Study On Formation And Evolution Of Tourism Cluster

Along with the worldwide speedy development of tourism, the researches of tourism theories have been given sufficient attention in a variety of countries. The complexity of tourism phenomena and the multi-associations of tourism call for a multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective research of tourism theories. Since the late 20th century, industrial cluster has developed into a significant theory of regional economic development and attached importance to in various disciplines. Nonetheless, the theory of industrial cluster has been applied more in manufacturing and high-technical industries than in tourism. In recent years,along with the profound researches of tourism theories and promotion of tourism practice,scholars in and outside China turn their attention to the application of the theory of industrial cluster in the researches of tourism and regional tourism industries. From the regional perspective,tourism is characterized by'the agglomeration of industries'and'the association of industries'and conditioned with the tourism cluster in the tourist sites which are qualified with the professional divisions and the relatively elongated industrial chains. It will be of great significance for the current consistent development of the prosperous tourism economics to analyze regional tourism and the goals of tour by means of the theories and methodologies of cluster,constructing the theories and paradigms of tourism cluster which guide the development of regional tourism. By adopting the inductive and deductive approaches,this dissertation proposes the fundamental theories of tourism cluster on the basis of summarizing both the domestic and abroad researches,taking Pingyao Ancient City,a tourist site of the worldwide cultural relic,as the case study. The innovation of this research lies in that it it is a tentiative attempt to apply the theory of industrial cluster to the study of regional tourism industry, putting forward its substance, properties and a method of identification. It also analyzes systematically the factors and mechanism of the formation, development and evolution of tourism industry. Besides, it offers a conving case study based on a research of the tourism industry of Ping Yao Ancient City one the one hand, and provides with a theoretical framework and an operational procedures for the establishment and actualization of the policy of tourism industry on the other.The dissertation consists of nine chapters.Chapter One is the introduction. It analyzes the motivation and significance of the dissertation,points out the necessity and practical significance of the research of the tourism cluster and sketches the framework and methodologies of the present research as well.Chapter Two is literature review. Owing to the fact that the theory of industrial cluster is the foundation of tourism cluster,this chapter first overviews the theoretical and practical researches of industrial cluster in and outside China. Then it follows to summarize the current researches and problems of tourism cluster,on the basis of which,the dissertation puts forward the presumed concerns of the future researches of the tourism cluster.Chapter Three sheds light on the substance and properties of the tourism cluster. It first analyzes the properties and concepts of the tourism cluster,holding that the tourism cluster is characterized by the exterior features of a certain scale of industry and a elongated tourism chain with the enhanced creativity and the interior feature of an evident cooperative competition within the cluster so that the competitive and demeanor regulations are shared by enterprises. Beside,this section interprets some concepts relevant to the tourism cluster,analyzing the relationship between the tourism cluster and such factors as the tourism chain and the termination of the tour. Thirdly,it discusses the composition and the boundary of the tourism cluster,including the organization boundary and geography boundary. Lastly,it categorizes the tourism cluster from different perspectives with reference to the relevant theories of industrial cluster and the researches and practices of the current tourism cluster.Chapter Four moves on to the identification of the tourism cluster, maintaining that the tourism cluster can be identified via both the qualitative and the quantitative explorations; the former investigates the tourism chains,the creativity and the competitive and cooperative relations between tourism enterprises and the informal stipulations within the cluster; the latter probes into the regional business modulus,the professional exponential of the tourism industry and the evaluation of the creativity of the tourism cluster. In the case study of Pingyao Ancient City by means of both qualitative and quantitative approaches,this dissertation draws a tentative conclusion that Pingyao Ancient City has formed a crude tourism cluster in accordance with the evaluation of the developmental phenomena of tourism gathering of Pingyao Ancient City.Chapter Five explores the factors that impact the cohesion impetus and the cluster formation of the tourism industry. The development of regional tourism is spatially featured by cohesion,whose stimulus at the initial stage of the tourism enterprise is to meet the requirement of the properties of the tourism