Important Issues in Tourism Landscape Research

Important Issues in Tourism Landscape Research

Based on the perspective of landscape ecology, it is of great significance to systematically discuss the important issues in tourism landscape research, deepen the related research of tourism landscape, deepen the theoretical basis of tourism research and realize the sustainable development of tourism. Let's look at the important issues in the study of tourism landscape.

1 Introduction

As a concept with rich connotation and broad extension, landscape has been used by many disciplines [1] and introduced into the study of tourism, forming the concept of "tourism landscape" and becoming a new research field in tourism research. Although there is no clear and unified definition of "tourism landscape", related research has been carried out from many aspects. For example, the discussion [2], evaluation [3], design [4] and semiotic interpretation [5] of tourism landscape have played a very good role in perfecting and developing the research of tourism geography. Although the research results are rich, on the whole, the related research on tourism landscape still mostly stays on the qualitative description of tourism landscape planning and development, classification and landscape formation mechanism. From the perspective of landscape ecology, the heterogeneity of tourism landscape has not been paid attention to, and the theoretical discussion and quantitative research on the scale and pattern of tourism landscape research have not made much progress.

2 the concept of tourism landscape

2. 1 Research Status of Tourism Landscape Concept

Landscape is a very popular vocabulary, and it is also the research object of a series of related disciplines. In different disciplines and fields, the understanding and definition of landscape are different due to the different characteristics and emphases of their respective disciplines [6]. Generally speaking, it refers to the images that reflect the inland landscape, such as grasslands, forests, mountains and lakes. Or the comprehensive topographical features of a certain geographical area; Or the natural scenery that people see. Landscape in landscape ecology refers to the spatial units with heterogeneity or patches on different scales from micro to macro. This concept emphasizes spatial heterogeneity, and its spatial scale changes with the research object, method and purpose, highlighting the multi-scale and hierarchical structure characteristics of the ecosystem [7].

More and more scholars believe that landscape, as the basic spatial unit to study and maintain sustainability, is the smallest scale to effectively study the relationship between nature and society. And this concept is also favored by more and more tourism researchers. In 1970s and 1980s, "landscape theory" was introduced into tourism, and a new concept of "tourism landscape" appeared. Due to the differences in disciplines and research angles, scholars at home and abroad have not reached a * * * understanding of the concept of "tourism landscape". However, some scholars regard the region as a landscape with a certain scenery, scene and morphological structure, which can be appreciated.

Admirable buildings, entertainment places and other objective entities, as well as cultural and spiritual phenomena that can make tourists feel and experience, and even the beautiful environmental conditions and tourist reception services in this area are collectively referred to as tourist landscapes, and this new meaning has gradually been widely accepted by people [2]. It can be seen that in this concept, tourism landscape not only emphasizes regional tourism resources, but also emphasizes the environment in which tourism resources are located. Some scholars have distinguished the concepts of tourism resources and tourism landscape. As can be seen from this definition, the tourist landscape here mainly refers to natural existence. With the development of social economy, the research object of tourism becomes more and more complicated. In this case, tourism landscape is gradually given more meanings, and some social factors are gradually introduced into the related concepts of tourism landscape. Some scholars believe that tourism landscape is a comprehensive dynamic and open system, and it is a regional overall environment with aesthetic value and spiritual attraction, which is interrelated, restricted and generated by natural, social, economic and cultural factors [5]. In addition, the concepts of "tourism landscape ecosystem" and "tourism landscape system" are gradually put forward. These concepts reflect the gradual deepening and broadening of the connotation and extension of tourism landscape, which has played a very good role in promoting the systematic study of tourism landscape.

2.2 the concept of tourism landscape from the perspective of landscape ecology

Landscape ecology is the product of the combination of modern geography and ecology, which not only emphasizes spatial research, but also considers the ideas and principles of ecology. Studying the spatial changes of landscape on different scales, including the biological, geographical and social causes and series of landscape heterogeneity, is undoubtedly an interdisciplinary subject connecting natural science and related humanities, and can become one of the theoretical foundations of tourism planning and management. Therefore, defining the concept of tourism landscape from the perspective of landscape ecology is helpful to integrate economic, social, geographical, ecological and other human and natural elements, and can form a panoramic, multi-dimensional and multi-scale perspective on the complex situation of sustainable development of tourist destinations, thus making the research results more comprehensive and objective. Here, tourism landscape is defined as: tourism landscape refers to a spatial heterogeneous tourism regional complex formed by the interaction between social and economic factors such as tourists and local residents and natural conditions, relying on tourism resources. The system has different modes, functions and hierarchical structure characteristics at different scales.

