Managing Asian Destinations

Tourism in Asia has experienced healthy growth in the last few years and is projected to grow at a rate above the world’s average. While there has been an increasing scholarly interest in Asian tourism activities and development, existing academic knowledge on managing Asian tourism destinations is highly fragmented. A cursory examination of literature suggests three main themes of destination literature: Planning, Management, and Marketing. Accordingly, we organized the chapters into these three core categories. For each of the three themes, we provide a brief evaluation of the current literature with a specific focus on Asian destinations and a summary of chapters addressing the theme. The chapter concludes with a call for further effort into several under-explored research areas.

The objective of the chapter is to examine power and politics as factors that constrain tourism policy and planning in the country. It draws from emerging research and illustrative cases on the governance of Philippine tourism. The starting point of the analysis is the comparative performance of the tourism industry and the implementation of the Philippine Tourism Act of 2009. The stated goal of the Tourism Act is to make tourism an engine of economic growth and cultural affirmation. This is supposed to be achieved through a range of programs and projects including the design and implementation of a mandatory tourism accreditation system and the facilitation of tourism investments.

However, the implementation of these programs is not happening as envisioned. Indicators show that accreditation levels have remained below one-fourth of the total number of registered tourism businesses. In addition, after 6 years of inaction, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has only recently announced the rules granting fiscal incentives for tourism investments, thus wasting time and precious opportunities to develop tourism infrastructure.

This chapter examines some of the structural constraints, rooted in the country’s history as a traditional society, that have hindered the implementation of the abovementioned policies and plans. Power and politics and how these are manifested in destabilizing ways, such as in regime changes, displays of impunity, and turfism, are the main foci. The chapter highlights observations that unless the oppressiveness of these factors is mitigated, the context of Philippine tourism policy and planning will remain very challenging.

The 2011–2016 Philippine National Tourism Development Plan is based on a destination development framework that identified 77 priority tourism destination areas (TDAs) in 21 regional clusters. The chapter provides an integrated case study of the tourism circuit planning approach adopted to operationalize the priority TDAs in 16 provinces, through a joint development program of the Philippine and Canadian governments. The project outcomes suggest that the destinations are becoming more competitive, as indicated by increasing employment, tourism-related investment, and visitor arrivals by program’s end in 2016. Correspondence with provincial project officers suggests that the tourism circuit approach can spread the tourism benefits more widely. The approach also highlights the need for regional, multi-stakeholder solutions for tourism growth, competitiveness, and sustainability. Unstable local government tourism institutions were seen to constrain the continuity of tourism development efforts. The lack of reliable data also highlighted the need for subnational indicators of tourism sustainability and competitiveness. The circuit approach can be considered for subnational tourism planning where there are active stakeholder participation, strong public-private partnerships, and effective destination management leadership. Concrete results were demonstrated where both local government and private sector were actively engaged in the circuit development plans. At the same time, strong institutional and individual leadership sustained the local partnerships’ energy and the momentum for change within the destination.

Hong Kong, like many large cities, has developed a substantial urban-focused tourism sector but has largely ignored the potential of its surrounding natural areas to contribute to its overall suite of tourism experiences. About 40% of Hong Kong has been designed as country parks and special areas. This chapter investigates the potential of Hong Kong to expand its portfolio of attractions to include nature-based experiences. A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was used to gather the views of the local stakeholders on the potential for developing nature-based tourism in Hong Kong. Participants were generally supportive but however raised a number of issues that needed to be addressed prior to further development of natural areas. Issues raised included the impact on the local community, the need for independent planning processes, and the concerns about potential negative impacts on the environment.

Based on a quantitative survey of 200 local residents from two structurally different communities, this chapter investigates the extent to which locals perceive that they are represented in tourism planning and development processes in the Maldives, a classic pleasure periphery which also encourages the parallel development of community-focused tourism. Residents want to be included in local tourism policy and planning processes but feel excluded. However, alienation is much less expressed where development of and dependency on tourism is far more advanced. Participatory planning remains an elusive aspiration for local residents with vested interests in how tourism is developed given very high dependency on the sector.

This chapter explores visitor perception of heritage mission and management practices at Trang An Landscape Complex, a World Heritage Site inscribed by UNESCO in 2014. Quantitative research methods were employed to survey 150 international and 128 domestic tourists. In comparison to international tourists, domestic groups demand both physical and intellectual accessibility as well as value-for-money travel. Regarding heritage management, international tourists are enthusiastic about uniqueness, identity, and local community representation, but they are critical about conservation, education, and interpretation. The analysis of current heritage governance reveals a need for Trang An management board to pay attention to issues of overcrowding and integrate development opportunities in a buffer zone with tourism and heritage management.

While management of cross-border tourism destinations has been of considerable interest to policy makers and tourism scholars for a long time, less attention has been given to Asian tourism destinations. A region well known worldwide is the Golden Triangle which shares its borders with Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. This chapter identifies key tourism planning issues, through interviews and a survey of key stakeholders, faced by a small town on the Thai side of the border – Chiang Saen. This tourist destination in Thailand draws local and international tourists because of its proximity to the Golden Triangle. Four broad issues restricting tourism development for Chiang Saen were identified: a complex web of stakeholders, powerful vested interests, a lack of identity or planning direction, and weak market attractiveness. Core Thai values of fatalism, relationship building, harmony and hierarchy contribute to the existence of these planning issues and constrain problem resolution. Furthermore, western style recommendations for planning development are likely to be ineffective. However, suggestions that leverage Thai values have potential to assist local tourism planning.

The objective of this chapter is to deliver an update of contemporary tourism in Cambodia, its development and management, with particular reference to initiatives toward sustainable and community-based tourism (CBT). The chapter opens with a narrative relating a historical account of tourism in Cambodia pre-2000. Attention is then focused on contemporary tourism, post-2000, specifically the economic performance of tourism, the governance and planning of tourism, cultural and sustainability initiatives, heritage and tourism, tourism resources, infrastructure and marketing strategies. The second part of the chapter turns its attention to the Royal Cambodian Government’s strategy to promote rural- and community-based tourism for the purposes of regional development and poverty alleviation. The chapter concludes by discussing the current precarious balance between rapid tourism development and sustainable positive benefits for Cambodia, the land and its people. This update serves as a valuable insight into the twenty-first-century complexities of tourism development and management in a Southeast Asian emerging economy.

Tourism is a queer paradox. It can be benign and malign, and at times it can conserve and consume resources, protect natural capital while damages heritage and so on. This dualism in tourism is not inherent or native to its character, but it is due to some policy failure, bad planning, ill governance, poor management of skills or want of new knowledge. This chapter shall illustrate the case of Manali in the Indian Himalayas which is now transformed from a rural pastoral settlement to an urban destination due to lack of sustainable pro-growth policy and tourism intelligence inaction. Efforts are being made for implementing sustainable tourism policy through ‘Explore Rural India Project’ that shall decongest Manali destination and diversify tourism activity all-through the Kulu Valley with Naggar as a satellite resort.

The exponential growth of tourism in World Heritage sites in Southeast Asia provides economic development, but with it unplanned consequences on the places where everyday life is radically transformed. This chapter looks at the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular the interactions of heritage, tourism and poverty. A study of Luang Prabang in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) considers how small historic towns are transformed by the growth of tourism-led development. It looks at the effect on poverty in this remote rural town that has become an iconic tourism destination due to its World Heritage Listing.

The chapter focuses both on the relationship between tourism and the new generations (Millennials in particular) and on the connection between Millennials and the sharing economy. More specifically, the chapter explores the case of South Korean Millennials by analysing the project ‘Sharing City, Seoul’. This project, launched by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2012, is boosting social innovation and promoting local sharing entrepreneurship, also in the tourism sector, with specific regard to Korean Millennials. The case is investigated through a mixed-methods approach, confirming (1) the high involvement of Korean Millennials in the local process of innovation, especially in terms of entrepreneurship, and (2) the importance of a generational perspective for the future growth of the tourist market. The relationship between Millennials and tourism, apart from few exceptions, is still underexplored. However, the understanding of the future tourism trends cannot miss a generational perspective. In order to ensure strong future growth prospects for tourism (in Asia and beyond), the tourism industry has to better understand peculiarities and expectations of the Millennial generation.

Smart tourism development has become a major focus for many destinations across the world, and particularly in Asia, as it promises competitive advantages by increasing efficiency, fostering sustainability, and enhancing tourism experiences. However, smart tourism development is complex and many destinations are struggling to successfully implement it. This chapter describes various smart tourism initiatives under way in Seoul to illustrate the many layers of smart tourism development and establish the destination as one of the leaders in smart tourism.

