Vol.62 No.6 (2010)

Contents

Special Issues

FUJIMAKI Masami
Tourism Studies in Asia: Editorial Note 1

ISHII Kayoko
Theories and Models on Thai Tourism 2

BADARUDDIN Mohamed
The State of Tourism Research in Malaysia 15

SHIN Yongseok
Progress of and Challenges in Korean Tourism Studies 22

WANG Cheng-yun and TIAN Jiang-yan
Retrospect and Prospect of China Tourism Research 33

EGUCHI Nobukiyo
Tourism Study in Cultural Anthropology in Japan 44

KUREHA Masaaki
Research Trends in the Geography of Tourism in Japan 54

Open Seminar

10th Open Seminar 70

Meeting Report

18th Research Seminar of Education of Geography Study Group 72

News 76
Index to Volume 62 (87)
Announcement (95)

Abstracts

Theories and Models on Thai Tourism

ISHII Kayoko
Nagoya University of Business and Commerce

Theoretical perspectives on Thai Tourism have started mainly in 2 major perspectives. The first strand is the strand mainly pursued by Thai academics and bureaucrats which is to examine condition and strategy to develop tourism industry in Thailand. The second strand is ones mainly discussed by foreign academics, which is to designate mechanisms to consume gender image and human trafficking in the context of Thai tourism.
From the first strand, following contentions are evolved: （1）community development theories, （2）residents’ participation to the tourism industry, （3）tourism and environment / cultural conservation.
From the second strand, studies on （4）marginalized population and tourism industry, （5）authenticity of touristic destinations, （6）reconsideration on function of the border, （7）urbanization and touristic space.
From both strands, traditionally, topics tend to be discussed as tourism in the developing countries. However, it tends to bring the discussions and results in staple patterns. Reality of Thai economy is not developing country any more. Future studies should note this point and must consider tourism development and its effects in the long run.

Keywords: Thai tourism, residents’ participation, gender, ethnicity, medical tourism, long stay

The State of Tourism Research in Malaysia

BADARUDDIN Mohamed
Universiti Sains Malaysia

Tourism is becoming one of the most important sectors of the Malaysian economy. Malaysia has been very successful in attracting a large number of international tourists through aggressive promotional efforts worldwide. The boom for Malaysian tourism started in the early 1990s, after the success of the two Visit Malaysia Year campaigns in 1990 and 1994. Despite the economic downturns and the H1N1 scare, Malaysia attracted 23.65 million international tourists in 2009. While a great deal of attention has been paid to building up tourist infrastructure, the development of new products, and promotion, less attention has been given to research in tourism. This may be because tourism has mainly been a government―led sector and because some top―down decisions are politically influenced and are not necessarily economically sound. In this paper, past and present trends of tourism research activities in Malaysia have been analyzed. The state of tourism research, especially among institutions of higher learning, has been explored in this paper. Directions for future research as well as gaps in research to be explored by future researchers have been identified in this paper.

Keywords: research, Malaysia, trend, sustainability

Progress of and Challenges in Korean Tourism Studies

SHIN Yongseok
Korea Culture and Tourism Institute

This paper tries to explore the development of Korean tourism studies since the 1970s, which marked the advent of modern tourism thanks to the economic development in Korea. The characteristics of Korean tourism studies in each decade can be summarized as follows. First, the 1970s saw increased emphasis on professional training rather than academic. Moreover, at the time academic research and conferences were very rare. Secondly, academic research was initiated in the 1980s, but the majority of research was done from an economic perspective using quantitative methodology. Thirdly, the 1990s witnessed a giant leap in Korean tourism studies thanks to the adoption of an anonymous referee system for academic journals and an increase in academic conferences. Fourthly, there has been rapid advancement in Korean tourism studies since the 2000s due to national interests in tourism. However, unsatisfactory factors, such as a dearth of qualitative research methodology and lack of diversity in research topics still exist. Finally, it is argued that the success of Korean tourism studies depends on the overcoming of three challenges, which are as follows: diversification of research topics and methodology, liberalization of exclusiveness to other disciplines, and globalization of academic research interests.

