ABSTRACT
It is of great significance to explore the spatial-temporal characteristics and analyze the driving factors of the diffusion of smart tourism city policy, which promotes the adoption of smart tourism city policy and the sustainable development of tourism. We aimed to explore the diffusion law and influencing factors of smart tourism city so as to provide reference for the construction of smart tourism city. By employing the 249 cases in China from 2012 to 2019, we revealed the spatial-temporal characteristics and driving factors influencing the diffusion of smart tourism city policy by employing the event history analysis method. The results reveal that the diffusion of smart tourism city policy presents the typical S-shaped curve in cumulative adoptions over time. Furthermore, the diffusion of smart tourism city policy presents the spatial distribution characteristic of the Hu Line, which spreads from the eastern coastal areas to the central inland areas. Moreover, there are multiple driving sources for the diffusion of smart tourism city policy, among which economic lift force, intellectual support force, technological pull force and demand impetus force are the important driving sources for the policy diffusion.