Purpose/SignificanceBased on data analysis, this paper provides reference for narrowing down tourism economic gaps among cities in central China and formulating regional tourism development strategies, in order to promote the development of central China tourism economy and the implementation of central China rising strategies.

Method/ProcessTaking foreign exchange income in tourism as measure index and methods of statistics combined with ESDA, this paper analyzes the spatial-temporal evolution of economy differences in inbound tourism from 2003 to 2013 in central China cities, and discusses the influencing factors.

Result/Conclusion(1) In temporal aspect:the absolute differences continue to expand, while the relative differences decline in a wavy trend with high levels.According to Theil Coefficient decomposition:alternative differences in Anhui, Henan, Hubei and Hunan, including provincial differences among them are main contributors to the differences; but Global Moran's I shows that inbound tourism economy has not formed a significant urban agglomeration area.(2) In spatial aspect:cities above average are provincial capitals and their surrounding cities, or cities with favorable tourism resources.Local Moran's I indicates that a spatial structure of two grades "core-periphery" is gradually forming.(3) Finally, this paper analyzes tourism resource endowment, economic development level, traffic condition, special event and other influencing factors that bring about economy differences in inbound tourism in central China.