Keywords: Korean tourism studies, research topic, research methodology, Journal of Tourism Sciences

Retrospect and Prospect of China Tourism Research

WANG Cheng―yun and TIAN Jiang―yan
Shanghai Normal University

The source, content, study methods, and author’s backgrounds of 1,993 papers on tourism, published in Tourism Tribune and Human Geography 2000―2009, were analyzed statistically by means of SPSS software. The results show that these studies are concentrated in three major areas: Tourism economics, tourism management, and tourism resources development and management. Among these studies, the hot topics are especially concentrated on tourism industries, tourist products, policies, regulations and systems, tourism planning and design, and tourism resources. The main study methods include the descriptive approach and the statistical method, but fewer applications on structural modeling methods. In addition, it is found that the authors of these studies mainly come from economically developed regions and colleges or universities in regions that are rich in tourism resources. Based on this statistical analysis, recommendations and prospects for future research of China tourism have been proposed at the end of this article.

Keywords: China, tourism research, retrospect and prospect

Tourism Study in Cultural Anthropology in Japan

EGUCHI Nobukiyo
Ritsumeikan University

Tourism studies in the discipline of anthropology began in Japan in the mid―1980s. In 1988, the then―associate professor of the Museum of Ethnology, Shuzo Ishimori, organized a collegium “Ethnological Study on Travel and Tourism,” which was composed of twenty―six researchers（including non―anthropologists）. At the same time, a research project headed by Ishimori, “Cultural Anthropological Research on Tourism in Island States,” was funded by the Ministry of Education and fieldwork was carried out in developing countries for three years after 1988. Seven anthropologists participated in the project, most of whom have since led anthropological tourism studies in Japan.
Reflecting the research trends in Europe and the United States, there were at least three categories of studies on tourism by the end of the 1990s. First, there were studies on the reasons why tourists engaged in tourism; second, studies on the socio―cultural effects of tourism on host societies; third, studies on the “tourism culture” created and refined by the interactions between tourists and host societies. Apart from these, there were studies on community development, poverty alleviation, and the utilization of tourism that emerged in the twenty―first century. Most of these studies have borrowed and applied theories and concepts from other disciplines such as sociology, geography, and so on to the anthropological study of tourism. Furthermore, most of these studies deal with the tourism phenomena among the ethnic minorities in the developing countries in which the researchers have conducted their anthropological research. On the other hand, studies dealing with tourism phenomena in Japan have emerged recently, probably reflecting the social problems in Japan. Case studies on tourism in Japan are still being conducted.
In this paper, the trend of the anthropological approach to tourism in Japan since the 1980s will be discussed briefly.

Keywords: anthropology, mass tourism, Japan, alternative tourism

Research Trends in the Geography of Tourism in Japan

KUREHA Masaaki
University of Tsukuba

This study attempts to examine the problems and prospects of geographical research on tourism in Japan by reviewing the trends of previous studies on this topic. Geographical research on tourism has been developing in Japan since the 1920s. Most initial studies aimed to clarify the relationship between regional characteristics and tourism―related phenomena. Since the 1960s, however, researchers have analyzed tourism from various viewpoints, parallel to the development of mass tourism and the subsequent diversification of tourism in Japan. This research is classified into the following four major fields. First, most tourism research has been conducted in the context of regional geography in Japan or in foreign countries. Research in this field investigates tourism as an important factor of regional change in certain districts and discusses the changing image of tourist resorts and tourist destinations. Other research in this field examines the regional characteristics of tourism on the national scale, namely the locations of tourist destinations, tourist―related facilities, and the tourist industry. Second, researchers have analyzed the regional dimension of tourist activities to evaluate the spatial extent of leisure behavior, tourist movements, etc. Some researchers have applied imported models to Japanese tourist behavior. Third, there are an increasing number of studies on new forms of tourism or alternative tourism, such as rural tourism, ecotourism, urban tourism, and so on. Fourth, research on international tourism has been expanding since around 2000, when the promotion of inbound tourism began in Japan. Most geographical research on tourism is analyzed within the framework of case studies. The other serious problem concerns the definitions of tourism―related terms. A clear differentiation is required for the following terms: Tourism, recreation, leisure activity, and sightseeing. This problem relates to Japanese tourist activities, which used to be characterized as sightseeing rather than tourism.

Keywords: tourism, geography, Japan, region, perspective