation village and classify the tourism poverty-alleviation villages’ types according to the geographical capital status and distribution characteristics;
• By analyzing the geographical nature of pro-poor tourism villages, we can understand the advantages of pro-poor tourism industry development, identify the core factors that restrict tourism, and then put forward the pro-poor tourism strategy that is suitable for regional geographical characteristics, so as to improve the applicability and effectiveness of the poverty alleviation strategy.

Second part: we rewrite the research contribution of the paper. In the introduction section, we compare with previous studies, and propose the geographical nature of pro-poor tourism industry should be more emphasis on the study in structured situation of space geographical elements, emphasis on local geographical elements’ complementary advantages, fostering strengths and circumventing weaknesses, so as to establish the focus and implementation path of tourism industry poverty alleviation policy, and more effectively guide the integration of tourism industry and local natural and social environment, so as to effectively realize the policy effectiveness of poverty alleviation(Page 4, lines149-160).

Third part: In the conclusion part, we extract the innovation of this paper. The innovation of this paper is to regard the study of geographical nature as a systematic and comprehensive element system and attach importance to the combined utility and interaction of various geographical elements, rather than the advantages and disadvantages of individual elements. We pay more attention to the identification of the development advantages of pro-poor tourism villages, and formulate distinctive development strategies for different types of pro-poor tourism villages based on these data. At the same time, in the evaluation of resource endowment and market development potential, we selected a factor evaluation model that is more suitable for the development status of pro-poor tourism villages. Based on this innovative research model, we also obtained new research findings and explored new potential points for the development of pro-poor tourism villages. This study aims to serve the formulation of pro-poor tourism policy, enhance the persistence and sustainability of pro-poor tourism policy, so as to fundamentally explore the survival and effective industrial development mode of this type of village (Page24-25, lines668-711)..

2. Theoretical background: I think that the authors should discuss more in-depth the analysis of the theoretical background. You should have a small section in the article to support this statement.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We have enhanced the elaboration of the theoretical background. The main modifications are divided into two aspects:

The first part: we have re-studied and combed the relative literatures, and focused on the analysis of the relationship between tourism industry, poverty alleviation tourism industry and geographical factors. Mainly increased two aspects of the literature review part: Firstly, the advantages and disadvantages of Pro-poor tourism industry are analyzed. Secondly, the relationship between tourism industry development and geographical factors is analyzed. In the implementation and formulation of tourism poverty alleviation policies, previous researches have involved diversified geographical factors, and studied the impact of tourism industry development on the spatial distribution of poverty. ( Page2, paragraph 3; Page 3-5;).

The second part: we enhance the overview of the theory of geographical nature. Krugman, the representative of new economic geography, puts forward Geographical Nature theory (Krugman P., 1993): Firstly, natural endowment is the resource condition that determines the basic productive forces as well as the basis for the survival and development of human society. Secondly, the second nature is market value, which affects the ability of resource value transformation and interaction, and it also determines the agglomeration choice of population and capital. On the basis of Krugman's dualistic geographical nature theory, the follow-up researchers put forward the third factor, which is to correspond to the third industrial revolution information revolution with the conditions of scientific and technological facilities and human resources (Gaspar J M, 2020). The researchers extracted the characteristics of the three geographical natures and analyzed their evolution. And then based on the main ideas of modeling to construct the three geographical nature of region evolution mode, the model of regional evolution under the three geographical natures was constructed. It was found that the first geographical nature dominated the spatial distribution of population in agricultural society, the second geographical nature to guide economic and population spatial distribution from decentralization to agglomeration, and the third geographical nature began to guide new agglomeration characterized by "Planar Development". Nowadays, according to the geographical nature theory, researchers refer it to the structural evaluation of geographical resources (Carroll M C et al., 2008; Guimar P et al., 2009), analyze the characteristics of regional geographic spatial differentiation, and trace the root causes of regional economic or social differences. (Page5,  lines187-203).

3. Contribute: Please supplement and improve the theoretical and practical contributions of this research to sustainability.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We mainly expound the relationship between our research and sustainable development from the following two aspects.

