Softly enhancing political legitimacy via Red Tourism

ABSTRACT

Political legitimacy-building and tourism studies help to explain how and why China’s governing regime advanced Red Tourism to justify and reinforce its governance and legitimacy. A historical analysis of multilevel Chinese sources shows that the expressivity and value-ladenness that characterize visits to select historical sites permit governing regimes to softly augment their political legitimacy via political identity formation, political meaning framing, and nationalistic mobilization.

KEYWORDS:

• Political legitimacy
• soft strategy
• Red Tourism
• strategic tourism
• politicized tourism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tony Yan

Tony Yan is an Associate Professor of Global Business at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University (CSBSJU). His work has appeared in the International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, The Chinese Economy, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, Mustang Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Management, the Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, and peer-reviewed proceedings. His research interests include historical research method, marketing strategy, international marketing, international political economy, business history, and public policy.

Michael R. Hyman

Michael R. Hyman is President and Founder of the Institute for Marketing Futurology and Philosophy in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is also a Distinguished Achievement Professor of Marketing at New Mexico State University. His roughly 125 academic journal articles, 60 conference papers, four co-authored/co-edited books, 30 other academic contributions, and 50 non-academic works, attest to his writing compulsion. His research interests include marketing theory, marketing ethics, consumer advertising, survey research methods, philosophical analyses in marketing, and marketing futurology. Now a loyal New Mexican, he splits his time between Las Cruces and Cloudcroft with his wife, four sons, three dogs, and three cats.