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The state of tourism geographyeducation in Taiwan: a content analysisGuosheng Hana, Pin Ngb & Yingjie Guoc

a Department of Tourism Management, Shandong University atWeihai, Weihai, Chinab Franke College of Business, Northern Arizona University,Flagstaff, AZ, USA and School of Economics, Anhui University,Hefei, Chinac School of Foreign Languages, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an,ChinaPublished online: 24 Nov 2014.

To cite this article: Guosheng Han, Pin Ng & Yingjie Guo (2014): The state of tourism geographyeducation in Taiwan: a content analysis, Tourism Geographies: An International Journal of TourismSpace, Place and Environment, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2014.978813

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The state of tourism geography education in Taiwan:

a content analysis

Guosheng Hana, Pin Ngb* and Yingjie Guoc

aDepartment of Tourism Management, Shandong University at Weihai, Weihai, China; bFrankeCollege of Business, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA and School of Economics,Anhui University, Hefei, China; cSchool of Foreign Languages, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an,China

(Received 23 June 2014; accepted 11 October 2014)

This study aims to explore the state of teaching tourism geography in Taiwan based ona content analysis of 60 syllabi. The paper investigates institutes and faculties,students, teaching methods, teaching content, and assessment methods in teachingtourism geography in Taiwan. The following conclusions were reached. (1) Tourismgeography curricula are primarily implemented in tourism and recreation rather thangeography departments. The faculty members with doctoral degrees from geographyinstitutes are increasingly staffed in tourism and recreation departments, while moreand more faculty members in forestry, biology, and geology are teaching in the sub-discipline of geography. (2) Geography departments provide diverse and systematiceducation in the sub-discipline ranging from bachelor’s to doctoral degree programs,while only junior college and bachelor’s degrees are offered in tourism and recreationdepartments. (3) Teaching methods such as lecturing, group reports, and discussionsare more popular among junior college and bachelor’s degree programs, whilelecturing, discussion, academic literature reading, and group reports are morecommon among master’s and doctoral degrees in the sub-discipline. The teachingmethods appear to be more diverse at higher degree levels. (4) Regional tourismgeography is more readily available in junior college curricula, while general tourismgeography is taught more in the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree curricula.(5) Subject work, mid-term exam, and final exam are more popular assessment toolsamong junior college and bachelor’s degree education, while subject work, reports,attendance, and discussion are more common among master’s and doctoral degreeeducation. This paper will help the international academia of tourism geography togain a better understanding of tourism geography education in Greater China.

Keywords: tourism education; tourism geography; content analysis; Taiwan;chi-square test; curriculum design; syllabus; regional tourism geography; general tour-ism geography

Introduction

Geography departments of European and American higher institutions have been expand-

ing their enrollments dramatically since 1950s. In order to improve the marketability of

the discipline and increase employment opportunities for their graduates, geography

departments have increasingly emphasized the relevancy and applied focus of their

research and curricula (Hall & Page, 1999). Tourism geography has gradually grown into

an applied sub-discipline in many geography departments in response to the growing

global tourism and recreation industry. As an interdisciplinary field, tourism geography

*Corresponding author. Email: Pin.Ng@nau.edu

� 2014 Taylor & Francis

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not only facilitates tourism research, but also helps to accelerate students’ enrollments in

geography departments, thus playing a significant role in shaping and transforming geog-

raphy curricula (Dornan & Truly, 2009).

While providing unique spatial and environmental knowledge for tourism and recre-

ation workers, tourism geography also plays an important role in training tourism geog-

raphers. Hence, tourism geography education has become an important topic among

tourism educators (Cai, Morrison, & Ismail, 2001; Che, 2009; Croy, 2004; Dornan &

Truly, 2009; Lai & Wang, 2013; Lew, 2001; Pearce, 1981; Roehl, 1999; Schmelzkopf,

2002). Existing tourism geography education literature primarily focuses on tourism

education in geography departments of America, Canada, and New Zealand (Che, 2009;

Dornan & Truly, 2009; Meyer-Arendt, 2000; Mitchell & Smith, 1985) and more

researchers are paying attention to tourism geography education in Greater China,

including Mainland China (Bao, 2002; Bao & Ma, 2011), Hong Kong (Li, 2014), and

Macau (Li & Bray, 2007). However, little is still known about tourism geography educa-

tion in Taiwan.