3. Academic attention to tourism landscape

3. 1 Academic investigation and trend analysis of tourism landscape research

Compared with the related research on tourism, there are relatively few studies on tourism landscape at home and abroad. With "tourism landscape" as the key word and title as the field, only 26 records were found in databases such as EBSCO, ScienceDirect, IngentaConnect, Emerald and SPRINGERLINK. Mainly concentrated in the Yearbook of Tourism Research (4 records), English Historical Review (2), Vic STUD (2), Tourism Management (2) and Tourism Geography (2), but using Google trend search, due to the small amount of data, it is impossible to form a chart. Using the academic trend tool of China HowNet, this paper searches with "tourism landscape" as the key word, and obtains a map of academic concern. Academic attention is a quantitative expression of academic attention in an academic field based on the number of documents most related to keywords in CNKI knowledge database, counting the number of times keywords appear as document topics.

From the academic attention index line chart, it can be seen that from 1996 to 2008, the number of related achievements in tourism landscape research has been increasing, especially in 2004. In order to further analyze the research status of tourism landscape, this paper uses "tourism landscape" as the key word and "title" as the field to search and sort in China HowNet and other databases, and the results are shown in table 1.

As can be seen from the table 1, the research results of tourism landscape are distributed in many disciplines, among which tourism is the most. In this discipline, tourism-oriented tourism landscape is the most studied, followed by tourism economic theory and method; At present, the main scholars engaged in tourism landscape research are Yang Honglie, Sha Run, Wang, etc. The unit that produces the most tourism landscape achievements is Guangzhou University. It can be seen that the subject scope and geographical distribution of tourism landscape research are relatively wide.

3.2 Analysis of the research direction of tourism landscape

Over the years, foreign scholars have advocated the principle of "people-oriented" in the study of landscape structure, forming three schools: urban ecology school, social psychology school and geographical and social theory, and paying attention to the cognitive discussion of landscape structure. The research on tourism landscape and its evaluation abroad has been from objective to subjective, from macro to micro, from the study of landscape characteristics to its connotation, from the study of landscape morphology to the study of its function [7]. Among them, there are many theoretical achievements of social psychology and geographical sociology, such as gender [8], space [9], tourists [10 ~1], social culture [12 ~ 13], and tourism landscape changes [65433]. Most of these achievements are published in magazines such as Yearbook of Tourism Research, Tourism Geography and Tourism Management.

The related research of domestic scholars is more extensive. Most of them focus on the planning and design of tourism landscape [4, 17 ~ 20], the classification and evaluation of tourism landscape types [2 1] and the configuration of tourism landscape [9]. Landscape ecology has gradually been applied to the study of tourism landscape, mainly focusing on the application of relevant theories and models of landscape ecology in the planning and development of tourism landscape [22 ~ 27], which shows that more and more scholars realize that landscape ecology can play a very important role in the study of tourism landscape.

Generally speaking, the research on "tourism landscape" at home and abroad is scattered, in its infancy and unsystematic. Most of them focus on the qualitative description and theoretical reference of landscape ecology, while quantitative research and the construction of tourism landscape system are relatively few, with more case studies and less theoretical construction. There are many reasons for this. On the one hand, compared with traditional research fields such as tourism geography, the research and development time of tourism landscape is shorter. On the other hand, the research method of tourism itself is relatively weak, and it is more difficult to construct the research method of tourism landscape. Therefore, it is of great significance to construct a complete research system by using a set of mature theories and methods to promote the development of tourism landscape research.

