This timely and significant book explores the characteristics and complexities of Asian urban tourism, considering the extent to which Western paradigms can be transferred to Asian settings and the striking contrasts that exist within the region.
In an era of unprecedented urban expansion in Asian cities, this book comes at a time of great urgency, illuminating the possible problems and opportunities that arise when a destination emerges as a tourism hotspot. Split into three parts; introducing Asian urban tourism and urbanization, the management and marketing of Asian cities, and emerging trends and issues associated with Asian urban tourism, the book offers a range of varying and vibrant perspectives from international and interdisciplinary experts in the field. Chapters include studies on a wide range of destinations such as Hong Kong, Macau, Cambodia, Phuket, Kolkata, Busan, Delhi, and Sri Lanka among many others, and explore crucial contemporary themes such as overtourism, urbanization and administrative challenges, world heritage, smart cities and the use of technologies such as VR in urban tourism experience creation.
It will be a vital resource for upper-level students, researchers, and academics in tourism, city tourism, Asian studies, development studies, cultural studies, and sustainability, as well as professionals in the field of tourism management.
Introduction
Saurabh Kumar Dixit
Part 1 Urban tourism precincts in Asia: An introduction
1. Tourism in cities: Asian perspectives
Saurabh Kumar Dixit and Abijith Abraham
2. Urbanization and urban tourism in Sri Lanka
Prathibhani Bandusena, Mubarak Kldeen, and D.A.C. Suranga Silva
3. Feel the urban warmth…tourism in ASEAN urban areas, morphologies, and practices
Frederic Bouchon
4. Eat, play, visit: Tianjin’s former Western concessions as new hubs for creative cultural tourism
Maria Gravari-Barbas, Sandra Guinand, and Yue Lu
5. Urban heritage tourism alongside the bank of Hugli: carrying forward the legacy of "Little Europe in Bengal," India
Anindya Basu, Nabendu Sekhar Kar, and Moumita Kundu
Part 2 Management and marketing of Asian cities
6. The role of buildings archaeology in promoting urban tourism in Kolkata
Soumyajit Das and Ranjana Ray
7. Pre and post-Tsunami, urban tourism development in Phuket
Bussalin Khuadthong and Azilah Kasim
8. Marketing Ulaanbaatar as a dynamic city with a nomadic soul
Lee Hiu Yan, and Benjamin Lucca Iaquinto
9. Neon lights in ancient cities: thematic tourism, Disneyization, and world heritage in Cambodia
Matthew J. Trew
10. Tourists' perceptions of food trucks in Asia: A Hong Kong case study
Derrick Lee, C.H. and Anna Kwek
11. Considering tourism and religion in Asian cities
Kendall Marchman
12. Branding Indian cities as smart tourism destinations
Shelleka Gupta and Vinay Chauhan
Part 3 Emerging paradigms of Asian city tourism
13. Walking with the Little Prince in Busan: Paradoxes of culture making and place identity in a tourist slum
Desmond Wee
14. Managing overtourism in Asian Cities
Aishath Nadheema and Zuneena Habeeb
15. Impact of augmented and virtual reality on the value co-creation of visitor’s tourism experience: A case of heritage sites in Delhi
Vikas Gupta, Manohar Sajnani, and Saurabh Kumar Dixit
16. Urban tourism at a crossroads: diversification and transformation in Macau
Philip F. Xie
Biography
Saurabh Kumar Dixit, Ph. D. is an Associate Professor and founding Head of the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong (Meghalaya) India. His research interests include Consumer Behavior, Gastronomic Tourism, Service Marketing, Experience Management, and Marketing in hospitality and tourism contexts. He has worked for more than twenty years in several Indian universities / educational institutes. He has 12 books to his credit, including The Routledge Handbook of Consumer Behaviour in Hospitality and Tourism (2017), The Routledge Handbook of Gastronomic Tourism (2019), and The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Experience Management and Marketing (2020). He can be contacted at [email protected].
"Tourism in Asian Cities can be compared to the Travels of Marco Polo in the 21st century, which covers cities in China, India, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, ASEAN countries, and so on. This book is both interesting and practical for tourism researchers and practitioners because it covers useful marketing and managerial theories and practices. This book also opens research opportunities by discussing some emerging issues and proposes an emerging research agenda. It offers a broadened view of tourism in Asian cities by expanding the horizon for tourism readers."
– Professor Tzung-Cheng TC Huan, National Chiayi University, Taiwan (R.O.C.) and Editor-in-Chief, Tourism Recreation Research
"Tourism in urban contexts is increasing exponentially, and this book fills a critical gap in our understanding of touristic practices and tourism development in urban environments. Most importantly, it provides a rare Asian perspective that spans beyond the most well-known cities. The chapters form an engaging collection that addresses many aspects, including emerging issues such as overtourism. As such, the book offers a contemporary look at tourism in Asian cities that is valuable for students, researchers, and tourism managers."
– Dr. Ulrike Gretzel, Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
"The growth of urban tourism has been tightly related to the key issues of urban development and planning, with important implications both as opportunities (e.g., the synergies between the smart city and the smart destination approaches) and as tensions (overtourism). Due to the importance and to the specific features of urbanization in Asian countries, this book provides a timely and needed addition to our knowledge as well as to our ability to tackle the present challenges to the tourist economy."
– Professor Nicola Bellini, Institute of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
