从理想主义、现实主义到理想主义理性回归

中国旅游地理学从1978年至2008年的30年发展历程中,诸多研究者在不同时期对旅游地理学的发展进行了分析和评价.但是现有总结和评价仍多是基于学科内部视角,缺乏站在中国社会发展宏观背景、学术发展整体背景以及旅游业实践背景下的外部视角.因此本文将主要从外部视角来回顾、评价旅游地理学的发展.根据不同时期研究价值取向的差别,将中国旅游地理学30年来的发展划分成三个阶段:理想主义阶段、现实主义阶段、理想主义的理性回归并与现实主义相结合的阶段,各阶段的时间跨度均大致为10年.通过总结各阶段旅游地理学的主要进展反映不同价值取向对研究和学科发展的影响.文章最后指出,由于中国目前并没有具备旅游地理学彻底地理性回归的现实条件,当前的理性回归是基于知识分子内省的个体选择,因此这种理性回归究竟能否持续仍存疑问.

From Idealism to Realism to Rational Idealism: Reflection on 30 Years of Development in Tourism Geography in China

During the 30 years of development in tourism geography in China between 1978 and 2008, many researchers analyzed and evaluated its development in different periods.  However, most of such studies were done from the perspective of geography of tourism itself, without taking the perspectives such as China's social and economic development, overall academic development as well as the background of tourism activities. This paper reflects and evaluates the three periods of development in tourism geography based on the differences of research orientation: the periods of idealism, realism and rational idealism. In the idealism period, major development in tourism geography was shown by the fact that scholars constructed the scope of the subject of study and the framework for research as well as kept up with the theoretical development abroad. While educating the next generation of scholars, they were also involved in problem-solving by making contribution to the society. They set up the association for the study of tourism geography to strengthen collaboration. In the period of realism, geographers of tourism became the major force for tourism planning. Their research was driven by what they did as planners, with less effort on theoretical development. As a result, their research scope was relatively narrow with less attention to development abroad and lack of paradigms. In the rational realism period, scholars paid more attention to theory construction, with more interdisciplinary studies at the aim of broadening research scope and more international exchanges. In the meantime, planning was of higher standard, and  tourism geography as a subject of study received more attention and support in academic circle. This paper points out that the rational realism being discussed is based on individual cases rather than large-scale reality. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether such rational realism is going to continue in the near future.