Urban tourism and leisure space have importance as both functional and glamour display spaces in cities. Based on the tourism and leisure point of interest (POI) data of Wuhan, China covering the years of 2012, 2017, and 2022, geospatial analysis methods are applied in this paper to reveal the spatial distribution pattern and evolution law of tourism and leisure in Wuhan. The study results show that Wuhan's tourism and leisure space exhibits significant clustering, has a typical "core-periphery" spatial structure, and displays distribution characteristics of "dense in the west and sparse in the east". The spatial distribution pattern evolved from a dual-core structure in 2012 and 2017 to a multicentred structure in 2022, undergoing a gradual decrease in spatial concentration and exhibiting a shift in the ellipse centre from the northwest to the southeast. Wuhan's tourism and leisure industry has followed a diversification trend, and the characteristics of tourism and leisure hotspots have changed from "commerce + history" to "commerce + culture tourism + ecology" to "commerce + culture tourism + ecology + finance and technology". Location and resource endowment, national and urban policies, industrial structure adjustment, economic and social development levels, and transport facilities jointly promote the formation and evolution of Wuhan’s tourism and leisure space patterns. Therefore, a tourism city should leverage its own advantageous resources, core areas and advantageous industries to promote the balanced development of urban space and industry diversification.
 

Tourism and leisure· Urban tourism· Spatial pattern· Spatial evolution· Point of interest