Urban Tourism in China

China has witnessed a dramatic development of tourism in urban context in the past thirty years, especially with its success in hosting the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and the Shanghai World Exposition in 2010. Urban areas as tourism destination are receiving increasingly more popularity than traditional destinations such as national parks, natural reserves, and historical relics.

Deriving largely from a special issue on "Urban Tourism Development and City Destination Marketing" (Journal of China Tourism Research), Urban Tourism in China presents the readers with a collection of nine independent research reports examining issues such as consumer behaviour in urban destinations, the social impact of tourism, destination image, leisure, regional collaboration, and heritage tourism in ancient towns. The investigations covered urban areas of different scales and diversified nature from major metropolises such as Beijing, and Guangzhou, to ancient towns like Lijiang and Pingyao. Readers who have interests of tourism research, business development, and in-depth understanding of urban life in China may find the book informative and interesting.

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of China Tourism Research.

Mimi Li, PhD., is Assistant Professor in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests include tourism planning, destination marketing, consumer behaviour in hospitality and tourism, and China tourism.

Bihu (Tiger) Wu, PhD., is Professor and Director of the Centre for Recreation and Tourism Research at Peking University. His research interests include tourism geography, city tourism and resort planning, destination marketing, tourism policy, and tourism education.