industry,the enterprises'pursuit of the exterior economical effect and the government's programming of the spatial layout of the tourism industry. Nonetheless,the gathering of the tourism industry does not necessarily form a cluster since the formation of a cluster is affected by a number of factors; moreover,the formation of the different types of clusters with different development backgrounds is affected by distinguishing dominant factors. The case study of Pingyao Ancient City in this chapter claims that the formation of the tourism cluster of Pingyao Ancient City is affected by such interior factors as the features of tourism attractions,the local cultural memories and conventions,namely,the legacy of'Jin'businessmen,and the demeanors of the local government; besides,it also affected by such exterior factors as developmental opportunities of the cluster and the spatial location of the tourist site in the organization of the regional tourism.Chapter Six discusses the formation mechanism of the tourism cluster,including the mechanism of the self-enhancement of the exterior economics,the formation mechanism of the cooperative competition and the creative mechanism of the cluster. The self-enhancement mechanism of the exterior economics indicates that the exterior scaled economics and the exterior scoped economics will develop a self-enhancement mechanism to promote the division of the cluster industry in depth and the increase of the cluster enterprises with the gathering of tourism enterprises and the extension of the industry chains. The cooperative competition of the cluster,on the one hand,is formed by the long-term competition between enterprises and the inspiration to the cooperation between enterprises on the basis of the reliance and relations of the social capital of the cluster; on the other hand,the effect of the brand produced by the cooperation of the enterprises in the cluster and the competitive and demeanor regulations shared by the enterprises promote the exterior economic effect. The creativity of the cluster includes the government's macro creativity of the tourism products and the creativity of the products and service of the tourism enterprises. The force of the creativity within the cluster,on the one hand,derives from the creative promotion and the creative stimulus of the enterprises enhanced by the pressure of the face-to-face competition that the enterprises are confronted with; on the other hand,the cluster provides the medium and platform for the creativity of the cluster which is achieved by the acquisition of knowledge. It is argued that the knowledge both in and outside the cluster are considered as the vital channel of the acquisition and the creativity of the tourism cluster. The last part of this section is a practical study of the cluster formation mechanism of Pingyao Ancient City. Chapter Seven investigates the evolution of the tourism cluster. Owing to the fact that the researches of tourism cluster is on its initial way,the evolution of tourism cluster lacks the case evidence so that it is difficult to obtain the micro economic data and historical data of the relationships between enterprises of the tourist sites. Based on this observation,this chapter conducts a deductive analysis of the evolution tendency of the tourism cluster with reference to the relevant evolutionary theories of the industrial cluster and the theory of the life cycle of the tourist site,dividing the development of tourism cluster into the stages of formation,development,maturity and declination or promotion,each stage of which comprises the factors that restrict the evolution of the cluster, including the pressing cost,opportunism behaviors, the negative effect of the social capital,the increasing inertia of the tour requests and the accidental events. It should not be neglected that the tourism cluster can be promoted by various means as well. With regard to Pingyao Ancient City,its cluster is still at the stage of formation and therein the factors that impede its evolution are included inevitably.Chapter Eight is the policy study of the tourism cluster,claiming that the policies of the cluster denote the macro policies that uphold the development of the cluster and the cultivating measures that benefit the formation and development of the cluster in the course of its development. Based on the analysis of the policies of the domestic and abroad industrial clusters and their practice and the strategies and policies of the tourism cluster,this chapter puts forward that the policies that encourage the development of the tourism cluster should be established and that the strategies of tourism cluster should be carried out in the region where the tourism economics take precedence. As for the individual tourism cluster,the corresponding policies of the cluster and different measures should be adopted to promote the development of the cluster in terms of different properties of the regional industry,different developmental stages of the cluster and different types of the cluster. The last section of this chapter proposes the strategies,the policies and the practical measures that promote the evolution of the tourism cluster of Pingyao Ancient City.Chapter Nine is the conclusion of the dissertation,summarizing the current research of its innovations and problems and predicting the future researches in prospect as well.