Research on the Development Level and Regional Differences of Agriculture-tourism Integration in the Yellow River Basin

The agriculture - tourism integration is a crucial approach to enhance farmers’ income and promote industrial upgrading. The entropy weight - modified coupling coordination degree model was employed to evaluate the coupling coordination relationship and regional disparities between agriculture and tourism in the Yellow River Basin from 2011 to 2021 in this work. The results indicated the following: （1）The Yellow River Basin had been in a state of lagging development in tourism for a long time, and the agricultural development also entered the lagging state in 2018, then the synchronous characteristics of agriculture and tourism were beginning to emerge. As a result, the coupling coordination level transitions from dissonance to barely coordination. （2）Five provinces and regions had encountered setbacks in terms of tourism development. The synchronization characteristics of agriculture and tourism in several provinces and regions were inconspicuous. Regional imbalance in the coupling coordination of agriculture and tourism was a prominent issue. （3）Spatially, the coupling coordination degree of agriculture and tourism was categorized into four types: Shandong and Shaanxi provinces embody the stable and high coupling coordination regions, Sichuan, Henan and Inner Mongolia provinces represented the unstable and high coupling coordination regions, Shanxi, Qinghai and Ningxia provinces were characterized as the stable and low coupling coordination regions while Gansu province represented the unstable and low coupling coordination region. In light of the overall situation and four typologies of the Yellow River Basin, policy recommendations were proffered for the coordinated optimization of agriculture - tourism integration. In light of the overall situation and four typologies of the Yellow River Basin, policy recommendations were proffered for the coordinated optimization of agricultural and tourism integration as follows: （1）Strengthening inter-provincial collaboration to narrow the gap in agriculture-tourism integration. （2）Leveraging agriculture to promote tourism and advancing the development of agriculture-tourism integration.（3）Promoting agriculture through tourism to drive the integrated development of agriculture-tourism integration.