Moreover, the above-mentioned studies focus mainly on tourism education in the

geography departments (Simm, Marvell, Schaaf, & Winlow, 2012). Little is known about

tourism geography education in the tourism and recreation departments. The studies

mostly employ a macroscopic perspective to examine the evolution of the tourism pro-

grams and the orientation of majors within geography departments, the employment mar-

ket, the competition between tourism geography programs and other tourism and

recreation or hospitality programs, and the publications and research of the tourism geog-

raphers. The exception to this was a study conducted by Pearce (1981) at Canterbury

University in New Zealand. Beyond this, little research has been done on tourism geogra-

phy education in Southeast or East Asia, especially in Taiwan. Also, a close examination

of the relevant literature shows that much attention has been paid to tourism and geogra-

phy education for bachelor’s degrees (Simm et al., 2012), while little has been put on

junior college or graduate students, not to mention the differences among them in teach-

ing methods, teaching content, and assessment methods.

This paper aims to analyze the curricula and contents of tourism geography courses

offered in not only geography but also tourism and recreation departments and institutes

of Taiwan. The paper also attempts to reveal the nature of tourism geography education

along the framework of ‘who to teach, to whom to teach, how to teach, what to teach, and

how to assess.’ It will shed light on the characteristics of tourism geography education in

Taiwan so as to help the international scholars of tourism geography gain a broader

understanding of tourism geography education in the Greater China Area.

Literature review

Hall (2013) pointed out that it was crucial to understand how knowledge in tourism geog-

raphy was propagated and how this knowledge was formed during its propagation pro-

cess. There are four dominant approaches of considering knowledge production in

tourism geography: the market of ideas, conceptions of world geography, temporal peri-

odicity, and the categorization of knowledge (Hall, 2013, p. 605). In tourism geography,

how knowledge becomes normalized, dominant, or marginal has certain relationship with

the proponent and ‘where they are located’ as well as ‘the receptors and sponsors of

knowledge’ (Hall, 2013, p. 605). Hence, we need to study the receptors and sponsors of

the knowledge of tourism geography in Taiwan, where they are located (what institutes,

departments, and faculty), and the consumers and the producers of the knowledge (faculty

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and students). How world geography knowledge classification is conceived is important

because it influences the degree of free flow of knowledge, its directional bias as well as

the impact of time on the propagation of knowledge (Hall, 2013).

Therefore, studying the current state of tourism geography education in Taiwan will

enable educators and researchers to understand how Taiwan academia responds to global

tourism geography knowledge formation, on one hand, and how tourism geography

knowledge propagates and travels, on the other hand. The key determinants in the success

of a course offering are good teaching materials, relevant course goals, assignments and

assessment instruments, and a supporting team and faculty that can encourage steady stu-

dent attendance and engagement (Che, 2009). This study was conducted using this evalu-

ation framework.

Regarding ‘who to teach’ in terms of institutes and faculty, the Guide to Geography

Programs in the Americas 2010�2011 shows that there are 76 geography departments

offering tourism geography in America (25.8% of the total number of 295 geography

departments). Also, Schwendeman’s Directory of Collegiate Geography of the U.S.

indicates that there were 34 geography departments offering tourism geography courses

in 1998, while there were only 18 in 1996 (Gaile & Willmott, 2003, p. 531). The number

of tourism geography courses offered in American geography departments almost dou-

bled during this short time span. Though tourism geography has evolved into a significant

sub-discipline in American geography departments, academic programs offering such

courses are actually few (Dornan & Truly, 2009). Moreover, not many tourism geogra-

phers are employed in geography departments, and few departments offer training in mas-

ter’s and doctoral degrees in tourism geography. This is particularly true in the big and

comprehensive universities (Gaile & Willmott, 2003).

A possible explanation for the above phenomenon is that many traditional geography

departments do not consider tourism geography as a serious science (Hall & Page, 1999),

and those who have published in tourism geography do not consider themselves as tour-

ism geographers and do not even list tourism geography as their research interest (Gibson,

2008). Also, an increasing number of tourism geographers have landed their jobs in non-

geography departments, such as tourism, recreation, and hospitality (Dornan & Truly,

2009; Hall, 2013). The interdisciplinary nature of tourism geography has also created

ample opportunities for tourism geographers (Dornan & Truly, 2009). Retirement or

departure of tourism geographers who were not replaced has caused a change in research

focus among some geographers and a shift in focus at the department or university level.

Combinations of these factors have all impacted tourism geography education (Dornan &

Truly, 2009). Even though some studies have been conducted on the teaching faculty of

tourism geography, there are still no detailed studies on the teaching faculty across

nations or areas.