The first part: In introduction section, this study establishes a systematic cognition of geographic capital in poverty-stricken areas, and combines regional geographic capital analysis with poverty alleviation strategy formulation, so as to provide support for the formulation of accurate and effective poverty alleviation measures. We propose that the geographical nature of pro-poor tourism industry should be more emphasis on the study in structured situation of space geographical elements, emphasis on local geographical elements’ complementary advantages, fostering strengths and circumventing weaknesses, so as to establish the focus and implementation path of tourism industry poverty alleviation policy, and more effectively guide the integration of tourism industry and local natural and social environment, so as to effectively realize the policy effectiveness of poverty alleviation. (Page 5, lines161-178 ).

The second part: In conclusion section, we have re-written the innovation points, and proposed that the research aims to serve the formulation of tourism poverty alleviation policies and enhance the persistence and sustainability of tourism poverty alleviation policies, so as to fundamentally explore the effective industrial development model of this type of villages. (Page 24-25)

4. Inspiration and limitations: The enlightenment and limitations of this study are seriously insufficient, please supplement and improve

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. After carefully discussing and revising, we have responded the forth questions you mentioned above. Accounting to your suggestion, we rewrite “conclusion and discussion” section and the innovation section of the paper. In this modification, we are divided into three parts:

The first part: We regard the study of geographical nature as a systematic and comprehensive system and emphasis on the combined utility and interaction of various geographical elements, rather than emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages of individual elements. And we pay more attention to the identification of the development advantages of tourism poverty alleviation villages, and formulate distinctive development strategies for different types of tourism poverty alleviation villages. At the same time, in the evaluation of resource endowment and market development potential, we selected a new evaluation model that is more suitable for the development status of tourism poverty alleviation villages. Based on this innovative research model, we also obtained new research findings and explored new potential points for the development of tourism poverty alleviation villages. This study aims to serve the formulation of tourism poverty alleviation policy, enhance the persistence and sustainability of tourism poverty alleviation policy, so as to fundamentally explore the survival and effective industrial development mode. (Page 4-5, lines150-160).

The second part: In discussion section, we propose the relationship between this study and the sustainable development of tourism poverty alleviation industry, and take considers the geographic capital of poverty alleviation strategies as the core index of tourism development potential evaluation, analyzes the development path and policy needs of tourism poverty alleviation villages from the perspective of geographical nature analysis. It has scientific guiding significance for optimizing the strategy of rural tourism poverty alleviation villages, rationally allocating tourism policy resources, and promoting the sustainable development of rural tourism. (Page 22,  lines596-613).

The third part:  In conclusion section, we propose we will further enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of the research In a follow-up study. We will choose the different types of the typical geographic cluster of tourism poverty alleviation village for field research and case studies In the future research, we will further carry out thematic research on promoting the sustainable development of local rural tourism and the implementation effect of poverty alleviation policies. (Page 24, lines705-711).

5. Please refer and add references for the last 3 years

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We add two parts to the literature review, re-study the relative literatures, and focused on the analysis of the relationship between tourism industry, poverty alleviation tourism industry and geographical factors. And, we enhance the overview of the theory of geographical nature. In this revision process, we focus on the collation of the literature of the last 3 years and increase the latest references. (Page 26-30)

6. Review the English language by a certified professional

Response: We appreciate your suggestion. We have proofread this paper for many times, and we also asked the professional proofreader to correct the grammatical mistakes, which enhanced the readability of the whole article. We also proved some other claims when revising the manuscript. If there are still some points that have not been explained clearly, please tell us, and we will try our best to revise them. Thank you again.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors,

I think your article is very interesting and well written.

Please use a better word processing software to write your formulae, as some of them are distorted.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Response to the reviewers’ comments on the manuscript entitled “Research on the Development Potential of China’s Pro-Poor Tourism Industry Based on Geographical Nature Evaluation” (sustainability-1995221 )

 

Dear Editors,

 

On behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate editor and reviewers very much for their positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Research on the Development Potential of China’s Pro-Poor Tourism Industry Based on Geographical Nature Evaluation”. We sincerely appreciate the thorough review provided by the reviewers. A full account of our responses to the comments from the reviewers is presented below, and necessary revisions have been made to the manuscript accordingly. Additions and modifications have been marked in red in the revised manuscript. Thank you very much.

