Governance of Sustainable Tourism Development in China

The central government in a highly centralized state, such as China, normally dominates the legitimation, policy-making, and agenda-setting in its key social actions. This study uses a political economy approach to investigate the evolving governance of sustainable tourism development in China over the past three decades. The reciprocities between tourism, economy, and politics were examined through a temporal and horizontal analysis of its general national policy, namely, Five-Year Guideline (FYG) for National Economic and Social Development. Temporal variations of tourism governance were clearly reflected in its FYGs, which correspond closely to the macro-political and economic structures and the mainstream policy of China.