Abstract: Global tourism has stepped into the stage of spatial competitionin regional tourism.The Belt and Road Initiative provides beneficial explorations for international regional tourism cooperation and space expansion of China's regional tourism under the new era.At present,China's regional tourism has initially formed a "three horizontal and two vertical" spatial pattern.However,it has the certain limitations.Firstly,spatial heterogeneity and economic rationality in the tourist regions are not properly taken into consideration;secondly,tourism resources in countries along the route are not effectively utilized,leading to a low-level synergy of tourism destinations;thirdly,the origins and the destinations of tourists are highly coincident,causing a non-coordinated development pattern of "strong east and weak west",which is difficult to be effectively mitigated.Based on the three principles of high-end,spatial heterogeneity and cooperative sharing,China should build a multi-center and sub-regional tourism space system,urban agglomeration being the carrier;build high-quality tourism routes according to heterogeneity;improve the efficiency of regional tourism linkage,focusing on the construction of network facilities;strengthen the foundation for tourism cooperation among countries along the route,starting from the construction of industrial public lands.With these measures,China could optimize its spatial layout of regional tourism and improve its international competitiveness in regional tourism.

Key words: "the Belt and Road Initiative", regional tourism, spatial layout, spatial heterogeneity