Tourism Theory and Practice in the Context of the Forbidden City - Case Study Example

Tourism Theory and Practice Introduction The Forbidden City is also known as the Palace Museum and was considered the imperial palace at the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This tourist attraction is located within the centre of Beijing to the northern part of Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City is a man-made tourist attraction that is open to tourists, making it the most popular attractions in Beijing and China at large. Due to its fabulous attractions, Forbidden City has developed into a large palace complex but most enjoyable tourist attraction that is commonly listed in all Beijing tours itineraries. As a visitor to the Forbidden City, one would immediately become overwhelmed by the scale of the palace as well as the grandeur of it. Although very little information about the original Ming Dynasty can be accessed, it is unbelievable that such an extraordinary tourist attraction place was built for one ma. Furthermore, it was interesting to find that nearly every roof in the Forbidden City had been covered with golden titles. The Forbidden City has also several Imperial Gardens located in its walls with the largest referred to as the Imperial Garden that is filled with ancient cypress trees as well as beautiful rockeries. However, the pathways are one of the major features missed by most visitors. The garden of the Forbidden City is very beautiful and peaceful which reflects its design that attracts many people. Qianlong’s Garden is yet another garden within the Forbidden City. Therefore, it is relevant to point out that nothing was skipped during the time for building and decorating of this palace or the Forbidden City. It is not easy for a visitor to see everything that the beautiful Forbidden City has to offer with only visit because it remains a place of impressive beauty. Basically, the Forbidden City was designed to make the visitors develop a sense of wonder which continuous to do so even in this modern age (Forbidden City, 2014). Definition and application of the tourism system to the tourist attraction (Forbidden City)– The tourist, Tourist Generating region (TRG), Transit region (TR), Tourism destination region (TDR) and the Tourist Industry (TI). The complex and dynamic nature of contemporary tourism experience can be well understood by utilizing the concept of tourism system. Generally, the tourism system involves consumption and production as well as the generated experiences. However, there are key elements and factors that play an integral role in the tourism consumption and production process. It is important to note that movement is crucial to tourism, and thus travel paths taken by each visitor is an ideal way through which to understand the tourism system. By definition, a generating or source region is considered as the permanent residence where the tourist lives as well as the place where tour begins and ends. The transit route is the path which the tourist travels through the region so as to reach the intended destination, while the destination region is the region or place where the tourists chooses to visit. The destination region is considered the core element of tourism. The environment is what surrounds the generating region, transit route, and destination region. The tourism system is also referred to as the geographical tourism system. It helps to identify the flow of tourists from one place to another and to show the fundamental role of connectivity between the generating region and destination. Therefore, the entire system of destination regions and the transit route regions can be accessed by some tourists (Coles & Hall, 2005). The geographical tourism system is an ideal model to illustrate the connectivity between the various dimensions of tourism as reflected in the figure below; Geographical tourism system From the above geographical tourism system it can be noted that though the destination is the main point of any tourism activity, the success of tourism determined by all elements of a tourism system. This is because the assessment of the impacts, for instance, economic and environmental impact of any tourism trip will include what took place at the destination, the influences to make the trip and satisfaction level of the destination. Destinations are made accessible to any tourism source region. However, different destinations are variably accessible to different source regions and the reverse is true. It is relevant to point out that certain destinations are naturally advantageous over others in terms of accessibility, creating potential market places for tourism (Hall & Page, 2006). The fundamental idea about travel to destinations is that different elements of a tourism system will have distinctive productive components despite being used by the same consumer. Therefore, various production components of a tourism system create the tourism industry value system. Based on an industrial level, it can be noted that the economic value of the tourism activities in the long-term is directly affected by the capacity of the different tourism businesses involved in the system to increase service qualities as well as experiences for tourists (Hall & Page, 2006). As reported by curator, Forbidden City being China’s Palace Museum is currently considering improving its entire ticketing system so as to ensure that the visitors to this most attractive place do