{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,12]],"date-time":"2026-07-12T04:52:10Z","timestamp":1783831930988,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,15]],"date-time":"2025-06-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1749945600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012456","name":"National Social Science Fund of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["23BJY143"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23BJY143"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012456","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The global tourism industry is currently experiencing a significant boom, leading to increasing prosperity in the tourism economy. However, litigation disputes and conflicts between tourism consumers and operators have become more frequent, severely disrupting the smooth functioning of tourism markets. Therefore, clarifying the spatiotemporal attributes and distributional characteristics of tourism disputes in destinations holds substantial significance for destination market governance and the sustainable development of tourism systems. Taking China\u2019s Yangtze River Economic Belt as a case study, this research employs the geographic concentration index, the gravity center model, and the Dagum Gini coefficient to analyze the spatiotemporal patterns of different types of tourism disputes and their watershed-specific variations from 2013 to 2024. The results demonstrated that tourism disputes exhibited an increase\u2013decrease\u2013increase inter-annual trend. The downstream basin had the most disputes, followed by the upstream and midstream ones. Areas with a high and low incidence of disputes were interspersed, with low spatial agglomeration. The gravity center was in Hubei Province. Basin differences changed in a fluctuating manner. Basin differences were large at the beginning of the study period, and thereafter the basin differences decreased in a fluctuating manner. The inter-basin differences were more significant for travel agency disputes and catering disputes. Overall, this study effectively presented the temporal distribution characteristics, spatial evolution characteristics, and basin differences in tourism disputes using mathematical statistics, geospatial analysis, and other methods.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems13060473","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,16]],"date-time":"2025-06-16T06:40:27Z","timestamp":1750056027000},"page":"473","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Spatiotemporal Evolution of and Regional Differences in Consumer Disputes in the Tourism System: Empirical Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-6218-8227","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ning","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gangmin","family":"Weng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1088","DOI":"10.1080\/13683500.2016.1149155","article-title":"Tour guides under zero-fare mode: Evidence from China","volume":"20","author":"Xu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Curr. Issues Tour."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"455","DOI":"10.1080\/09669582.2014.957207","article-title":"Challenges and potential improvements in the policy and regulatory framework for sustainable tourism planning in China: The case of Shanxi Province","volume":"23","author":"Cao","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Sustain. Tour."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2866","DOI":"10.1080\/13683500.2019.1701635","article-title":"Mediating role of legal services in tourism development: A necessity for sustainable tourism destinations","volume":"23","author":"Qasim","year":"2020","journal-title":"Curr. Issues Tour."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tourman.2017.03.018","article-title":"Exploring corporate social responsibility and financial performance through stakeholder theory in the tourism industries","volume":"62","author":"Theodoulidis","year":"2017","journal-title":"Tour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Song, H.M., Zhu, C.S., and Fong, L.H.N. (2021). Exploring Residents\u2019 Perceptions and Attitudes towards Sustainable Tourism Development in Traditional Villages: The Lens of Stakeholder Theory. Sustainability, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/su132313032"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104793","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tourman.2023.104793","article-title":"Information asymmetry in the innovation adoption decision of tourism and hospitality SMEs in emerging markets: A mixed-method analysis","volume":"99","author":"Lin","year":"2023","journal-title":"Tour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wu, D.D., and Li, H. (2025). Information Asymmetry in Tourism Market: The Bilateral Effects of ESG Practices on Firm Profitability. J. Travel Res., 00472875251332950.","DOI":"10.1177\/00472875251332950"},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"492","article-title":"E-TOURISM AND TOURISM SERVICES CONSUMER PROTECTION","volume":"12","author":"Nedelea","year":"2010","journal-title":"Amfiteatru Econ."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"432","article-title":"Consumer Protection as a Factor of Destination Competitiveness in the European Union","volume":"19","author":"Petrovic","year":"2017","journal-title":"Amfiteatru Econ."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zmyslony, P., Kowalczyk-Aniol, J., and Dembinska, M. (2020). Deconstructing the Overtourism-Related Social Conflicts. Sustainability, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/su12041695"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5429","DOI":"10.15244\/pjoes\/178328","article-title":"Research on Spatio-Temporal Evolution Characteristics and Driving Factors of Tourism Destination Environmental System Resilience in Yangtze River Economic Belt","volume":"33","author":"Yang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Pol. J. Environ. Stud."