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| PHOTOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE OF URBAN TOURISM |
| CAO Xiao-shu |
| Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275, China |
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Abstract The booming of urban tourism has become one of the most striking aspects of the modern tourism development and many cities at home and abroad have been major destinations of tourists. This paper probes into urban tourism in the photographic perspective. The relationship between photography and urban tourism is analyzed, the tourist landscapes that can be photographed are classified, and the function of urban tourist photography as well as its underlying cultural significance are defined. It is pointed out that, when presenting the achievement in urban tourist studies, it is an effective way to make full use of photos as visual means together with written description.
Urban tourism in a sense is the perception of urban landscapes and photographic language is powerful in reading and describing man's perception of urban landscapes. Landscapes recorded by photography are various,with architecture landscape being the dominant component. Park, especially theme parks merit particular attention. Distinct regional and cultural features as well as customs of cities formed during its evolution is worth recording and describing by photographic languages. By taking photos,the urban tourists entertain themselves above all. More importantly,the spread of the photographic products by urban tourists contributes to the image promotion of cities as urban tourist destinations. And photography can be a useful tool in the urban tourist planning. Besides, the implication of photographic image production to culture generation is of significance, and photography in urban tourism is recognized as the communication between individuals and the society by means of visual languages.
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Received: 15 July 1999
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2000, Vol. 15 
