Asian Tourism

Tourism in Asia is growing faster than anywhere else in the world. Despite the significance of the tourism industry in this area it is under researched. This book addresses this imbalance by providing an edited collection of chapters which explore the domestic and intraregional tourism in Asia.

With the vast majority of academic theory on tourism based on ‘Western’ tourists, Asia on Tour illustrates why the rapid growth of travel for leisure and recreation in Asia demands a reappraisal of how tourism is analyzed and understood. Examining domestic and intra-regional tourism, the book reveals how improvements in infrastructures, ever increasing disposable incomes, liberalized economies, the inter-connectivities of globalization and the lowering of borders, both physical and political, are now enabling millions of Asians to travel as tourists. Drawing upon multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives and up-to-date empirical research, the twenty-three accessible essays in this volume indicate why a rigorous and critical study of Asian tourism must become integral to both our analysis of this rapidly transforming region and our interpretation of global tourism in the twenty first century. As a rich collection of essays on heritage and tourism oriented around Asian tourists, Asia on Tour will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in the fields of tourism, Asian studies, geography, heritage, anthropology, development, sociology, and cultural and postcolonial studies.

Rethinking Asian Tourism addresses some of the latest developments in on-going tourism research in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia region (encompassing, in geographical terms, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea). It examines many of the emerging, as well as established, themes and issues in Asian tourism and promotes the development of critical scholarship within Asia to overcome Anglo-Western ethnocentrism in tourism studies of the region. There is some attention to such familiar concepts as authenticity, commoditisation, culture, heritage, and hosts and guests, but more especially to the diversification of phenomena which traditionally would not have been included within the parameters of tourism studies: retirees and long-stays, gastronomy, family-based leisure, popular culture, and local branding. Above all, the book addresses and develops a conceptual understanding from a multidisciplinary perspective of the character, experiences, encounters, perceptions and motivations of local, national and intra-regional tourism rather than basing concepts, perspectives, emphases and analyses on Western-Asian interactions and on transformations in the West. In this respect it encourages a shift in emphasis towards ‘Asianising’ our understanding of Asian tourism. This is one of the first volumes on Asian tourism written primarily by Asians and, as such, provides them with the opportunity to express their concerns, interests and priorities, rather than depending on the analyses and interpretations of those from outside the region. It also enables a deconstruction of the field of tourism studies, acknowledging that it is an open-ended, shifting, fluid and complex category of encounters and events generated by the processes of physical mobility.

This book brings together a collection of chapters that investigate sustainable tourism development in different Asian contexts; from stakeholders’ perspectives, existing issues in the market, as well as the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism. It highlights the importance of tourism sustainability in Asia. Specifically, this book examines these themes by examples related to Asian tourism such as; social-cultural impact of sustainable growth, environmental constraints and policies, community engagement, moral limits of the market, stakeholders’ participation in tourism development, the hindered interaction between foreign tourists and local community, impact of the pandemic and proposed ways forward. This edited volume substantiates this by using evidence of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches aligned with empirical data to show sustainable efforts and impacts. This book is of interest to researchers and practitioners as it offers timely understandings of sustainable tourism from multiple perspectives within the Asian context.

This comprehensive volume was put together in response to the growing amount of research on tourism in Asia and an increasing number of authors from Asian countries. It concentrates on two aspects of Asian Tourism: first, the Asian tourists themselves, and second, economic development and tourism in the Asian region. The first part of the collection focuses on three areas: the motivations of different types of Asian tourist; the characteristics and behaviour of particular Asian tourist segments; and, finally, an analysis of specific research issues. The second part of the book then goes on to explore the governance and organisation of tourism in the Asian region, and the nature of Asian growth and competitiveness as it relates to tourism. The articles in this book were originally published in the journal Current Issues in Tourism.

Current Issues in Asian Tourism: Volume II draws together a collection of papers from Current Issues in Asian Tourism (CIAT). CIAT was launched by the editors of Current Issues in Tourism in response to the growing number of papers about tourism in Asia received by the journal and the increasing number of authors from Asian countries. This volume focuses on three aspects of Asian tourism. Firstly, the section on marketing, consumption and demand for Asian tourism includes papers on mega events, creative experiences, World Heritage Sites and pollution. Secondly, a group of papers focus on sustainable Asian tourism destinations including papers on investment, climate change, energy and local food. Finally, there are two chapters on Asian tourism research methods including the use of photography and qualitative methods. The papers in this book were originally published in Current Issues in Asian Tourism.

This book considers what the transition into the Asian Century means for some of the most urgent issues in the world today, such as sustainable development, human rights, gender equality, and environmental change. The book critiques Anglo-Western centrism in tourism theory and calls on tourism scholars to make radical shifts toward more inclusive epistemology and praxis. From the British Century of the 1800s to the American Century of the 1900s to the contemporary Asian Century, tourism geographies are deeply entangled in broader shifts in geopolitical power. In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, the significance of shifts in tourism geographies and the themes addressed in this volume are more urgent than ever. That the world faces increasing turmoil is abundantly clear. Yet, amidst the disruption to the everyday, it is hope and compassion, but also political-economic restructuring that is needed to reset the tourism industry in more sustainable, equitable, and ethical directions. In no uncertain terms, the pandemic has forever changed the tourism industry as the world once knew it. This book, therefore, sets out to collectively build on the momentum of the inclusive scholarship that Critical Tourism Studies-Asia Pacific is renowned for, while also asking readers to pause and reflect on the possibilities and challenges of tourism in a post-pandemic Asian Century. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Tourism Geographies.

This book draws together empirical research across a range of contemporary examples of food tourism phenomenon in Asia to provide a holistic picture of their role and influence. It encompasses case studies from around the pan-Asian region, including China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and India. The book specifically focuses on and explicitly includes a variety of perspectives of non-Western and Asian research contexts of food tourism by bringing multidisciplinary approaches to food tourism research and wider evidence of food and tourism in Asia.