China's Pollution Debacle and Destabilization of Inbound International Tourism: A Critique

Abstract

China holds an impressive position as the world's third biggest country in terms of international tourist arrivals. In fact, the Chinese government is proactively promoting the tourism industry as an important source of national economic development. However, massive air pollution in tourist hotspots such as Beijing was an important factor impeding tourists' inflow in the year 2013. In fact, the beginning of the year 2014 was no better for Northern China when the WHO described China's smog as a “health crisis.” Though the Chinese government has undertaken numerous pollution-curbing measures, myriad challenges hinder this exercise. Against this backdrop, this article provides a critique of the impact of pollution on China's inbound international tourism scenario. It concludes that tapping tourism potential requires a healthy environment and an effective communication of environmental improvement as essential elements of a robust, farsighted tourism plan.

Keywords:

• Inbound tourism
• China
• pollution
• environment
• health

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Romi Jain

Romi Jain is Vice President of the Indian Journal of Asian Affairs, a bi-annual, refereed journal. She is an MBA from San Francisco State University and also holds MA and BA Honors degrees in Political Science. She has extensively contributed articles on China to refereed, international journals with a forthcoming one in Journal of Third World Studies (Georgia, USA) and has also published in Asia Times Online and The Diplomat. Jain is a recipient of a research grant award from the prestigious Michigan-based Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and serves on the Editorial Board of El Monte, California-based International Relations and Diplomacy Journal. In addition, Jain has published a fiction and numerous poems in international anthologies and literary journals.