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Tourism and sustainable development in China: a review

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Abstract

The adaption of the open-up reform policies in China some three decades ago has resulted in a rapid economic transformation of which the tourism sector has equally witnessed fast development. Therefore, the essence of this article is to review the evolution and expansion of the tourism industry in China and its obligation to observing international sustainable development policies and practices. Indications of the current policy regime, establishment, and institutions, sustainable development strategies to ensure continuity and availability of resources for future use, environmental sustainability laws and regulations, and promotional events for the development of the tourism industry are made available in this article. In effect, this article reviews how the activities of the tourism sector impacts on the environment. The findings show that China in its quest to be a world leader of tourists’ destination has impacted negatively on the environment which by extension affect the economy and society at large. On the other hand, as a leading nation in the United Nations, China has in contemporary times adapted sustainable development strategies to help safeguard the environment. However, more needs to be done in the area of advanced technology and renewable energy.

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Notes

  1. Formerly the agency responsible for the management and operation of the tourism sector in China.

  2. Countries that have adhered to the World Heritage Convention, including the non-member state of the Holy See

  3. Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese leader who held the ideology that the task faced by the leadership of China was twofold: (i) promoting modernization of the Chinese economy through the theory of the productive forces, and (ii) preserving the ideological unity of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and its control of the difficult reforms required by modernization

  4. Aimed at increasing rest times for Chinese workers accompanied with statutory paid annual entitlements to encourage the demand for domestic tourism and its related facilities, products, and activities.

  5. Provision of eco-friendly services in the areas of transport and business to encourage easy access to tourist sites

  6. Expansion of tourism facilities especially for those with additional needs

  7. Encourages the usage of most advanced technological resources in the development of the tourism industry. Additionally, it seeks to diversify Chinese tourism to the development of new tourism sub-sectors such as sport tourism, medical tourism, bicycle tourism, and “red tourism” (a form of political tourism that celebrates the Chinese state and its recent revolutionary history, and aims to promote “fine traditional culture”)

  8. Creation of new tourist information services, road signage, and websites to increase public awareness. Also, it aims at encouraging staff training at higher and vocational education levels for the tourism management

  9. Aims at improving service and quality standards including a quality guarantee system for tourism and leisure.

  10. Maximum population size of a given species that an area can support without reducing its ability to support the same species in the future or simply the maximum pressure or load that a system can conveniently withstand before breaking down.

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Funding

This work was supported by the General Project of National Social Science Fund “Research on the Motivation and Path of Supply-side Structural Reform for High-quality Development of China’s Tourism Economy” (grant number 18BJY198).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212012, People’s Republic of China

    Chen Haibo & Emmanuel Caesar Ayamba

  2. School of Business and Management Studies, Bolgatanga Technical University, Sumbrungu, Ghana

    Emmanuel Caesar Ayamba & Andrew Osei Agyemang

  3. College of Economics and Management, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China

    Thomas Bilaliib Udimal

  4. School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China

    Appiah Ruth

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  1. Chen Haibo
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  2. Emmanuel Caesar Ayamba
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Caesar Ayamba.

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Haibo, C., Ayamba, E.C., Udimal, T.B. et al. Tourism and sustainable development in China: a review. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 39077–39093 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10016-7

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