What should We Give Attention to When We Make Tourism Planning in China?

Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon Professor Carson Jenkins and Professor Ludwig G. Rieder. Welcome to the session of tourism formulation and implementation. As we know both of you have a lot of experience in tourism planning around the world. So my first question is in views of Chinese particular political and cultural backgrounds, what should be pay attention to when making tourism planning in China? I think the first point to make is that tourism planning is fairly generalized. It has some basic rules. And the first point I would make is that, you know, tourism should never be looked at as a single entity, it is part of a culture, part of a society, it’s part of the economy.

And therefore, I think the important thing is also to remember that we always describe tourism that is inter related so many other policies in China, such as transportation policies, accommodation policies, employment policies, land use policies, all are factors to be considered when planning tourism. So you should not look at a single entity. It has to be related to the economy and particularly to the objectives, government objectives for the economy. The second thing is and this is unusual about China. China along with India probably are the two countries which have very, very large, dynamic domestic markets. And looking at planning, you shouldn’t simply concentrate as many countries do only on the external market.

You should also take into account this huge domestic market, which eventually will be the source of further outbound travel from China. I think another point which I would regard as been very important in China, of course, is that like any plan, you need to first of all identify your market. Who are you trying to attract? And that becomes, if you like, the target for the market and it’s not just a target that its Germany or the United States or France or Brazil, this would then spark off a whole range of market development opportunities and other things.

But first of all, then I think one, your plan has to be integrated not only into the culture of China, but also this a huge country. I think, secondly, you know, don’t forget your domestic market. I think thirdly, you’ve got this factor into this sectoral linkage, which you have to encourage. And I think that one of the things I’ve noticed over the years in China is that China is becoming much more market sensitive in the way in which it is developing tourism. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. Yes. I concur with Professor Jenkins on the importance of understanding that there are many areas of tourism that are not in the purview of the tourism administration.

And he mentioned those transportation, airport development, road development, waste management, sanitation, energy. So, all of those areas are critical to the development of tourism, but are not in control of, say, the tourism administration. So that is one of the critical areas where you need to have some kind of convergence with they related administration’s that are responsible for those areas. And I think much more needs to be thought through in terms of my experience in working in China, ensuring that that convergence takes place.

And it’s not always easy, because I can recall both in Yunnan and in Sichuan and Shandong and also in Gansu province, where the tourism administration would have difficulty getting the participation of departments, the related agencies, even the environmental department. And if you don’t have them there and if they’re not willing to play a part of the planning process, and it’s going be very difficult, and you have a nice plan, but it will not achieve much attraction. Because the key agencies that I mean really have to deliver. I’m not going to be part of it. So that’s important. But on the process itself, one of the things that is different about China, of course, is the political system.

I think we have to understand that that’s a reality and that has an impact in the way in which planning is done. You have a five year planning process, which is a very structured type of planning. Now when you place tourism into that, especially if you bring in foreign models of tourism planning that can become quite complicated. And the problem with that is that many of the foreign models of tourism planning, some of which we were talking about in the lectures here, do not necessarily reflect the culture, the way of the governance, if you like. And so the mistake that you can make is to import a foreign approach without taking into account the realities of planning in China.

So for example, one of the things that you have to understand is what is the change theory that China uses for changing? And obviously, the five year plans provide some good insight into that. But if you don’t factor that into your planning, then you can end up with something that looks very good, but will be very difficult to implement. And I must say, I mean, you know, I look at my very first plan, which was Sichuan, the second Yunnan and there’s a lot there that we got wrong precisely because of that lack of understanding. And so the result is that the performance and the results were less than desired.

Thank you for sharing so many opinions as really China still have a long way to go for tourism planning as we have a great demand in the tourism market. I hope in the future, we will have a better cases that can be shared with other countries, which also pay attention to overcome cultural and our specific political backgrounds. Thank you.