The Effects of Power, Ideology, Interest Groups, and the Government on Tourism Policy Making—A Conceptual Model

Abstract

This article offers a conceptual model that can be utilized to examine the political and bureaucratic natures of the mechanism of the making of tourism policies in the Chinese context. Following the paradigm of stakeholder theories, the constructs of the model can be categorized into two groups. The first group is the political system, encompassing the constructs of political power, political ideology, and interest groups. The second group of components of the framework is the government as the bureaucratic system, consisting of both the institutions and the institutional arrangements. Meanwhile, existing discussions on the applications of the respective components in tourism studies are also undertaken. The conceptual model as proposed in this article, with methodological issues addressed in the literature review, can serve as a holistic framework based upon which further empirical studies can be carried out to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of tourism policy making, particularly in the contemporary Chinese context, taking cognizance of both the significant influences of government policies on tourism development in China and the unique Chinese political and bureaucratic factors. At the same time, the particular areas where this framework can be applied in Chinese tourism policy studies are also explored.

本文旨在建构概念模型，用以分析制定中国旅游政策机制中的政治和官僚性质。根据利益相关者理论范式，模型的结构可分为两个部分。第一个部分是政治体系，当中包括政治权力、政治意识形态和利益团体。模型框架的第二个组成部分是官僚制度，亦即政府。这个部分由公共机构和制度安排组成。本文同时讨论旅游研究中各组成部分的应用。文献回顾部分解决了建模的问题，而概念模型可作为一个完整的框架，为进行更深入的实证研究提供依据，达到充分理解现代中国制定旅游政策的机制的目的，并认识政府政策对中国旅游发展的重大影响力及中国独特的官僚政治因素。与此同时，本文探讨中国旅游政策研究中可应用此框架的范畴。

Keywords:

• Tourism policy
• tourism policy making
• political power
• political ideology
• interest groups
• government
• China
• 旅游政策
• 旅游政策制定
• 政治权力
• 政治意识形态
• 利益团体
• 政府
• 中国