Tourism landscape ecosystem is a territorial complex which is formed by the interactions between tourists, residents and their circumjacent environments. There are a series of human-nature relational differences between the tourism landscape ecosystem and the general landscape which the current pattern studies do not reflect. Based on the theory of landscape ecology and spatial structure, this paper proposes a conceptual theory that considers two elements: ① the pattern of the tourism landscape ecosystem and ②the spatial units system. (1) The aim of studying the patterns of the tourism landscape ecosystem is to realize the spatial heterogeneity of the interactions between these elements. Because the spatial structure of tourist activity is restricted and shaped by the natural environment and local residents, the pattern study should be based on the tourist structure. In addition, we can find out that the characteristics of tourist activity are centralization at larger scales and diffusion at smaller scales. (2) Based on the above analysis, the spatial units system of the tourism landscape is summarized as patch, corridor and matrix in this study. Patch is the nonlinear spatial unit of tourists′ convergent distribution inside the tourism landscape ecosystem. Corridor is a linear tourism activity space and an important carrier for the tourists′ centralization and diffusion in the tourism landscape ecosystem. Matrix is the background ecosystem where patches and corridors lie. Patch is composed of the node and activity area. Node is a nonfigurative point in space where tourism activity is the most convergent and robust whereas activity area is the area where tourists surround a single node. This study proposes to reflect the spatial difference within the human-nature reciprocity process by analyzing tourist spatial distributions. The pattern of the tourism landscape ecosystem will be helpful for the further study of landscape patterns and ecological processes, and can provide a foundation for the spatial management of regional tourism industry development.