Motivation Structure and Capacity Building of Technological Catch-up: Experience and Policy Implication of China’s High-speed Rail

Abstract

In recent years, China's high-speed rail network (HSR) has experienced remarkable growth. This article uses a novel way to define HSR and to investigate the relationship between HSR and tourism development in China. The preliminary findings show that the expansion of HSR has greatly contributed to people's mobility choices, strengthened city-to-city relations and improved social development. Meanwhile, its negative impact on China's environmental impact should also be taken into account. It is demonstrated that cities located in the inland areas benefited more for tourism development induced by HSR compared to their coastal or regional central counterparts. However, the popularity of tourism attractions and the richness of tourism destinations are not so important, suggesting that the demand for leisure and vacation is gradually replaced by sightseeing in the relatively more remote areas thanks to the time-space compression effect of HSR. The research findings in this article strongly support China's effort in developing the country's HSR network which is connecting the vast majority of the prefecture-level cities as far as tourism development is concerned.