The results indicate that the space-time compression effect brought by HSR enhanced traffic accessibility and tourism economic connections in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, but the improvement was spatially unbalanced.
Based on the weighted average travel time, tourism economic potential, tourism economic connections and other indicators, this paper analyses the impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) on the accessibility of regional transport and tourism economic connections and explores the synergistic effect of accessibility and the tourism economic development through the coupling coordination degree evaluation model. The results indicate that the space-time compression effect brought by HSR enhanced traffic accessibility and tourism economic connections in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, but the improvement was spatially unbalanced. The improvement of transportation conditions has led to a trend towards centralization in the economic connections of tourism, resulting in the formation of the Chengdu-Deyang-Mianyang-Leshan HSR tourism economic belt. The coupling coordination level of tourism accessibility and tourism economic connections in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle presents a basic coordinated state. HSR has improved the lagging status of regional tourism economic development, and enhanced the coupling coordination degree between tourism accessibility and tourism economy of Chengdu, Chongqing, and Deyang. To promote the coordinated development of regional tourism, the construction of the high-speed rail network should be further improved, the efficiency of the spatial movement of tourism elements should be strengthened, and the core cities should play a leading role in the tourism economy of the peripheral cities.