4 the focus and trend of tourism landscape research

As mentioned above, landscape ecology is a combination of modern geography and ecology, which emphasizes both spatial research and ecological ideas and principles, so the study of tourism geography has natural adaptability. Although it is not perfect in subject characteristics and theoretical system, there are still some disputes, but its principles and methods have been applied to many fields. In particular, landscape ecology has developed a series of sociological methods to study the integrity and humanity of the relationship between nature and society, which can provide theoretical and methodological support for studying the impact of spatial heterogeneity or natural and socio-economic pattern on sustainability, and provide theoretical and methodological basis for discussing the scale and uncertainty problems faced in the study of the relationship between nature and society. In fact, the research methods of landscape ecology have been gradually applied to the research of tourism development. Tourism geography summarizes the development model of eco-tourism, adopts the method of landscape ecology to plan and develop eco-tourism, and investigates and analyzes eco-tourism. Therefore, while strengthening traditional research fields, we should learn from the theories and methods of landscape ecology, highlight the research of tourism landscape theory, and innovate unique theories and methods while strengthening quantitative methods [28].

4. 1 Scale problem in tourism landscape research

In landscape ecology, scale is a very important concept and an important basis for research. From the perspective of landscape ecology, we should also pay attention to scale research in tourism landscape research. The interaction between the elements of tourism landscape will produce different results due to different scales. Therefore, in the process of tourism landscape research, the research scale should be determined according to the research purpose and the inherent laws of tourism landscape under different scales, and the optimal adjustment or control scheme should be obtained. In the study of tourism landscape, we should first pay attention to comparing the operating rules or mechanisms of tourism landscape under different scales. We can take a specific tourist landscape as an example to study the differences of results under different scales. Secondly, it is of great significance to study how to determine the research objects and methods of tourism landscape on different scales, and to draw correct conclusions. In the specific research process, scale deduction can be carried out from small, medium and large scales.

4.2 Pattern problems in tourism landscape research

The pattern research of tourism landscape can be divided into two aspects: the overall pattern of landscape and the spatial structure of landscape. Traditional geography attaches great importance to the spatial structure of tourist areas, but the research ideas and methods have not formed a good system in the research process. Landscape ecology provides a good theoretical basis and shaping method for the study of tourism landscape pattern, which is of great significance to improve and strengthen the study of tourism spatial structure. In the process of tourism landscape pattern research, the hierarchical structure theory and patch-corridor-basement model theory in landscape ecology can be well applied. The pattern calculation method provides an important quantitative research basis for the evaluation and optimization of tourism landscape pattern, and provides an important basis for quantitatively explaining what sustainability is.

In the process of pattern research, the spatial characteristics analysis of the overall pattern of tourism landscape can include the scale, shape, spatial distribution and combination of various spatial units (tourist attractions, other types of industrial land, etc.). ). The patches in the tourist landscape can be considered as areas dominated by natural or human landscapes formed by scenic spots and their surrounding environment, and they are places for tourists to visit and consume. Corridor is forest belt, traffic line and banded trees, with grassland and river on both sides. Matrix generally refers to the regional background where patches are located.

4.3 Research methods of tourism landscape

Landscape ecology has developed a series of holistic and humanistic sociological methods to study the relationship between nature and society, which can provide theoretical and methodological support for studying the impact of spatial heterogeneity or natural and socio-economic patterns on sustainability. However, how to apply landscape ecology method to tourism landscape research is still a thorny problem. First, the theory and method of tourism landscape or tourism itself are not mature enough, and how to replace the research unit in landscape ecology with the research unit in tourism landscape has not been solved; Second, many data in tourism landscape research are difficult to obtain, which can not support the needs of many methods in landscape ecology.

Therefore, in the future research process of tourism landscape, on the one hand, we should continue to learn from the theory of landscape ecology to improve the relevant theories of tourism landscape and complete the transition from the research unit of landscape ecology research method to the research unit of tourism landscape; In addition, it is necessary to improve the data acquisition methods in tourism and simplify the corresponding research methods in landscape ecology, so that the research methods of landscape ecology can better serve the tourism landscape research.

5 Conclusion and discussion

Tourism landscape research is a new field of tourism research. The concept of tourism landscape is not clear, the theoretical basis of research is weak and the methods are not systematic. Landscape ecology provides theoretical and methodological support for better tourism landscape research. Based on the perspective of landscape ecology, the basic theoretical research on the concept and research content of tourism landscape needs further discussion, and the scale, pattern and quantitative method of tourism landscape are also the focus of research. Therefore, the focus of future research is to strengthen the basic theory and quantitative methods of tourism landscape, and carry out empirical application research on this basis.

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