Increasingly, with the introduction of “smart destination” by the Chinese central government, big data becomes a popular phrase for tourism practitioners with the promise to transform the tourism industry in China by generating better answers to existing and new questions. Excited by the promising benefits of big data, many tourism attraction agencies have started to use big data to re-engineer their traditional business models. These benefits include better prediction models and “smart” management that could result in continuous improvement of various management and marketing strategies. However, nearly an equal number of tourism practitioners in China expressed their growing concerns about the actual benefits big data can bring. This book chapter reviews recent practices of big data and tourism attraction management in China through media discourse. It examines the interaction of tourism attraction management agencies with other stakeholders on the use of big data through a network perspective. By understanding big data’s current practices in China, it aims to paint a clear picture of its development and to help researchers position themselves in the process to identify future research areas, which would ultimately help to harden the potential of big data in tourism.

Rivers attract tourists in China as elsewhere. There are four main types of river tourism in China: riverbank sightseeing, riverboats, river drifting (piaoliu ziyou or ziyou piao) and whitewater rafting (yeshui piaoliu or baishui piaoliu). The first two of these are large sectors, mass tourism activities commonplace worldwide. River drifting, ziyou piao, is an activity found only in China and operates at mid-scale, in Chinese terms. Active whitewater rafting follows international models and is currently small scale, but an important contributor to conservation of China’s Great Rivers.

This study contributes to an understanding of how young citizens in developing tourist areas view and welcome tourists and tourism. The work is embedded in and builds on the conceptual and theoretical traditions of the tourist gaze and intercultural contact literature. The work was conducted in Lhasa, Tibet, and explored the views and preferences of over 250 young hosts for the types of tourists who visit the area. Photo-elicitation interviews, focus groups, and a questionnaire-based survey were employed in sequence to generate data. The welcome given to the tourists varied according to the classifications employed and the locations which the tourists visited. Five factors, which have relevance for other contexts, were identified to interpret the prospective welcome likely to be given to future tourists. The key issues shaping the young hosts’ responses were the immediate public impression tourists created, the extent of cultural distance between hosts and tourists, the nature of the tourist sites, local cultural values, and the hosts’ social life. Ways to assess young citizens’ views for incorporating in planning sustainable destination are offered.

While youth tourism and cultural tourism – two increasingly important segments of tourism activity – have been widely researched, an opportunity exists to further examine the intersection of youth travel demand and cultural tourism supply. Understanding youth travelers (aged 15–25 years old) is important because they are eager to explore and learn about different cultures (Guo P, AU-GSB e-J 4(2):70–80, 2008), yearn for a sense of freedom (Schönhammer R, Phenomenol Pedagog 10:19–27, 1992), and are different from previous generations of travelers (Richards G, Wilson J, Tour Rev Int 8(2):57–67, 2004, Boukas N, J Cult Herit Manag Sustain Dev 2(2):164–169, 2008). Cultural tourism destinations are popular with youth travelers as they seek to explore different environments and experiences by visiting places and sites with abundant historical and current cultural qualities (Moisa 2007). Beyond the connection with youth tourists, cultural tourism is significant in that this industry provides positive effects upon the economic and social dimensions of a community, revitalizes destinations that may otherwise be forgotten or underdeveloped, and provides resources for the expansion of conservation activities (McKercher B, du Cros H, Cultural tourism: the partnership between tourism and cultural heritage management. The Haworth Hospitality Press, Binghamton, 2002).The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of young Thai visitors’ behaviors and attitudes associated with cultural heritage tourism in Thailand by identifying their personal profile and discerning their views toward cultural heritage destinations. Additionally, the current study also examines the historical attraction site’s attributes that youth visitors consider important and how these attributes meet the needs of these young visitors. For this study Ayutthaya Historical Park situated in Ayutthaya province in Thailand, designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1991, was selected as the data collection site. Results reveal that the beauty of historical buildings and landscape, the preservation of cultural heritage attraction sites’ authenticity, the maintenance of the historical buildings’ exterior, and the maintenance of the historical buildings’ interior are considered the most important attributes to the youth visitors. Attributes considered as weaknesses of the attraction sites are the number of toilets available, the amount of parking spaces provided, the amount of restaurants and dining areas, and the quality of souvenirs offered at the attraction sites. Furthermore, the quality of staff service and activities offered at the attraction sites was found to also need emphasis and attention.