 

***********************************************************

 

 

Reviewers' comments:

-Reviewer 1-

Overall, this study aims to provide evidence for pro-poor tourism decision-making, and a methodological approach for achieving this evidence, which are worthwhile endeavors. However, the study, as presented in the paper provided, does not demonstrate any academic rigor or add to the body of knowledge. Presentation of the study that was undertaken may be able to achieve this, if the following are addressed.

1. The research needs to be linked to the existing tourism literature. This ‘literature review’ section is currently less than two pages! Topics to include are: Pro-poor tourism, including the known “advantages” and “restrictions”; Especially details on the “relatively few studies on the influence of geographic spatial capital on pro-poor tourism policies”; Tourism development research using similar geographical analysis Research using this method, both tourism and non-tourism studies Any knowledge about these ‘experimental barometer’ pro-poor tourism pilot villages.
2. Focus on pro-poor tourism literature.

Response: We appreciate your suggestion. Accounting to your suggestions, we have re-studied and combed the relative literatures, and focused on the analysis of the relationship between tourism industry, poverty alleviation tourism industry and geographical factors. Mainly increased two aspects of the literature review part:

Firstly, the advantages and disadvantages of Pro-poor tourism industry are analyzed. We summarize the different researchers ' attitudes towards pro-poor tourism industry, and analyze the factors affecting pro-poor tourism industry policy.

Secondly, the relationship between tourism industry development and geographical factors is analyzed. In the implementation and formulation of tourism poverty alleviation policies, previous researches have involved diversified geographical factors, and studied the impact of tourism industry development on the spatial distribution of poverty.

The specific modifications are as follows, mainly in the “1.introduction” section, marked with red font. ( Page2, paragraph 3; Page 3-5;).

As an effective means of poverty alleviation, poverty alleviation tourism has been widely recognized by the tourism industry, and its poverty alleviation effect has become an important research hotspot in the tourism industry. In the 1950s, the World Bank started focusing on the influence of geographical factors on poverty and implementing relevant strategies (Bank T W, 2005; Donaldson G, 1985). Poverty alleviation tourism is dominated by government organizations, relying on policy tilt and government support ( Butler R W et al., 2013 ), linking stakeholders to guide social residents in poor areas to participate in tourism activities ( Gohori and van der Merwe, 2020 ; moyo and Tichaawa, 2017 ), introducing tourism to drive socio-economic growth, creating direct or indirect employment opportunities for residents to reap benefits ( Njoya and Seetaram, 2018 ; lor JJ et al., 2019 ).On the contrary, in the process of research, some scholars have questioned that there are limitations in poverty alleviation tourism, and the continuous expansion of tourism can not effectively improve poverty ( Scheyvens, 2007 ; blake et al., 2008 ), may even exclude poor residents from tourism industries, resulting in power inequality and marginalization ( Croes R, 2014 ; medina-Munoz et al., 2016 ). Therefore, the poverty alleviation effect of tourism is complex. The development of tourism can make poor areas get rid of poverty and become rich, and may also make them fall into the poverty trap ( Kwaramba et al., 2012 ). ' Multiplier effect ' and ' leakage effect ' coexist ( Andre and Melchior, 2015 ). The possible reason is that the difference between the actual implementation of regional poverty alleviation policies and policy formulation will lead to unfair distribution of benefits (Goodwin 2008 ), resulting in poor effectiveness of poverty alleviation ( Saayman et al., 2012 ). We also found that the researchers ' research on poverty alleviation tourism mainly focuses on two aspects: ① the research framework of the relationship between tourism and poverty alleviation is constructed. By exploring the internal mechanism and path dependence of tourism poverty alleviation ( Liu YP et al., 2022 ), the measurement model of poverty and tourism measures is constructed from different levels such as geography and tourism scope ( Medina-Munoz et al., 2016 ), and the tourism value chain is introduced ( Thomas, 2014 ; ji et al., 2022 ), power empowerment ( Abdullah et al., 2022 ), capacity resources ( Yu et al., 2019 ) and other factors enrich the theoretical framework to scientifically analyze the relationship between tourism and poverty alleviation. ② the effectiveness of tourism poverty alleviation. Researchers mainly focus on poverty-stricken areas in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Through case or empirical analysis, it is shown that the level of economic development makes the effectiveness of tourism poverty alleviation have a certain threshold (Kim et al., 2016). Tourism models such as voluntary tourism ( Zarandian et al., 2016 ), agricultural tourism ( Pillay and Rogerson, 2013 ), and creative tourism ( Dias et al., 2021 ) can inject new development momentum into tourism poverty alleviation and coordinate the interests of stakeholders such as government-community-enterprise ( Wen et al., 2021 ; medina-Munoz, 2019 ) can also promote the realization of sustainable development of poverty reduction.

