Suitability assessment of industrial heritage tourism of the towns along Chinese Eastern Railway in Heilongjiang Province

Tourism utilization of industrial heritage is an important way to balance heritage conservation and economic development. Assessment of the developing-utilization suitability is the basis of making strategy of industrial heritage tourism. As a linear cultural heritage running through Northeast China, Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) inherits the regional historical context. Heilongjiang province, which lies at the intersection of three branches of CER, has abundant industrial heritage resources from 1897 to 1952. However, most of the towns along the railroad are facing the dilemma caused by the homogenization of heritage tourism utilization and the heritage destruction caused by idleness. The purpose of this paper is to assess the suitability of industrial heritage tourism development of CER in Heilongjiang Province and put forward proper tactics to ensure long-term sustainability. Most of the existing studies on heritage tourist destinations are mainly based on single heritage and surrounding built environment evaluation, rarely at the regional level. Therefore, this study takes 24 towns along CER in Heilongjiang Province as research samples. Considering the connection between sustainable tourism and heritage protection, this paper puts forward a theoretical framework of sustainable heritage tourism development. Based on the current situation of natural and social environment, industrial heritage spatio-temporal distribution characteristics of the towns, an evaluation model is established by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Delphi method. Five sub-criteria and twenty sub-sub-criteria are obtained by pre-investigation questionnaire and expert interview. Criterion weights are calculated by expert group decision and Entropy Weight Method (EWM) with qualitative and quantitative analysis. Then, based on multi-source data, 24 towns are divided into four categories by GIS analysis and K-means clustering method. The results show the development suitability of each town and the factors that restrict its sustainable tourism development such as heritage resources, natural environment, social environment, transportation accessibility or tourism service facilities. Among the five sub-criteria, “Heritage resources” contributes the most (35%) to the suitability of industrial heritage tourism development, while “tourism service facilities” contributes the least (11%). Based on the results, this paper proposes strategies at three levels: foster complementarity among towns along CER to achieve joint development; Improve municipal infrastructure and public services & facilities, pass on traditional culture and specialty industries to develop towns with distinct characteristics; Refined transformation of industrial heritage. The evaluation process is going to be used in other parts of CER or other linear cultural heritages.