Due to increasing accessibility and mobility, tourism destinations are broadening their spatial boundaries and cultural contexts. This study took as an example the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, which consists of 11 cities, and explored how the new path creation of a regional tourism destination reshapes people's cognitive and affective images of the destination on a megalopolitan scale. Destination region image is neither a simple aggregation of the images of member cities nor dictated by the image of a single well-known destination. Both the physical and conceptual connections among multiple cities within the destination region are key nodes of the inclusive image of the region. Connectivity is not only embedded within institutional relations and discourses, but also represented through multi-functional tourism networks and regional culture. The study further explored the image heterogeneity of three proximity-based tourist clusters, divided in terms of cultural and geographical distance and previous travel experience. The research findings of this study can inform planning and marketing strategies for the path creation and development of metropolitan destination regions.

由于越来越多的可达性和机动性，旅游目的地正在扩大其空间边界和文化背景。本研究以粤港澳大湾区（由11个城市组成）为例，探讨了区域旅游目的地的新路径创建如何在大都市规模上重塑人们对该目的地的认知和情感印象。目的地区域图像既不是成员城市图像的简单集合，也不是单个知名目的地的图像所决定的。目标区域内多个城市之间的物理连接和概念连接都是该区域包含图像的关键节点。连通性不仅嵌入在制度关系和话语中，而且还通过多功能旅游网络和区域文化来代表。这项研究进一步探索了三个基于邻近性的旅游群的图像异质性，分别根据文化和地理距离以及以前的旅行经历进行了划分。这项研究的研究结果可以为大都市目的地区域的路径创建和发展提供计划和营销策略。