Study record: the Social Construction of Tourism Destinations
旅游目的地的社會建設
 

Introduction
引言
 

Ordinary place is not the tourist place. However, ordinary place can turn into tourist place if the place has some particular meanings and values in attracting tourists. As a result, the social construction of tourist place has special history meanings and value to some extent, which can motivate the tourists having desire to see it themselves. One hand, the tourist place has great value or history meanings for the development of human beings and society. Other hand, the social construction will be designed according to the features and requirement of tourist place. Moreover, the tourist can have great impacts on the tourist place in lifestyle, consumption, and culture. Generally speaking, Social construction is influenced by many factors, such as social system, culture features, habits, and history. This research record tries to introduce and explain some theories and opinions through comparison and contrast among a series of literature works concerning the theme of social construction of tourism destination. Therefore, to identify and summarize the consensus and different opinions in this field, evaluate those contentions and indicate the development trend through the literature works identified. This research will firstly explain the social construction and the comparison between social construction and image research. Following this, it will provide place promotion through five aspects, such as definition and content of place promotion, the importance of place promotion, the principle of place promotion, promotion techniques, and evaluation of place promotion according to place consumption.

普通的地方不是旅游的地方。然而,普通的地方可以變成旅游的地方,如果這個地方有一些特殊含義和價值在吸引游客。因此,旅游地方的社會建設具有特殊的歷史意義和價值在某種程度上,它可以激發游客希望看到它。一方面,旅游的地方對人類和社會的發展很有價值或歷史意義。另一方面,社會建設將根據旅游的特性和要求被設計。此外,游客會對旅游的地方的生活方式、消費和文化有很大的影響,。一般來說,社會建設是受許多因素影響,如社會制度、文化特征,習慣,和歷史。本文章試圖記錄介紹和解釋一些理論和觀點通過一系列的文學作品之間的比較和對比有關旅游目的地的社會建構的主題。因此,識別并總結該領域的共識和不同意見,評估這些論點,表明通過文學作品識別的發展趨勢。本研究將首先解釋社會建設和社會建設和形象之間的對比研究。隨后,它將提供地方推廣通過五個方面,如定義和內容的地方推廣,地方推廣的重要性,促進地方的原則,提升技術和根據地方消費來評估一個地方。#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Main body

主體

Introduction of Social Construction

引入社會建設
 

As the literature meaning showed in the theme of this study record, it includes two key points to explore further. One concerns “social construction” and anther one is what does it like when social construction comes to “tourism destination”. In this introduction part, I present the knowledge’s and information concerning social construction that was got from a range of literatures and other media, which includes two main parts: the definition of social construction and comparison with image research, another mainstream research theory in tourism.

What is Social Construction?
本研究主題的記錄了文學意義,它進一步探索了兩個要點,。一個是“社會建設”和另一個是社會建設“旅游目的地什么樣子”。在引言部分,我將介紹關于社會建設的知識和信息,從各種文獻和其他媒體,其中包括兩個主要部分:社會建設和對比圖像研究,旅游的另一個主流的研究理論。

 

According to Ian Hacking (born 02/18/1936, a famous philosopher who specializes in Philosophy of Science), social construction can be defined by the term of “The social construction of X” or “Contracting X” as:

(0)According to the present state of affairs, X is taken for granted; X seems to be inevitable. (Hacking 1999)

(1)X need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. X, or X as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of thins; it is not inevitable. (Hacking 1999)#p#分頁標題#e#

Besides, there are two other claims that usually can be used to define the phrase “social construction”, although they are not applied always.

(2)X is quite bad as it is.

(3)It would be much better off if X were done away with, or at least radically transformed. (Hacking 1999)

This is to say, in the opinion of author, if anything can be defined to be socially constructed, it depends on our society. It is not a creation of nature that does not depend on human beings. It exists because we build it. However, we do not have to build it, which is the same as Hacking said: it is not inevitable. (Hacking 1999). At least, it does not need to build in the present form or some specific form. If we are in a different form of society with different cultures, values and needs, we can certainly create something different or create it in a different way.

There are two levels of understanding. Firstly, the objects are totally created by human beings. We take the representative money as an instance. The meanings and functions of it are given by human beings by virtue of (i) collectively willing and intending (ii) to impose some particular function (purpose for which), (iii) by constitutive rules atop the "brute facts." (Searle 1995) Another level concerns something that exists naturally but defined with new social meanings by society. The most obvious phenomenon is gender. Human beings exist as two genders which are male and female before civilization. However, the different divisions of labors and different roles of society between male and female come from social consciousness, which is nurtured by society rather not nature.
 

Comparison with Image Research
 

What is Image Research
 

The social construction of tourism destination introduces psychological components and cultural context into tourism research. However, before that, the image study has been for a long time as the dominant tourism research theory. For example, Mayo1973 and Gartner & Hunt1987, and the way that images are communicated, for example, Britton1979; Cohen 1989; Bhattacharyya 1997.

The images study, according to Echtner and Ritchie (1991), use a wide range of characteristics and standards to measure the tourism destination such as the view, climate, facilities and etc.

Comparison between Social Construction and Image Research

(1)By exploring the more tangible physical components of place perception, the psychological components of affective response have been ignored by tourism image research (Walmsley & Young 1998). The focus of tourism image research has been understandably pragmatic and marketing based (Reilly 1990). As a result, this work has operated within the parameters of the place-construction process, and has not sought a broader understanding of mechanisms beyond the improvement of marketing strategies (Hall1997). That demonstrates the image study are goal-orientated (making places economically successful), rather than process-orientated (understanding the dynamics of place production and consumption). (Young 1999)#p#分頁標題#e#

(2)Another week point concerning image study research that it does not include the cultural context of the image creation and communication process for an improved understanding even when the research on image of tourism destination has explored the attributes of individual’ s cognitive processes and choice behavior (Ward & Gold 1994).

(3)Finally, the image research just focus on the attributes of the tourism destinations, but does not take the meaning of the places for people into account, neither how the meanings are socially constructed nor how the meaning are understood and consumed by people. As the result of deficiencies, as well as the opinion: landscapes become tourist places through the meanings ascribed to them by visitors and promotional agencies. (Squire 1994), the social construction of tourism destination is necessarily taken into consideration.

Place promotion (When social construction comes to tourism destination)

This part explains different researchers’ opinions on the place promotion (place production), which includes the definition and contents of the concept of place promotion (Place production); why this concept become more and more important; what is the specific strategies to promote the tourism destination and finally how to evaluate the work of place promotion for the social construction of tourism destination.

Definition and Contents:

Place promotion is including the re-assessment and re-representation of the place in order to establish and create a new image for localities, which can improve their competitive position in attracting and sustaining more resources. (Ashworth & Voogd 1988)

In this context, Kearns