Exploring the coupling dynamics between accessibility of tourist attractions and tourism demand in Anhui Province

Tourist attractions, as core components of tourism product supply, play a crucial role in regional tourism development. Investigating the spatial relationship between the supply and demand of tourist attractions contributes to optimizing the spatial structure of regional tourism and promoting high-quality, balanced, and coordinated growth of the tourism industry. Taking high-grade tourist attractions in Anhui Province as the research object, this paper first analyzes the characteristics of accessibility using the time cost distance method and the standard deviational ellipse. Subsequently, it constructs a set of tourism demand indicators and employs the coupling coordination model and Markov chain method to evaluate the spatial coupling coordination between accessibility of tourist attractions and tourism demand. The results show a significant improvement in accessibility of tourist attractions from 2015 to 2024, with average travel time to tourist attractions at the county level decreasing from 65 to 41 minutes, and the proportion of areas reachable within 60 minutes rising from 62.5% to 92.3%. However, spatial disparities persist, particularly exhibiting persistent low accessibility in mountainous and peripheral areas. The coupling coordination levels between the accessibility of tourist attractions and tourism demand remained generally stable, with most counties classified into the moderate and high coordination categories. Spatial Markov analysis indicates that neighboring regions exert strong spatial spillover effects, influencing both the direction and magnitude of coordination level transitions. Notably, leap-level transitions were rare, while adjacent-level shifts dominated the dynamics. These findings underscore the importance of spatial context and infrastructure in shaping the interaction between tourism supply and demand. This study provides empirical evidence to support spatially differentiated planning and transportation investment strategies aimed at promoting balanced tourism development.