21世纪以来旅游社会文化影响研究的回顾与反思

旅游社会文化影响是旅游地理学研究的核心内容和热点问题。文章选取国内外权威核心刊物, 识别相关文献, 剔除无关文献, 梳理发展脉络, 从居民感知、文化变迁、地方身份和社会结构等4个方面, 对21世纪以来国内外旅游社会文化影响的研究内容进行分析, 总结理论方法。研究发现, 国内外研究领域的广度、深度不断拓展, 社区和旅游区的实证研究居多;在理论方法方面, 以相关学科的理论应用为主, 对自身规律的反思与总结较少, 理论提炼水平有限。最后, 鉴于地方全球化发展趋势, 从研究领域、理论方法、分析工具等方面反思与展望旅游社会文化影响研究的未来发展。

A Review and Reflection of Research on the Sociocultural Impacts of Tourism since the 21st Century

Tourism is a complex phenomenon that encompasses society, the economy, and the environment. With the global expansion of the tourism industry following the Second World War, its impacts have received increasing attention. In particular, the sociocultural impacts of tourism have emerged as a core topic and priority area within tourism geography since the 1960s, when it became an established field of inquiry in English-speaking countries. In this paper, authors review and examine the literature on tourism’s sociocultural impacts extracted from several major journals. Through an assessment of this literature, authors identified and selected approximately 100 relevant studies for the analysis. Margaret Deery has divided the process of conducting sociocultural impact research into several stages. Authors trace key developments in the research on tourism’s sociocultural impacts since the 21st Century , focusing the analysis on four aspects residents’ perceptions, cultural changes, place identity, and social structures. Authors’ review and analysis show that research content in this field has developed rapidly in depth and breadth, both in China and abroad. However, this research has mainly been empirical and focused on communities and tourism, with less attention paid to aspects of law. In general, the literature reveals similar conclusions, with a lack of discussion of influential factors and mechanisms, and slow theoretical progress. Most of the studies are, therefore, of the “filling in” rather than the “forward-looking” variety, offering little scope for guiding practice. Conceptually, they rely on social exchange theory to predict and explain residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards tourism, and on life cycle theory, which assumes that the attitudes and behavior of residents will change according to the different developmental stages of tourism. However, in the twenty-first century, the theoretical frames used in tourism studies have broadened considerably to include disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, economics, and ecology. For example, recent studies have adopted a wide range of theoretical constructs such as community attachment, emotional solidarity, creative destruction, social disruption, actor-networks, resilience assessments, landscape information chains, and cultural systems. These have variously been used to analyze the four sociocultural aspects of tourism’s impact that have been described. However, although engaging with multidisciplinary theories is important in tourism research, the evolution of “home grown” theories specific to this field of inquiry is even more valuable, and marks a critical step in the maturing of the field. Regarding research methods, the analysis showed that questionnaire surveys and structural equation models were mainly used to identify and assess residents’ perceptions, attitudes, and behavior relating to tourism. Qualitative methods were rarely used for this aspect of the research. Occasionally, mail communications and phone calls were used as methods of data collection. Conversely, qualitative research methods such as semi-structured interviews, in-depth interviews, and ethnography were used to explore the impact of tourism on cultural changes, place identity, and social structures. Additionally, focus groups, informal conversations and narratives, as well as some of the quantitative methods were sometimes used. Lastly, authors reflect in this paper on the prospects of this field of inquiry in view of the trend towards globalization of place. In conclusion, authors suggest that in this new era of local-global relations, sustainable development of the tourism industry and building harmonious linkages between tourists, residents, and immigration processes are required to promote effective management and best practices in tourism.