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| URBAN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ZHUHAI |
| BAO Ji-gang1, ZHU Hong2 |
| Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Zhongshan University, Guang zhou 510275, China |
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Abstract Urban tourism is playing an increasingly important role in China.In 1997, seven cities, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai received 45.26 million overseas tourists, which accounted for 91.22% of the tourist in Guangdong in the same year.Zhuhai stands out among these cities as "Zhuhai Tourist City" named by the State Tourism Bureau.It was also given the title of one of the"Forty Best Resorts" in China in 1991.After 20 years of development, urban tourism in Zhuhai has become an important pillar industry.In 1997, the total income of tourism industry was 5.57 billion RMB, with a tourism revenue growth of 2.74 billion RMB from the tourism industry, accounting for 11.64% of the GDP of the city.Though the number of tourists to Zhuhai ranked the 3rd among 21 cities in Guangdong Province in 1997, its foreign exchange came the 3rd in Guangdong, the 5th in China's 60 large- and medium- size cities.Such achievements were the result the excellent tourism resources.Zhuhai enjoys a special location, great overall environment and excellent tourism facilities.Events like international car races, air shows, film festivals added charm to Zhuhai's urban tourism.The planning of urban construction was very advanced, with a focus on maintaining a good living environment and on creating the harmony between man and nature.As a result, rapid economic development and environmental conservation were well coordinated.Such coordination has become the best tourism resource and the characteristic of urban tourism in Zhuhai.In 1997, Zhuhai hosted 1, 070 conferences with 82, 700 participants.The 1st air show attracted over 800, 000 people in 1996, bringing a social impact and direct economic benefit to the city.The 2nd air show in 1998 had over 1 million visitors.These formed the regional tourism development model in Zhuhai, with a focus on vacation, conferences and exhibitions, sightseeing, and business, etc.The natural environment, infrastructure, and socio-cultural environment that Zhuhai had to offer met the demand of the newly rich people in the Pearl River Delta, giving a lot of potential and charm to the city.However, the following issues should be stressed and strengthened for further tourism development.Firstly, Zhuhai and Macau should cooperate more for full-fledged tourism development, taking advantage of the policies in both places, which would make both more competitive in the tourism market.Secondly, scenic spots in the city are to be improved on top of the existent overall environment.The tourism development in Zhuhai indicates that urban tourism in Mainland China is doing better than ever.Tourism is no longer a supplement to urban development.It has become an important industry in the urban economy.The tourism resource of a city is not a certain scenic spot of district but the whole city.At present, research on urban tourism is very much behind urban tourism development.There has not been a lot of research on issues such as the concept and contents of urban tourism, patterns and evolution models of urban tourism.Accordingly, the theory and practice of urban tourism are likely to become the focus of tourism research.
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Received: 15 July 1999
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1999, Vol. 14 
