Seventh International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected people’s physical and mental well-being, but also disrupted global industries, especially the tourism sector. Under the impact of the pandemic, the travel industry was forced to shift its focus from international to the domestic market. In order to control the spread of the virus and address the complex and severe global situation, the Chinese government strengthened the construction of its national identity. In the field of tourism, it has actively promoted red tourism. In this context, the middle class, which enjoyed traveling abroad before the pandemic, has now become the main target of red tourism. Through semi-structured interviews, supplemented and verified by online materials such as travel notes, this study specifically investigates the influence of red tourism on the national identity of China’s middle class. The results show that red tourism has an impact on China’s middle class in three dimensions—historical, party, and national identity—which are interlinked to each other. Historical identity is the basis of national identity, and the strengthening of political party identity will also lead to the reinforcement of national identity. Red tourism not only strengthens the national identity of the Chinese middle class, but also changes their perceptions regarding their own government and the West. Although tourism and identity issues have become important topics, limited studies have examined the changes in this relationship owing to the pandemic. This study attempts to fill this gap through empirical investigation.

Presenters

Abigail Qian Zhou
Associate Professor, Graduate School of International Media, Communication and Tourism Studies, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan