Under the current government strategy of building a Silk Road economic belt, tourism in Chinese border counties has becoming increasingly popular. Studying tourism competitiveness in Chinese border counties is of sizable theoretical and practical importance, as there are several notable factors involved. In this study, we constructed a tourism competitiveness evaluation model based on eight factors: natural environment, tourism resource, location and transportation, social environment, tourism service facility, border port, tourism industrial cluster and tourism market. We then analyzed the spatial characteristics of tourism competitiveness in border counties and identified five types of border counties: resource advantage type(RA), border-port advantage type(PA), location advantage type(LA), agglomeration advantage type(AA), and relative balance type(RB), and examined the correlation between tourism market competitiveness and interior competitiveness factors in the counties from 2006 to 2011. Results showed that tourism resource, location and transportation, and tourism service facility are the most important competition factors for RA border counties during the study period. Competition factors in PA counties transferred from tourism resource, social environment and tourism service facility to border port and tourism industrial cluster; competition factors in LA counties transferred from natural environment and tourism resource to tourism service facility and tourism industrial cluster and border port. Competition factors in AA counties transferred from tourism service facility to tourism resource. Tourism industrial cluster, tourism service facility and tourism resource proved to be important competition factors in RB counties. The findings of this study can be used to target tourism strategies according to different county types. Under the current government strategy of building a Silk Road economic belt, tourism in Chinese border counties has become increasingly popular popular. Studying tourism competitiveness in Chinese border counties is of sizable theoretical and practical importance, as there are several notable factors involved. In this study, we constructed a tourism competitiveness based on eight factors: natural environment, tourism resource, location and transportation, social environment, tourism service facility, border port, tourism industrial cluster and tourism market. counties and identified five types of border counties: resource advantage type (RA), border-port advantage type (PA), location advantage type (LA), agglomeration advantage type (AA), and relative balance type correlation between tourism market competitiveness and interior competitiveness factors in the counties from 2006 to 2011. Results showed that tourism resource, location and transportation, and tourism service facility are the most important competition factors for the RA border counties during the study period. Competition factors in PA counties transferred from tourism resource, social environment and tourism service facility to border port and tourism industrial cluster; competition factors in LA counties transferred from natural environment and tourism resource to tourism service facility and tourism industrial cluster and border port. Competition factors in AA counties transferred from tourism service facility to tourism resource. facility and tourism resource proved to be important competition factors in RB counties. The findings of this study can be used to target tourism strategies according to different county types.