not necessarily have to waste a lot of time just queuing entry. Mr. Shan Jixiang, the curator of Beijing’s ever attractive Palace Museum-the Forbidden City, stated that the measure is one of the key factors that the museum is considering to give its visitors more dignity. Although the Forbidden City has an online booking system, the place experiences floods of tourists jamming ticket windows as well as the museum entry points. In particular, such incidences occur during the National Day holidays where each visitor is forced to queue for about 30 minutes in an attempt to buy a ticket. Therefore, it is important that management of Palace Museum is keen to solve this critical issue to give the visitors quality service. The psychology of tourists The two central issues that are crucial in understanding the psychology of visitors include; the personality profile of individual who visit a particular tourist attraction place and how the personality of a visitor relates to his or her experience at the place visited (Francis et.al, 2010). From the Tourists’ Spatio-Temporal Movement perspective, it can be noted that tourist experiences are interpreted chronologically beginning from their movement over space and time where tourists are seen moving from one destination or location to another in a certain time frame. Such a movement is considered to be dynamic process which is identified by spatial and temporal references as well as other attributes of a tourism system such as the nature of places visited (Glenn, 1998). Since at any given time the location position of a tourist can be derived, it means that the tourists’ travel pattern can be regarded as spatial movement in a network. In this case, the network system has notes which represent attractions or points that make tourists to stop, while the edges of the network system are considered as the routes that tourists choose as their paths to travel from one place to another (Xia, Ciesielski & Arrowsmith, 2005). A study was conducted to understand the tourist psychological matters based on the aspects of tourist satisfaction process and knowledge gaps. The rural tourists expressed their various expectations concerning the different aspects which they expected to view and experience or consume whilst being at the rural setting. The research findings showed that expectations regarding the natural and artificial environment of destinations were all varied. Furthermore, it was found that tourism expectations differ according to an individual’s interest, differences in personal experiences as well as the varied sources of information which that particular tourist either intentionally or unintentional accessed through his or her lifetime (Prokopis, Alexis & Conrad, 2009). The major influence personally had as the tourist prior to making the decision to visit the Forbidden City was that this iconic tourist attraction commonly known as Forbidden City had been curiously studied while perusing through the pages of the National Geographical magazines. Since seeing is to believing, it was necessary to make a decision to visit the Forbidden City and personally experience the beauty of the iconic tourist attraction. On the arrival at the Forbidden City, a slow and methodical study was conducted to understand the buildings and the entire architecture of the City. It was interesting to find that the deeper the movements made in the city, the more intrigued a person could feel by the various details labelling every building. The palaces as structures were quite similar throughout the city but the little details such as colours and designs on the buildings that seems less important are precisely what makes the Forbidden City most attractive and a place worth to wander. In conclusion, it can be learnt from the trip to the Forbidden City that embracing personal interests and not just caving to the common tourist experiences, continually defines a person’s travels. While roaming the Forbidden City, it was easy to see the fine cracks within the carvings around the Palace of Tranquil Longevity. One may have visited the top tourist attractions in Beijing, but he or she could spend time looking and getting to know whatever jives over in the Forbidden City. The visit to the Forbidden City makes a person really torn about which places or sections to leave off of his or her itinerary because the City is enormous and the most ardent and enthusiastic palace particularly for lovers. List of References Coles, T., Hall, C.M. and Duval, D., 2005, ‘Mobilizing tourism: a post-disciplinary critique’, Tourism Recreation Research, 30(2), 31–41. Francis, L.J., Mansfield, S., Williams, E., & Village A., 2010, ‘The psychology of tourism’, A case study of visitors at cathedrals in England and Wales, Visitor Studies, 13, 175-186. Forbidden City, 2014, “Forbidden City in Beijing, brief information on Forbidden City”, Retrieved March 23, 2014 from, Glenn F. R., 1998, The Psychology of Tourism, 2nd edition, Hospitality Press. Hall, C.M. & Page, S., 2006, The Geography of Tourism and Recreation: Space, Place and Environment, 3rd edn, Routledge, London. Prokopis, C, Alexis, S & Conrad, L., 2009, Journeying into Tourist Psychological Matters, Nottingham Business School: International CHRIE Conference. Xia, J., Ciesielski, V. & Arrowsmith, C., 2005, Understanding the tourists’ spatio-temporal movement patterns: A case study on Phillip Island, In Yichun Xie and Daniel Brown, editors, p.1-15. University of Michigan. Read More