ABSTRACT

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.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

part I|104 pages

Urban tourism precincts in Asia

chapter 1|20 pages

Tourism in cities

Asian perspectives

chapter 4|20 pages

Eat, play, visit

Tianjin’s former Western concessions as new hubs for creative cultural tourism

chapter 5|27 pages

Urban heritage tourism alongside the bank of Hugli

Carrying forward the legacy of “Little Europe in Bengal,” India

part II|111 pages

Management and marketing of Asian cities

chapter 9|15 pages

Neon lights in ancient cities

Thematic tourism, Disneyization, and world heritage in Cambodia

chapter 10|17 pages

Tourists’ perceptions of food trucks in Asia

A Hong Kong case study

part III|65 pages

Emerging paradigms of Asian city tourism

chapter 13|22 pages

Walking with the Little Prince in Busan

Paradoxes of culture making and place identity in a tourist slum

chapter 16|12 pages

Urban tourism at a crossroads

Diversification and transformation in Macau