Balancing Tourism Seasonality: The Role of Tourism Destination Image (TDI) and Spatial Levels (SLs)

Jie Wang () and Xi Chen ()
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Jie Wang: School of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
Xi Chen: School of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Balancing tourism seasonality remains a significant challenge in the management of tourist attractions. Despite existing research on the impact of seasonality from the perspectives of tourist intention cognition and spatial theory, gaps still exist in the relevant literature. This study examines 16 5A-level scenic spots in China with peak season, flat season, and off-season themes, utilizing 8385 tourist reviews from Ctrip.com as data. The LDA topic model is employed to analyze tourism destination image (TDI) under seasonality of destination, and the spatial level (SLs) model is combined to analyze the spatial hierarchy of these images. The findings reveal an association between TDI and SLs under seasonality of destination. For instance, peak season TDI themes (e.g., ‘viewing the scenery’) exhibit a support level of 0.789, while off-season themes (e.g., ‘relaxed itinerary’) reach 0.682, reflecting tourists’ prioritization of functional versus psychological dimensions across seasons. The proposed TDI-SLs correlation theory bridges supply-side spatial resource allocation with tourists’ perceptual dynamics, offering a novel framework to rebalance seasonal demand–supply gaps through strategic spatial planning and image recalibration. Practically, this framework guides destination managers to design season-specific strategies, such as optimizing crowd management in peak seasons or promoting immersive experiences in off-seasons.

Keywords: seasonality of destination; tourism destination image (TDI); spatial levels (SLs); season-specific strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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