Tourism Study From Phenomenological Perspective

Tourism experience has long been considered the essence of tourism;accordingly,qualitative research into tourism is mainly centered around the tourism experience.But has the qualitative study of tourism experience succeeded in establishing the essence of tourism,making up for the weak foundations of tourism research? By thinking through these questions,this study shows that in the process of defining tourism from a purely conscious perspective which centers the essence of tourism in tourism experience,tourism research has ignored a key accompanying aspect of the tourism experience—that is,the dependence of tourism experience on tourism practice—resulting in defects in the definition of tourism essence as well as in qualitative tourism research.Tourism practice is not a conscious activity of meditation,but an activity related to space and location that involves body movement.Therefore,the origin of the significance of tourism can be found in characteristics of the physical act of tourism.Through critical reflection on qualitative research into tourism,and by employing a phenomenological perspective,this study discards standard assumptions about tourism essence as defined by the study of tourism experience,resetting tourism practice as the foundation of the meaning of tourism.It follows a path into qualitative tourism research,giving a different perspective from approaches grounded in tourism experience.The study can be divided into two parts.Focusing on the viewpoint that "the essence of tourism is tourism experience," the first half of the study—including the introduction and Chapters 1 and 2—mainly introduce critical reflections on related research into tourism experience,establishing a phenomenological method suitable for the study of tourism essence.The introduction analyzes the meanings of tourism practice and tourism experience from the perspective of the meaning of the word"tourism"(??)in Chinese,and points out that the tourism experience relies on tourism practice.Further,it explains the historical reasons that qualitative tourism research revolves around tourism experience,and shows the deficiencies in the overall framework of tourism research that has focused on the tourism experience.The most obvious manifestation of these shortcomings is that the tourism experience cannot be distinguished from the aesthetic experience;the most extreme consequence is that research around the tourism experience has eliminated tourists,the very actors who are indispensable for the tourism experience.However,this study,adhering to the phenomenological concept of"to the thing itself,"grasps how tourism experience is dependent on tourism practice,putting forward a"starting from tourism practice"perspective.The first chapter discusses developments in tourism research over the decades,in order to explore how researchers understand tourism phenomena and how they treat tourism from varying perspectives—as an economic,abnormal,and daily phenomenon.Indeed,this rich research legacy can be considered an attempt to put tourism back into the living world.In the process,the development of the tourism industry,the universalization of tourism activities,and the in-depth study of tourism phenomena within the social sciences have established broad boundaries for the significance of tourism as well as the scope of tourism research.The second chapter reviews and re-understands the tourism experience,establishing a phenomenological method suitable for qualitative tourism research.Here,the study analyzes the understanding of the nature of tourism offered by different perspectives,reflects on the tourism experience from within the concept of phenomenology of consciousness,summarizes previous researchers' understanding of the nature of tourism,and describes the experience of tourism as a melody—it starts when you leave for a destination,it ends when you return home.The second half is centered on the basic idea of “starting from tourism practice”and uses the phenomenological method to construct the path of "tourism practice—tourism destination—tourism world." This includes Chapter Three,“The Essence of Tourism Practice”;Chapter Four,"Tourism Destination Systems andSymbols";and Chapter Five,"Pictures of the Traveling World".Tourism practice generates tourism destinations,and tourism destination symbols build the tourism world.The tourist destination is not only a related item of the tourist experience,but also a practical product of the tourist's practice;it is both a stage for tourists and a work by tourists.The main contents of this section involve: advocating for the elimination of the tourism experience in the traditional sense of tourism research(i.e,basically the attractions experience),taking destination experience as the core;expounding on the meanings of tourist destination symbols with an explanation of how the destination experience has the same nature;and replacing places with tourism destinations to show the picture of the tourism world.In short,this study presents a research path and basic framework for a tourism philosophy guided by "tourism practice—tourism destination—tourism world."...