What is tourism geography?

Tourism geography is a subject that studies the relationship between human travel and geographical environment, also known as entertainment geography. Tourism geography refers to sightseeing, while entertainment geography includes recreation, which is a broad sense of tourism geography. Both of them are branches of human geography. Tourism geography is not only closely related to many branches of geography, but also permeated with sociology, folklore, archaeology, history, architecture, landscape architecture and economics, so it is also a marginal subject.

Tourism and entertainment refer to the non-permanent temporary migration process of people in their leisure time, such as traveling and sightseeing, watching scenery, exchanging culture, increasing knowledge, exercising, taking vacations and recuperating, recreation, exploring, religious pilgrimage, investigation and research, shopping as a souvenir, tasting delicious food, visiting relatives and friends, etc. It is also a social phenomenon that allocates space and uses time in various ways. Generally speaking, tourism only refers to activities that leave home for at least one night, while entertainment includes activities that leave home for no more than one day and night.

there are three elements that make up tourism: tourist subject (tourists), tourist object (scenic spots and entertainment activities, etc.) and tourism means or media (tourism propaganda, organization, transportation and reception facilities). The main contents studied by tourism geography include: the origin of tourism and its geographical background, the regional distribution and movement law of tourists, the classification, evaluation, protection, development and utilization of tourism resources, the layout and construction planning of tourist areas (spots), the design of tourism divisions and tourist routes, and the influence of tourism development on the formation of regional economic complexes.

Tourism is a special social activity of human beings, which started with the emergence of surplus labor and developed with the improvement of social production level. In 1986, the number of tourists in the world reached 4 billion, and the total income of tourism exceeded 1 trillion US dollars, making it the largest economic sector in the world.

In the ancient literature of China, a large number of travel descriptions can be found in poems, essays, travel notes and monographs. Such as Notes on Water Classics, Notes on Buddhism, Notes on the Western Regions of Datang, Travels of Xu Xiake, etc. China's local chronicles are also rich in classical tourism materials.

the study of modern tourism geography began in the 192s. The Relationship between Recreational Activities and Land Use published by mcmurry is regarded as the first paper of modern tourism geography. As early as 1935, British geographer Brown suggested that geographers should pay more attention to the study of tourism. He, James, Carlson, etc. successively discussed the influence of the differences in local natural resources, development foundation and settlement composition on the development of tourism, determined the tourism form and its economic value, and expounded the significance of tourism form and tourism facilities.

in the 194s, Ethel and Desai analyzed the tourist flow. In 195s, the geographer Hahn of the Federal Republic of Germany classified the types of tourist destinations in Germany from the aspects of tourists' nature, stay time and seasonal changes. However, during this period, the vast majority of tourism geography works mainly describe some tourist attractions, or are limited to discussing the economic significance of tourism in general, and rarely discuss the basic theory of tourism geography.

since 196s, people have paid more and more attention to the subject attributes and theoretical issues of tourism geography. In 1964, Canadian geographer Wolff pointed out that tourism geography is separated from economic geography and can be studied from different angles. British geographer Robinson regards tourism geography as an applied geography. In 197s, Rupert and others combined with the example of Federal Republic of Germany to analyze and study the tourism market and tourism location. During this period, France planned and built marshes and sand dunes along the Mediterranean coast, and successfully built a charming international seaside tourist resort. At the same time, the International Geographical Union (IGU) and the International Geographical Congress (I.G.C) began to discuss the geography of tourism and entertainment.

There are different opinions on the theoretical research of tourism geography. For example, Bruno of Italy put forward five research topics in 1966: the basic driving force of tourism; Tourism environment and space; The influence of tourism on people's residence; Operation of tourism; Planning of tourist areas. In Tourism Geography, Robinson focuses on the development of tourism, the evolution of human needs, the driving force of tourism, the flow direction of international tourists, the measurement and scope of tourism, the organization, transportation, economic and social significance of tourism, tourism planning, tourism and environment, and the development of regional tourism in the world.

The geography of leisure and tourism written by Kotlyarov, a geographer in the Soviet Union, mainly expounds the theoretical basis of the formation of recreation area complex, the premise of the formation and development of recreation area complex, the division and evaluation of recreation land, the layout of recreation area complex, and the natural protection and transformation of recreation land. Britten, an American geographer, put forward the concept of leisure geography in 1979. He thinks that the study of leisure geography includes international tourism, domestic tourism, recreational tourism, urban entertainment, sports and other activities, and there are only functional differences between tourism and entertainment.

At present, the research of tourism geography has changed from the traditional qualitative description to the combination of quantitative methods, systematic engineering and model research, and participated in the layout and development planning of tourist areas (spots).