Tourism in the region of Beijing
By: Pék Vivien Zsuzsanna Tourism Adorján Mária
Table of contents:
History of Tourism in China
3
Major Tourist Attractions
4
Impact of Tourism in the area
5
Facilities, infrastructure
6
The image of tourists
6
Areas of improvement
References
6-7 7
2
1. History of Tourism in China China is the second- largest country by land area with a population of over 1. 3 billion. It has become the the fastest gowing economy of the world and thus it has the second-largest economy, after the USA. It is the third most visited tourist destination in the world with a great number of overseas tourists, 55. 98 million in 2010, thus the country's tourism revenue was about $185 billion.
Under the rule of Mao Zedung the People's Republic of China was only open to selected visitors and closed to anyone else. But after the introduction of the Chinese economic reform in 1978 ( which is also called Reform and Opening Up comprising the program of Socialism with Chinese characteristics) tourism started to expand. After this measure China started to develop its tourism industry by extending the number of hotels with professional services, renovating historical sights and opening them to the public. In addition, the improvement of transportation facilities and the spread of airline traffic also contributed to innovate the tourism of China. As a result, the country has become major tourist destination area with a huge market of inbound and outbound tourists.
Beijing as the capital of the People's Republic of China with its political, cultural centeredness it plays a crucial role in the tourism of China. The capital city is the seat of most of the largest state-owned companies and a major center of the highway, railway and high-speed rail transport. Furthermore, the Beijing Capital International Airport is the second busiest airport according to passenger traffic.
3 2. Major Tourist Attractions The major tourist destinations of Beijing are closely related to natural, historical or cultural sights of the city. The Beijing Botanical Garden preserves the natural heritage of the country; it cultivates more than 6000 species of plants providing a great variety of trees, bushes and flowers. As China has about 2000 years old history, Beijing can offer numerous remain, relics of the previous centuries. The most visited tourist destination connected to Beijing is the Great Wall of China. The reason why this national emblem was built is to defend China from foreign intruders. The Badaling part that is located in Beijing is open to the tourists and it is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In addition to the Great Wall there are other historical monuments which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site; the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan), and the Summer Palace. The Temple of Heaven was a shelter for the Ming and Qing dynasties to held their annual prayer ceremonies. The Taoist temple was constructed during the reign of the Yongle emperor in the 15th century. The Summer Palace is not just a famous tourist destination but also a recreational park as all the natural landscape of hills, water and pavilons, palaces reflect tranquility, this is why it is sometimes called "Gardens of Nurtured Harmony" .
The Forbidden City is situated at the very heart of Beijing. This huge palace served as a residence for the Ming and Quing dynasties. Today the Forbidden City accomodates the Palace Museum providing Chinese art of the empiral period. The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing also greatly contributed to the growing tendency of the country's tourism industry. The Beijing National Stadium was built for this great event, after the olympics it remained an important tourist destination in Peking.
4 3. Impact of Tourism in the area The development of Peking started after the Opening Up program in the 70s. The tertiary industry has become the most important factor of the city's GNP. ( 73,2 %) This means that the most considerate industries constituting the capital city's economy are banking, financial services, real estate , information technology and tourism. Due to the rapid expansion of Beijing the size of newly-developed Peking has become one-and-a half times larger than before.
The growth of the city also resulted in the appearance of a new business district which is the so called Beijing Central Business District ( CDB) which provides
home
for
numerous
corporate
regional
headquarters. Although, financing is one of the most important areas of the city's economy, Beijing is not the center of the country's financing, Shanghai is the economic hub, Peking just only provides seat for them. Zhongguancun area has evolved a major hub of electronics not just in the city but in the entire country as well. It is often called as China's Silicon Valley because of its importance.
The real estate and automobile sectors have also boosted in the previous decades in Bejing. In addition, shopping districs has also appeared in the city, Wangfujing and Xidan among others. Wangfujing is the most famous shopping street of the capital, the shooping area attracts both tourist and residents of Beijing. As the above mentioned sectors of the economy are of significant importance, the economy of Beijing does not fully depend on the revenue of tourism industry, still it provides great amount of jobs to Peking.
5 4. Facilities, infrastructure As a result of the prompt innovations of Beijing, the city has become the most significant transport center in the People's Republic of China. The capital has five ring roads, nine expressways, several railway routes, eleven China National Highways and an international airport. Concerning its railway net, it is one of the most modern in the world; Beijing offers two high-speed rail lines: the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway. The capital has more than five railway stations as well.
5. The image of tourists With these diverse infrastructural facilities, which are constantly being improved and modernized, with the great variety of services, tourist receiving areas, Beijing is both easily accessible and attractive for every type of tourist. As the majority of tourist attractions is cultural or historical, cultural tourism is significant in Beijng. Therefore, tourist visiting there are cultural heritage travellers, high-value visitors. These tourist are generally educated, stay for a longer period of time and spend more money during their journeys than the average tourists. They are seeking for experiencing the culture of distinct places, and unique pleasures.
6. Areas of improvement Despite these great facilites there are still some domains on which Beijing could be improved. For instance, many Chinese do not speak English which can ruin the image of hospitality if tourist cannot make themself understood. Furthermore, because of the high population there are sometimes problems with air pollution, electricity and water supply. Nowadays air pollution is one
6 of the biggest problems of China. Although with a huge amount of money China could manage to control the air pollution during the Olympics, Beijing is still facing enviromental problems. All in all, due to the modernisations and innovations, China is expected to become the largest tourist country; in terms of total outbound travel spending the country is prognosticated to be the fastest growing in the world until 2020.
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_and_opening http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourist_attractions_of_Beijing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Summer_Olympics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace
7