 In addition, Tourism industry development depends considerably on geographical and natural resources. Development strategies should be established based on the recognition of regional geographic capital to consider the tourism industry as the core driving force of regional poverty reduction. Exploring the spatial layout of poverty areas with the help of GIS (Yang et al., 2021) is important for effectively identifying the impact of spatial poverty. Geographical space studies have become an important branch of studies on pro-poor tourism (Ball M, 2009). Some studies have analyzed and measured the influence of the tourism industry’s development on poverty’s spatial patterns. Steven D (2010) used geographic weighted regression to analyze the spatial changes and influences resulting from American rural pro-poor tourism. Liu Y H et al. (2016) analyzed the influence of the tourism industry on urban–rural space structure and identified that tourism is favorable for narrowing China’s urban–rural gap and changing poverty’s spatial pattern. Studies have analyzed the different influences of the progressive reduction of spatial distance through the tourism economy on the implementation effect of poverty alleviation policies using geographical spatial analysis of poverty to analyze the time and spatial features of pro-poor tourism regions (Daimon T, 2001; Ponce P et al., 2020). Zhu Lei et al. (2016) used pro-poor tourism pilot villages as a study case and analyzed the spatial distribution features of villages in which tourism policy was mainly emphasized. Rogerson J M (2020) took adventurous tourism as the poverty alleviation development strategy and enabled it to become an advantageous industry, encouraging economic development based on South Africa’s excellent geographical location and unique natural landscape.

3. Emphasize the goals in the introduction.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We rethink and refine the research goals part of this paper. The first part of the article was modified. We establish a systematic cognition of geographic capital in poverty-stricken areas, and combines regional geographic capital analysis with poverty alleviation strategy formulation, so as to provide support for the formulation of accurate and effective poverty alleviation measures. The research objectives of this paper are as follows: (Page 5, lines161-178 ).

• Establishing the theoretical framework of geographical nature. We define the geographical capital depending on the development of tourism industry in poverty alleviation regions into three dimensions: resource endowment, market development potential and space accessibility, and we analyze the structural relationship within the system;
• Newton's basic spatial gravity model is introduced to establish the measurement model of resource endowment, market development potential and space accessibility. We calculate the geographical capital status of each poverty-alleviation village and classify the tourism poverty-alleviation villages’ types according to the geographical capital status and distribution characteristics;
• By analyzing the geographical nature of pro-poor tourism villages, we can understand the advantages of pro-poor tourism industry development, identify the core factors that restrict tourism, and then put forward the pro-poor tourism strategy that is suitable for regional geographical characteristics, so as to improve the applicability and effectiveness of the poverty alleviation strategy.

4. Compare with similar works in discussion and conclusion. The discussion section is very weak.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We rethink and refine the research goals part of this paper. Accounting to your suggestion, we rewrite “conclusion and discussion” section of the paper. In this modification, we are divided into two parts:

The first part: In discussion section. We mainly discuss 4 sections, and comparative analyze relative research results combined with previous research: (Page 22-24, lines582-667).

