The multiple logics of tourism development in China

ABSTRACT

It has been widely demonstrated and accepted in the sustainable tourism literature that tourism development involves multiple stakeholders. However, little research has been conducted to examine the logics guiding and explaining the behaviours of the stakeholders in tourism development. Guided by the institutional logics perspective and stakeholder theory, this study identifies the logics of different stakeholders in China's tourism development through fieldwork in two tourism development cases (Yalong Bay and Haitang Bay) in Hainan Province and content analysis on secondary data from multiple sources. The logic of pursuing political legitimacy, the logic of fiscal income maximisation, the dual logics of the market and politics, and the logic of pursuing economic benefits were identified to be the dominant logics driving the behaviours of the central government, local government, tourism enterprises and local communities, respectively, in China's tourism development. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of tourism development in China.

中国旅游发展的多重逻辑

可持续旅游文献广泛认为旅游发展牵涉多重利益相关者，但鲜有研究调查在当中引导和解释其行为的逻辑。本文根据制度逻辑观点及利益相关者理论，实地调查海南省两个案例（亚龙湾及海棠湾）和对多源二手资料的内容分析确认了中国旅游发展中不同利益者的逻辑；追求政治合法性、最大化财政收入、市场政治双重逻辑和追求经济效益被认定为主导，分别驱动着中央及地方政府、旅游企业和本地社区的行为；有助于更好的理解中国旅游发展的动态。

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism development
• multiple logics
• institutional logics perspective
• stakeholders
• China

关键词:

• 旅游发展
• 多重逻辑
• 制度逻辑观点
• 利益相关者
• 中国

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Keyao Chen for conducting some of the interviews with the local residents for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) [grant number 13TAAK001]; the Tourism Youth Expert Training Program of CNTA [grant number TYETP201542]; the National Science Foundation of China [grant number 41501154]; the Humanity and Social Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China [grant number 14YJC630105].

Notes on contributors

Ganghua Chen

Ganghua Chen is an associate professor in the School of Tourism Management and Center for Tourism Planning and Research at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. His publications are fully grounded in his fieldwork research and consultancy practices in China. His research interests include sustainable tourism development and planning, resort governance, tourist behaviour (especially Chinese backpackers’ motivations and personal development), and destination marketing.

Songshan (Sam) Huang

Songshan (Sam) Huang is an associate professor in the School of Management at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. His research interests include consumer behaviour in tourism and hospitality, destination marketing, tourism education, China tourism studies (tourism policy and governance), and tour guide studies. He has extensive industry and administrative experiences in the tourism industry and has been actively involved in tourism research in China.

Jigang Bao

Jigang Bao is dean and a professor in the School of Tourism Management and Center for Tourism Planning and Research at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. His research interests cover sustainable tourism, tourism planning, tourism policy and governance. In recent years, he has been dedicated to researching community participation in tourism and tourism governance within China's political and cultural contexts.