Tourism Industry In China Research Articles

Incentives and Self-Interest: Balancing Revenue and Rewards in China's Tourism Industry

The travel service industry is a fast-growing part of the Chinese economy. With the recent announcement of Beijing as the host city for the 2008 Olympics, this trend is poised to continue. The quality of a travel service company's (TSC) reputation generates revenue from repeat and referral business and is critical to the ongoing success of firms in this industry. A key factor in maintaining reputation is the level of quality services provided by tour guides employed by these firms. Using an agency theory framework, this paper suggests that the optimal compensation contract of tour guides is a mixture of outcome-based and behaviour-based contracts. The authors propose specific contract components that balance TSC revenue requirements and their need to maintain a strong reputation while providing incentives for tour guides to act in the best interest of the company.

Emerging Markets for China's Tourism Industry

International tourist arrivals showed a rebound in 1990 after the devastating loss in 1989 due to political turmoil. An analysis of the top five tourist-generating countries or regions reveals Taiwan and the U.S.S.R. as the two emerging markets for China's tourism industry. The author discusses the forces shaping such new international travel patterns and suggests further research needs on the new markets.

Investment in China's tourism industry: Its scale, nature, and policy issues

This article provides an overview of tourism investment in China in the period 1979–1988. The tourism industry has been a leading industry in China in its expansion. Foreign investment has played a large role in the expansion of the tourism sector in China and the nature of this investment and its impact are discussed. Very often the economic interdependence of tourism with other sectors of the economy are ignored by policy-makers and in discussion of the tourism industry. In China, lack of attention to these intersectoral interdependencies has resulted in unbalanced investment and economic growth. Investment in the tourism industry in China has tended to be concentrated in the building of hotels for a number of reasons mentioned in the paper. Furthermore, this investment has been dominated by foreign capital and there appears to have been overconcentration on the building of high-class hotels. A top-heavy structure has emerged which is not well-suited to customer demands. In general, the building of hotels appears to have proceeded more on the basis of preconceptions by officials and suppliers than on the basis of market or economic analysis. Thus, the current location and pattern of supply is such as to make many hotels uneconomic. There appears to be a need to re-evaluate policies in relation to the tourism industry in China. The downturn in foreign tourism to China following the political events of June 1989 should provide a stimulus for such re-evaluation. Even before these events, it was clear that tourism growth was significantly tapering off. While this might suggest to some that China is entering a ‘mature phase’ in the product cycle as far as foreign tourism is concerned, China has many untapped or only peripherally exploited opportunities for expanding foreign tourism. So one should not be pessimistic about the prospects for a substantial increase in foreign tourism to China.

A current look at hospitality and tourism education in China's colleges and universities

There has been a boom in the tourism industry in China within the last ten years. Hospitality and tourism education, especially higher education, has undergone rapid development. In 1978 there was not a single course offered in hospitality and tourism at any higher education institution. Today 69 institutions of higher education offer different programs at varying levels, including two-year diplomas, three-year certificates, and four-year Bachelor's and Master's degrees. This paper examines the development of higher education in hospitality and tourism, outlines the problems it faces, and discusses the possible solutions to the problems.

PR China's tourism industry today and its future development

In 1978 PR China began to open up to the outside world. The rich supply of tourism resources began to be exploited and considerable investment was made in tourism infrastructure. In 1985 visitor arrivals included 1.37 million foreign nationals. A comprehensive development programme was initiated in 1986 to deal with the shortfall in tourism services and facilities which were inadequate to cope with the rapid growth in visitor arrivals. The commitment of the PR China government together with the additional boost of foreign aid leads the author to envisage a successful outcome to the programme.