Developing regional tourism in China

中国区域旅游发展

TourismManagement27(2006)695–706

/locate/tourman

DevelopingregionaltourisminChina:Thepotentialforactivating

businessclustersinasocialistmarketeconomy

JulieJacksonÃ

Of ceoftheVice-Chancellor,LaTrobeUniversity,Melbourne3086,Australia

Received22October2004;accepted4February2005

Abstract

InChina,therearesigni cantinequalitiesinincomedistributionbetweeninlandandcoastalregions.Tourismisregardedasonemeansoffosteringregionaleconomicdevelopmentandamelioratingtheseinequalities.Manyinlanddestinationspossessnaturaladvantagesthatcouldformthebasisforregionalcompetitiveadvantageinthepresenceofnecessaryotherconditions,buthaveexperienceddif cultyindrawingbothdomesticandinternationalvisitorsawayfromthepopularcoastalgateways.ThispaperconsidersthenatureofcompetitiveadvantageandtheapplicabilityofPorter’s(1990.Thecompetitiveadvantageofnations.London:MacmillanPress)theoryinanemergingmarketeconomy.ThedevelopmentofregionaltourismclustersbasedonPorter’s(1998.Oncompetition.Boston:HarvardBusinessReviewPress)modelmaybeawayoffosteringcompetitiveadvantageinregionalChina.Thisisespeciallyrelevantwithrecentpolicyevents,includingtheemergenceofthe‘WestDevelopment’initiative.Thepotentialforthedevelopmentofregionaltourismclustersisexploredinthispaper,which ndsthatwhilePorter’smodelistheoreticallyapplicable,thereismuchworktobedoneatamicro-businesslevelinfosteringclusterdevelopment.r2005ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.

Keywords:China;WestDevelopment;Competitiveadvantage;Clusters

1.Introduction

Thetourismindustryhasbeenseenasonemeansofpromotingregionaleconomicdevelopmentandameli-oratingregionalinequalities.Howeverwellintentionedsomegovernmentsareaboutregionaldevelopment,theirsuccessinadvancingequitabledistributionofeconomicbene tshasnotalwaysbeenoutstanding.InChina,thereexistsigni cantinequalitiesinincomedistributionbetweeneasterncoastalgatewaysandwesternandinlandprovinces(Demurger,2000;Zhang,2001)exacerbatedbylessthanfullexploitationofpossiblesourcesofcomparativeadvantage.

Recentinitiatives,particularlythe‘WestDevelop-ment’policy,aredesignedtoaddresstheseinequalities,withthetourismindustryplayingaleadingrolein

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E-mailaddress:Julie.jackson@latrobe.edu.au.

0261-5177/$-seefrontmatterr2005ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2005.02.007

regionaldevelopment.AsGaoandGe(2000,p.240)comment‘Tourismshouldtakethelead[inregionaldevelopment]tostimulatelocalemploymentandre-levantbusinesses,promotingdevelopmentofthethirdindustry’.Since1978,indevelopingthetourismindustry,thegovernmentviaChinaNationalTourismAdministration(CNTAorNTAofPRC)hasplayedavitalpartincoordinatingtourismdevelopmentandpromotingthetourismproductinternationally.Ithasalsoful lledtherolesofoperator,regulator,investmentstimulatorandeducator(Zhang,Chong,&Ap,1999).However,inrecentyearstherehasbeenincreasingdecentralisationinvolvingdelegationofroutinedeci-sion-makingand scalreformschemes(Xu,1999,p.16),andtheroleofthecentralgovernmentisconsequentlychanging.

Whilethecontinuingimportanceofaroleforcentralgovernmentsisacknowledged,thispaperarguesfortheemergingimportanceoftheroleofregionalandlocal