• The quality of geographic capital is often regarded as a prerequisite for determining the spatial distribution of poverty (Luo and others, 2020). Compared with the poverty spatial distribution, geographical capital is also an important determinant of the spatial distribution of tourism industry, affecting regions’ development mode and industrial viability .Therefore, tourism industry is regarded as a core poverty alleviation industry in a region, and its industrial development strategy will be more determined and influenced by regional geographic capital. In order to improve the accuracy and implementation of the tourism poverty alleviation policy, the government should evaluate and recognize the differentiated geospatial capital before formulating the tourism poverty alleviation policy and importing the tourism industry development mode, so as to effectively improve the sustainability and adaptability of the tourism poverty alleviation policy.
• We regard the study of geographical nature as a systematic and comprehensive system and emphasis on the combined utility and interaction of various geographical elements, rather than emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages of individual elements.
• Newton's basic spatial gravity model is introduced, which is divided into three modules for respectively measuring the indexes of three dimensions and comprehensively evaluating the development potential of the tourism industry. In the evaluation of three dimensions, we selected a new evaluation model that is more suitable for the development status of tourism poverty alleviation villages. Based on this innovative research model, we also obtained new research findings and explored new potential points for the development of tourism poverty alleviation villages.
• On the basis of comprehensive evaluation, we classify the tourism poverty alleviation villages, focusing on mining the development advantages of each type, and design its high-quality development path. We pay more attention to the identification of the development advantages of tourism poverty alleviation villages, and formulate distinctive development strategies for different types of tourism poverty alleviation villages.

The second part: In conclusion section. The summary of the research conclusions is mainly divided into three aspects (Page24-25, lines668-711).:

• This study uses the data of 560 tourism poverty alleviation villages in China to conduct empirical research, and analyzes and evaluates the comprehensive potential of tourism industry development of poverty alleviation villages. The study divides tourism poverty alleviation villages into three types, and puts forward development strategy suggestions.
• This paper considers the geographic capital of poverty alleviation strategies as the core index of tourism development potential evaluation, analyzes the development path and policy needs of tourism poverty alleviation villages from the perspective of geographical nature analysis. It has scientific guiding significance for optimizing the strategy of rural tourism poverty alleviation villages, rationally allocating tourism policy resources, and promoting the sustainable development of rural tourism.
• In a follow-up study, we will further enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of the research, we will choose the different types of the typical geographic cluster of tourism poverty alleviation village for field research and case studies In the future research, we will further carry out thematic research on promoting the sustainable development of local rural tourism and the implementation effect of poverty alleviation policies.

 

 

 

 

 

-Reviewer 2-

Congratulations for the work done in making this article. It is clear that you have made a sustained effort, but publishing an article is a process of continuous learning. As a result, please find below some remarks, on each section. I encourage you to implement each one separately, so that the article has a better quality than the current one.

1. Introduction：1- Why do you implement this study? 2- Contribution of this paper.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We have mainly modified two parts:

First part: we rethink and refine the research goals part of this paper. The first part of the article was modified. This study establishes a systematic cognition of geographic capital in poverty-stricken areas, and combines regional geographic capital analysis with poverty alleviation strategy formulation, so as to provide support for the formulation of accurate and effective poverty alleviation measures. The research objectives of this paper are as follows (Page 5, lines161-178 ).:

• Establishing the theoretical framework of geographical nature. We define the geographical capital depending on the development of tourism industry in poverty alleviation regions into three dimensions: resource endowment, market development potential and space accessibility, and we analyze the structural relationship within the system;
• Newton's basic spatial gravity model is introduced to establish the measurement model of resource endowment, market development potential and space accessibility. We calculate the geographical capital status of each poverty-alleviation village and classify the tourism poverty-alleviation villages’ types according to the geographical capital status and distribution characteristics;
• By analyzing the geographical nature of pro-poor tourism villages, we can understand the advantages of pro-poor tourism industry development, identify the core factors that restrict tourism, and then put forward the pro-poor tourism strategy that is suitable for regional geographical characteristics, so as to improve the applicability and effectiveness of the poverty alleviation strategy.

Second part: we rewrite the research contribution of the paper. In the introduction section, we compare with previous studies, and propose the geographical nature of pro-poor tourism industry should be more emphasis on the study in structured situation of space geographical elements, emphasis on local geographical elements’ complementary advantages, fostering strengths and circumventing weaknesses, so as to establish the focus and implementation path of tourism industry poverty alleviation policy, and more effectively guide the integration of tourism industry and local natural and social environment, so as to effectively realize the policy effectiveness of poverty alleviation(Page 4, lines149-160).

Third part: In the conclusion part, we extract the innovation of this paper. The innovation of this paper is to regard the study of geographical nature as a systematic and comprehensive element system and attach importance to the combined utility and interaction of various geographical elements, rather than the advantages and disadvantages of individual elements. We pay more attention to the identification of the development advantages of pro-poor tourism villages, and formulate distinctive development strategies for different types of pro-poor tourism villages based on these data. At the same time, in the evaluation of resource endowment and market development potential, we selected a factor evaluation model that is more suitable for the development status of pro-poor tourism villages. Based on this innovative research model, we also obtained new research findings and explored new potential points for the development of pro-poor tourism villages. This study aims to serve the formulation of pro-poor tourism policy, enhance the persistence and sustainability of pro-poor tourism policy, so as to fundamentally explore the survival and effective industrial development mode of this type of village (Page24-25, lines668-711)..

2. Theoretical background: I think that the authors should discuss more in-depth the analysis of the theoretical background. You should have a small section in the article to support this statement.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We have enhanced the elaboration of the theoretical background. The main modifications are divided into two aspects:

The first part: we have re-studied and combed the relative literatures, and focused on the analysis of the relationship between tourism industry, poverty alleviation tourism industry and geographical factors. Mainly increased two aspects of the literature review part: Firstly, the advantages and disadvantages of Pro-poor tourism industry are analyzed. Secondly, the relationship between tourism industry development and geographical factors is analyzed. In the implementation and formulation of tourism poverty alleviation policies, previous researches have involved diversified geographical factors, and studied the impact of tourism industry development on the spatial distribution of poverty. ( Page2, paragraph 3; Page 3-5;).

The second part: we enhance the overview of the theory of geographical nature. Krugman, the representative of new economic geography, puts forward Geographical Nature theory (Krugman P., 1993): Firstly, natural endowment is the resource condition that determines the basic productive forces as well as the basis for the survival and development of human society. Secondly, the second nature is market value, which affects the ability of resource value transformation and interaction, and it also determines the agglomeration choice of population and capital. On the basis of Krugman's dualistic geographical nature theory, the follow-up researchers put forward the third factor, which is to correspond to the third industrial revolution information revolution with the conditions of scientific and technological facilities and human resources (Gaspar J M, 2020). The researchers extracted the characteristics of the three geographical natures and analyzed their evolution. And then based on the main ideas of modeling to construct the three geographical nature of region evolution mode, the model of regional evolution under the three geographical natures was constructed. It was found that the first geographical nature dominated the spatial distribution of population in agricultural society, the second geographical nature to guide economic and population spatial distribution from decentralization to agglomeration, and the third geographical nature began to guide new agglomeration characterized by "Planar Development". Nowadays, according to the geographical nature theory, researchers refer it to the structural evaluation of geographical resources (Carroll M C et al., 2008; Guimar P et al., 2009), analyze the characteristics of regional geographic spatial differentiation, and trace the root causes of regional economic or social differences. (Page5,  lines187-203).

3. Contribute: Please supplement and improve the theoretical and practical contributions of this research to sustainability.

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We mainly expound the relationship between our research and sustainable development from the following two aspects.

