Construction of Cultural Heritage Tourism Corridor for the Dissemination of Historical Culture: A Case Study of Typical Mountainous Multi-Ethnic Area in China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
This is an interesting and original research that introduces a case study of a typical mountainous multi-ethnic area in China analysed from the perspective of the construction of a cultural landscape tourism corridor network for the dissemination of historical culture.
The paper can enrich the debates on cultural tourism corridors and their touristic exploitation with contexts less considered in the international discussions.
Key words: you should avoid using similar words which are also in the title (cultural tourism, corridor network, mountainous multi-ethnic area).
Discussion section
You should include in this section several information:
(1) you should make a better correlation of the results emphasizing the importance of the study and what are the innovative aspects of your research: you should emphasize in the first phase of Discussion that using a mixed methodology represents an innovation that you brought to the construction of the corridor tourism network ("A method of corridor network construction from landscape ecology, least cost path analysis based on the MCR model, was applied to the construction of cultural tourism corridor networks": Lines 391-393)(2) you should mention the limitation(s) of the study and future research. The last phase in conclusions section is related to the future research but is is vague.
Minor comments:
In the figures 3 & 4 you wrote cutural transmission resistance (fig. 3) and cutural source, cutural node.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments:
We are grateful to the insightful comments and clarify the concerns as follows.
Comment 1: Discussion section: (1) you should make a better correlation of the results emphasizing the importance of the study and what are the innovative aspects of your research: you should emphasize in the first phase of Discussion that using a mixed methodology represents an innovation that you brought to the construction of the corridor tourism network ("A method of corridor network construction from landscape ecology, least cost path analysis based on the MCR model, was applied to the construction of cultural tourism corridor networks": Lines 391-393)
Response 1: Thank you for the insightful comments. Based on your valuable suggestion, we have highlighted the research innovation in the first paragraph, as well as key findings, to further explain the research significance in our revised manuscript (page 13, line 429).
Comment 2: Discussion section: (2) you should mention the limitation(s) of the study and future research. The last phase in conclusions section is related to the future research but is vague.
Response 2: Thank you very much for the comment. We apologize for the lack of clarity in the manuscript regarding research limitations and future work. This content has been further clarified in the discussion section of the revised manuscript (page 15, line 548). Thank you again for pointing this out.
Comment 3: Keywords: You should avoid using similar words which are also in the title (cultural tourism, corridor network, mountainous multi-ethnic area).
Response 3: Thanks for your suggestion. The keywords have been changed to "Cultural heritage tourism corridor network", "Resources integration", "Heritage conservation and utilization", "Ethnic minorities", "Landscape ecology", and "Least Cost Path analysis."
Comment 4: Minor comments: In the figures 3 & 4 you wrote cutural transmission resistance (fig. 3) and cutural source, cultural node.
Response 4: Thank you for your careful checks. We are very sorry for our carelessness. We have corrected the “cutural” into “cultural” in the figures 3&4.
Reviewer 2 Report
From a formal point of view, the document has two deficiencies: first, the authors do not respect the citation rules, since they cite according to APA norms. Secondly, the figures have very poor quality, and it is requested that they be improved and made clearer. In addition, it is advised that a map of China be introduced to orient the international reader. The international reader does not know where Hunan province is.
The article has an optimal theoretical treatment and the methodology is well explained, but we note that it is an article very focused on the application of the methodology; that is, it is not explained or described in more detail what kind of cultural heritage is found on the route. It is true that intangible resources, historic cities, are mentioned, but the reader does not have a minimum approach to what type of ethnographic heritage the authors are referring to, since ethnographic heritage is a very broad concept. In this type of heritage, does architecture, landscape or culture predominate? In this sense, it is necessary to introduce photographic material and describe the points of interest along the route: what can the tourist find along this route?
Otherwise, the discussion and conclusions are correct.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
We are grateful to the insightful comments and clarify the concerns as follows.
Comment 1: The authors do not respect the citation rules, since they cite according to APA norms;
Response 1: Thank you for this suggestion, and we apologize for not following the journal's formatting requirements for reference citations. We have used the correct citation format in our revised manuscript.
Comment 2: The figures have very poor quality, and it is requested that they be improved and made clearer.
Response 2: Thanks a lot for pointing this out. We are very sorry for our negligence, and we have inserted the high-quality figures in our revised manuscript.
Comment 3: It is advised that a map of China be introduced to orient the international reader. The international reader does not know where Hunan province is.
Response 3: Thank you for the suggestive comments. We have added a standard map of China to the Figure 1.
Comment 4: It is not explained or described in more detail what kind of cultural heritage is found on the route. It is true that intangible resources, historic cities, are mentioned, but the reader does not have a minimum approach to what type of ethnographic heritage the authors are referring to, since ethnographic heritage is a very broad concept. In this type of heritage, does architecture, landscape or culture predominate? In this sense, it is necessary to introduce photographic material and describe the points of interest along the route: what can the tourist find along this route?
Response 4: Thank you for the comment. We apologize for not clearly explaining the concept of cultural tourism corridors in this study. In this study, due to the large number of heritage sites, cultural spaces are identified first. Then, mass centres are extracted to construct the main structure of the tourism corridor network. Therefore, tourism corridors serve primarily as a means of connecting cultural spaces. This is why we describe the cultural spaces associated with each corridor in the results section rather than the cultural heritage sites. Once tourists have entered the cultural space, they will be able to reach each heritage site easily due to the low resistance to cultural dissemination between heritage sites. In our revised manuscript, we highlight the concept and the idea of constructing cultural tourism corridors in this study in the methodology section (page 4, line 155), and add an elaboration in the discussion section (page 15, line 548). Moreover, we apologize for not providing a concrete description of the different types of cultural heritage in Xiangxi Prefecture. In our revised manuscript, we have updated an explanation of the different types of cultural heritage in Xiangxi Prefecture and their photographs taken at heritage sites in Section 2.1 (page 3, line 120). This may facilitate a better understanding of regional ethnic characteristics and their cultural heritage.
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The comments have been considered
