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| THEORIES AND STRATEGIES FOR THE TOURISM INTEGRATION: THE CASE OF BEIJING-TIANJIN-HEBEI |
| DAI Bin, HUANG Huang |
| China Tourism Academy, Beijing 100005, China |
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Abstract By applying the theory of New Economic Geography, this paper finds that the sources of regional tourism integration effects are internal scale economies, localization economies, urbanization economies, and agglomeration diseconomies. Internal scale economies emerge when tourism firms provide services at lower price. Localization economies emerge when tourism firms form integrated tourism routes or destinations. Urbanization economies emerge when tourism industry interacts with other industries. Agglomeration diseconomies emerge when too many tourism firms overcrowd the destination. This paper also concludes five main types of regional tourism integration, including Free Tourism Zone, Tourism Common Market, Tourism Development Belt, Tourism Cooperation League, and Integrated Tourism Zone. Free Tourism Zone means tourists can move freely in the region without any physical or institutional barriers. Tourism Common Market means the factors of tourism production can flow freely within the region. Tourism Development Belt means making and marketing an integratied tourism image. Tourism Cooperation League means coordinating and facilitating tourism development policies in the region. Integrated Tourism Zone means establishing permanent tourism management organization. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has always been a very important tourism origin and destination region of China. In 1990, Beijing had absolute advantages in all tourism development indicators. However, the gap of tourism development between Beijing and Tianjin-Hebei had continuously been narrowing. The tourism integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is in the intermediate stage, and made great progresses in expanding the markets of tourism firms, forming major tourism routes, reaping the internal scale economies and external localization economies.
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Received: 29 December 2014
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2016, Vol. 31 