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1197","DOI":"10.1007\/s11442-016-1322-8","article-title":"Recent research progress and prospects in tourism geography of China","volume":"26","author":"Lu","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Geogr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Meng, L., Zhu, C.G., Pu, J., Wen, B., and Si, W.T. (2022). Study on the Influence Mechanism of Intangible Cultural Heritage Distribution from Man-Land Relationship Perspective: A Case Study in Shandong Province. Land, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/land11081225"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forpol.2016.05.021","article-title":"The role of institutions in the production of space for tourism: National Forest Parks China","volume":"70","author":"Luo","year":"2016","journal-title":"For. Policy Econ."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"751","DOI":"10.1177\/2399654419887964","article-title":"Towards just production of tourism space via dialogical everyday politics in destination communities","volume":"38","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ. Plan. C-Politics Space"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106600","DOI":"10.1016\/j.landusepol.2023.106600","article-title":"The spatial production of rural settlements as rural homestays in the context of rural revitalization: Evidence from a rural tourism experiment in a Chinese village","volume":"128","author":"Bi","year":"2023","journal-title":"Land Use Policy"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"902","DOI":"10.1108\/TR-09-2018-0133","article-title":"Collaborative governance in tourism: Lessons from Etorkizuna Eraikiz in the Basque Country, Spain","volume":"74","author":"Restrepo","year":"2019","journal-title":"Tour. Rev."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"493","DOI":"10.1002\/sd.3117","article-title":"Does collaborative governance mediate rural tourism to achieve sustainable territory development? Evidence of stakeholders\u2019 perceptions in Colombia","volume":"33","author":"Valderrama","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sustain. Dev."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bichler, B.F., and L\u00f6sch, M. (2019). Collaborative Governance in Tourism: Empirical Insights into a Community-Oriented Destination. Sustainability, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/su11236673"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"154","DOI":"10.1080\/10548408.2023.2293008","article-title":"Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measurement in the tourism and hospitality industry: Views from a developing country","volume":"41","author":"Lin","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Travel Tour. Mark."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e70034","DOI":"10.1002\/jtr.70034","article-title":"Advocating Sustainable Tourism in China: A Transitory, Top-Down Stakeholder Engagement Perspective","volume":"27","author":"Tse","year":"2025","journal-title":"Int. J. Tour. Res."},{"key":"ref_22","first-page":"548","article-title":"Sporting and tourist activities: Legal aspects What legal framework for sports, leisure and tourism activities?","volume":"101","author":"Sontag","year":"2013","journal-title":"Rev. Geogr. Alp.-J. Alp. Res."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/13683500.2024.2404181","article-title":"Legal frameworks for sustainable tourism: Balancing environmental conservation and economic development","volume":"27","author":"Khater","year":"2024","journal-title":"Curr. Issues Tour."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1593","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actaastro.2009.08.019","article-title":"The legal regime for private space tourism activities-An overview","volume":"66","author":"Hobe","year":"2010","journal-title":"Acta Astronaut."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"309","DOI":"10.1080\/14766825.2017.1298607","article-title":"China\u2019s first Tourism Law: Representations of stakeholders\u2019 responses","volume":"16","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Tour. Cult. Change"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tourman.2010.02.003","article-title":"Quality of hotel service and consumer protection: A European contract law approach","volume":"32","author":"Serrat","year":"2011","journal-title":"Tour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3177","DOI":"10.1108\/IJCHM-08-2019-0733","article-title":"Fairness, legitimacy and the regulation of home-sharing platforms","volume":"32","author":"Newlands","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105586","DOI":"10.1016\/j.marpol.2023.105586","article-title":"Compulsory insurance for cruise vessels as a preparation for the next pandemic: Law of the sea perspective","volume":"152","author":"Seta","year":"2023","journal-title":"Mar. Policy"},{"key":"ref_29","first-page":"S8387","article-title":"Research on consumers\u2019 protection in advantageous operation of big data brokers","volume":"22","author":"Nie","year":"2019","journal-title":"Clust. Comput.-J. Netw. Softw. Tools Appl."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"975","DOI":"10.1177\/0047287519871107","article-title":"Evaluating Tourism Market Regulation from Tourists\u2019 Perspective: Scale Development and Validation","volume":"59","author":"Liu","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Travel Res."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105971","DOI":"10.1016\/j.frl.2024.105971","article-title":"Tourism law, labor supply and corporate performance in tourism listed firms","volume":"68","author":"Shao","year":"2024","journal-title":"Financ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tourman.2014.03.008","article-title":"The role of local government and the private sector in China\u2019s tourism industry","volume":"45","author":"Wang","year":"2014","journal-title":"Tour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"138","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tourman.2015.11.002","article-title":"Stakeholder perception of regulating commercial tourism in Victorian National Parks, Australia","volume":"54","author":"Randle","year":"2016","journal-title":"Tour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.1080\/1523908X.2012.681121","article-title":"Tourism on Curacao: Explaining the Shortage of Sustainability Legislation from Game Theory Perspective","volume":"14","author":"Dinica","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Environ. Policy Plan."