The first part: In introduction section, this study establishes a systematic cognition of geographic capital in poverty-stricken areas, and combines regional geographic capital analysis with poverty alleviation strategy formulation, so as to provide support for the formulation of accurate and effective poverty alleviation measures. We propose that the geographical nature of pro-poor tourism industry should be more emphasis on the study in structured situation of space geographical elements, emphasis on local geographical elements’ complementary advantages, fostering strengths and circumventing weaknesses, so as to establish the focus and implementation path of tourism industry poverty alleviation policy, and more effectively guide the integration of tourism industry and local natural and social environment, so as to effectively realize the policy effectiveness of poverty alleviation. (Page 5, lines161-178 ).

The second part: In conclusion section, we have re-written the innovation points, and proposed that the research aims to serve the formulation of tourism poverty alleviation policies and enhance the persistence and sustainability of tourism poverty alleviation policies, so as to fundamentally explore the effective industrial development model of this type of villages. (Page 24-25)

4. Inspiration and limitations: The enlightenment and limitations of this study are seriously insufficient, please supplement and improve

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. After carefully discussing and revising, we have responded the forth questions you mentioned above. Accounting to your suggestion, we rewrite “conclusion and discussion” section and the innovation section of the paper. In this modification, we are divided into three parts:

The first part: We regard the study of geographical nature as a systematic and comprehensive system and emphasis on the combined utility and interaction of various geographical elements, rather than emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages of individual elements. And we pay more attention to the identification of the development advantages of tourism poverty alleviation villages, and formulate distinctive development strategies for different types of tourism poverty alleviation villages. At the same time, in the evaluation of resource endowment and market development potential, we selected a new evaluation model that is more suitable for the development status of tourism poverty alleviation villages. Based on this innovative research model, we also obtained new research findings and explored new potential points for the development of tourism poverty alleviation villages. This study aims to serve the formulation of tourism poverty alleviation policy, enhance the persistence and sustainability of tourism poverty alleviation policy, so as to fundamentally explore the survival and effective industrial development mode. (Page 4-5, lines150-160).

The second part: In discussion section, we propose the relationship between this study and the sustainable development of tourism poverty alleviation industry, and take considers the geographic capital of poverty alleviation strategies as the core index of tourism development potential evaluation, analyzes the development path and policy needs of tourism poverty alleviation villages from the perspective of geographical nature analysis. It has scientific guiding significance for optimizing the strategy of rural tourism poverty alleviation villages, rationally allocating tourism policy resources, and promoting the sustainable development of rural tourism. (Page 22,  lines596-613).

The third part:  In conclusion section, we propose we will further enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of the research In a follow-up study. We will choose the different types of the typical geographic cluster of tourism poverty alleviation village for field research and case studies In the future research, we will further carry out thematic research on promoting the sustainable development of local rural tourism and the implementation effect of poverty alleviation policies. (Page 24, lines705-711).

5. Please refer and add references for the last 3 years

Response: We appreciate your suggestions very much. We add two parts to the literature review, re-study the relative literatures, and focused on the analysis of the relationship between tourism industry, poverty alleviation tourism industry and geographical factors. And, we enhance the overview of the theory of geographical nature. In this revision process, we focus on the collation of the literature of the last 3 years and increase the latest references. (Page 26-30)

6. Review the English language by a certified professional

Response: We appreciate your suggestion. We have proofread this paper for many times, and we also asked the professional proofreader to correct the grammatical mistakes, which enhanced the readability of the whole article. We also proved some other claims when revising the manuscript. If there are still some points that have not been explained clearly, please tell us, and we will try our best to revise them. Thank you again.

 

 

-Reviewer 3-

1. Design is good and well framed.2. Methodology used is appropriate and well explained in the text; 3. Results and conclusions depict the findings of the study undertaken and are well written;

My recommendation: Accept the paper with minor changes, including the writing of the formulae.

Response: We appreciate your suggestion. We are sorry for the poor language of the previous manuscript. In order to better express our contribution and other claims, we have asked professional proofreader to modify the language. We have proofread this paper for many times corrected the writing of the formula. And we also asked the professional proofreader to correct the grammatical mistakes, which enhanced the readability of the whole article.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Hi

Thanks, the article has improved significantly