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2678","DOI":"10.1080\/13683500.2022.2093699","article-title":"Law, political stability, tourism management and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa","volume":"26","author":"Asongu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Curr. Issues Tour."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"263","DOI":"10.1016\/j.econmod.2017.12.017","article-title":"Relating rule of law and budgetary allocation for tourism: Does per capita income growth make a difference for Indian states?","volume":"71","author":"Dutta","year":"2018","journal-title":"Econ. Model."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1016\/j.annals.2019.03.003","article-title":"The effectiveness of the legal system and inbound tourism","volume":"76","author":"Gozgor","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ann. Tour. Res."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1009","DOI":"10.24136\/oc.2023.02930","article-title":"Impact of the rule of law, corruption and terrorism on tourism: Empirical evidence from Mediterranean countries","volume":"14","author":"Bayar","year":"2023","journal-title":"Oeconomia Copernic."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tan, S.K., Zou, S.J., Zhao, Y., He, Q.S., and Zhang, M.M. (2024). Research on the Manifestation and Formation Mechanism of New Characteristics of Land Disputes: Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China. Land, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/land13071002"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"134722","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2022.134722","article-title":"Spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of tourism development efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China","volume":"379","author":"Chen","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"342","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tourman.2012.10.008","article-title":"Implementing sustainable tourism: A multi-stakeholder involvement management framework","volume":"36","author":"Waligo","year":"2013","journal-title":"Tour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_42","first-page":"247","article-title":"Examining stakeholder group specificity: An innovative sustainable tourism approach","volume":"8","author":"Hardy","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Destin. Mark. Manag."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Xuemei, L., Wang, F., Huili, C., and Jingwen, T. (2024). Development of an Indicator System for Evaluating Risks in Trekking Tourism. Leis. Sci., 1\u201320.","DOI":"10.1080\/01490400.2024.2415941"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.2112\/SI103-095.1","article-title":"Spatial Distribution Characteristics of Fringe Villages of Archipelagic City: A Case Study of Zhoushan","volume":"103","author":"Tang","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Coast. Res."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1771","DOI":"10.15244\/pjoes\/186620","article-title":"Study on the Spatiotemporal Differentiation of Traditional Villages and the Factors Influencing Tourism Responsiveness: A Case of Three Provinces and One Municipality in the Yangtze River Delta Region of China","volume":"34","author":"Sun","year":"2025","journal-title":"Pol. J. Environ. Stud."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e31990","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heliyon.2024.e31990","article-title":"A study on the spatial differences between the tourism network attention and tourism flow in Shanghai, China","volume":"10","author":"Feng","year":"2024","journal-title":"Heliyon"},{"key":"ref_47","first-page":"100721","article-title":"Spatial pattern and micro-location rules of tourism businesses in historic towns: A case study of Pingyao, China","volume":"25","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Destin. Mark. Manag."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106262","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2022.106262","article-title":"Regional differences, dynamic evolution, and driving factors of tourism development in Chinese coastal cities","volume":"226","author":"Ji","year":"2022","journal-title":"Ocean Coast. Manag."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tourman.2016.03.010","article-title":"The historical evolution of China\u2019s tourism development policies (1949-2013)-A quantitative research approach","volume":"58","author":"Tang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Tour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1291","DOI":"10.1057\/s41599-024-03782-z","article-title":"Perceived tourism implicit conflict among community residents and its spatial variation","volume":"11","author":"Li","year":"2024","journal-title":"Humanit. Soc. Sci. Commun."}],"container-title":["Systems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-8954\/13\/6\/473\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T17:52:23Z","timestamp":1760032343000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-8954\/13\/6\/473"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,15]]},"references-count":50,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6]]}},"alternative-id":["systems13060473"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/systems13060473","relation":{},"ISSN":["2079-8954"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2079-8954","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,15]]}}}