Concerning ‘to whom to teach’ in terms of the student bodies in tourism geography

education, Dornan and Truly (2009) interviewed eight representative geography depart-

ments at US universities (Ball State University, Brigham Young University, Central Con-

necticut University, Eastern Michigan University, Missouri State University, Plymouth

State University, Salem State University, and Western Michigan University) that offered

tourism geography courses and found that none of the graduate degree programs had a

formal tourism track. Thus, while the bachelor’s degree programs prepare students for the

entry-level knowledge of tourism geography, the training of future teaching and research

tourism geographers is fundamentally relegated to departments that have no formal tour-

ism programs. Moreover, the above studies are primarily confined to tourism geography

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education in geography departments, lacking corresponding information in non-geogra-

phy departments such as tourism, hospitality, and recreation.

Regarding the teaching content of tourism geography courses in the matter of ‘what to

teach,’ Pearce (1981) used Canterbury University as an example and studied the charac-

teristics, contents, frameworks, and literature of its tourism geography curriculum, and

found that their tourism geography program did not have any definite plan, their teaching

contents appeared fragmented and without a holistic knowledge system, and the courses

were mostly academic rather than vocationally oriented. Adopting the ideas of Mitchell

(1969), Lavery (1974), Pearce (1979), Lu (1993), Williams (1998), etc., Ni (2005)

reviewed the developing history of tourism geography in Taiwan and noticed that the

newer research orientations included tourism industrial organization, traveling technol-

ogy, tourist gaze, nature of tourism destinations, shift of cultures, and post-tourist phe-

nomenon (Ni, 2005). However, Ni did not analyze the teaching contents of local tourism

geography in Taiwan. This paper will examine, discuss, and compare the teaching con-

tents of tourism geography in Taiwan to bridge this gap. As for the literature and text-

books used in tourism geography courses, Pearce (1981), Roehl (1999), and Lew (2001)

reviewed and introduced available textbooks and teaching materials for tourism geogra-

phy. However, little is known about textbooks used in Taiwan and we will fill this gap in

the current article.

In the matter of ‘how to teach,’ Pearce (1981) discussed how lectures, curricular semi-

nars, research topics, field studies, and case studies were used in tourism geography teach-

ing in New Zealand. Cai et al. (2001) found that an effective and successful approach of

increasing the visibility of tourism geographers’ class offering was via the use of online

resources and it needed to integrate closely with traditional teaching methods. With the

ever-expanding scale of distance education, online courses present new opportunities.

The nature of the tourism industry seems suitable for online delivery, and more and more

courses will employ the internet to enhance their practical aspects and sustainability

(Gaile & Willmott, 2003). Focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of tourism geography,

examining the relationship among tourism geography and tourism research, and compar-

ing the syllabi, fundamental concepts, framework, and objectives, Schmelzkopf (2002)

concluded that engaged learning and problem-solving activities were effective ways to

encourage students to take part in social engagements. In addition, some studies introduce

group studies, critical teaching methods, overseas practicum, fieldworks, service studies,

international collaborative learnings, etc. (Che, 2009; Lai & Wang, 2013).

In terms of ‘how to assess,’ Che (2009) discusses diverse methods including individ-

ual and team assessments, case studies, and group projects based on individual contribu-

tions and participation and peer evaluation. Present studies on international tourism

geography education are primarily on geography departments. There are hardly any stud-

ies on the state of tourism geography education in non-geography departments and insti-

tutes. There are also not many detailed studies done on tourism geography at the country

or regional levels.

In general, the research about tourism geography from the students’ perspective seems

fragmented and focuses more on bachelor’s degree education and lacks relevant studies

on junior college and postgraduate students. Regarding teaching content, there is only

one paper (Pearce, 1981) that introduces the content of the syllabus but focuses mostly on

the name of the courses being offered while overlooking the detailed content analysis of

the teaching curricula, either at the country or regional level. Reports on the assessment

methods seem fragmented, and lack in specific analysis of the syllabus contents of the

courses. In view of these limitations, this paper attempts to perform a thorough content

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analysis of the syllabi and curricula mappings of tourism geography at different program

levels in different departments and institutes to learn more about the state of tourism

geography education in Taiwan. It also aims at helping the international academia gain a

better understanding of the conditions of tourism geography education in Taiwan.

Background on the education system and faculty composition in Taiwan

A typical child in Taiwan will start his/her six years of elementary education at age seven.

At age 13, he/she will begin three years of junior high school, followed by another three

years of senior high school or senior vocational school. Higher education typically starts

at the age of 19 with four years of university education, four years of technical institute/

university of technology or two years of junior college followed by another two years of

technical institute/university of technology. Medical schools will typically take seven

years while dental schools require six years (with the last two years spent as interns in

teaching hospitals) after senior high school or senior vocational school education. Some

students choose to enter a five-year junior college after graduating from junior high

schools. The curriculum of a five-year junior college is similar to that of a vocational

school with two additional years of education. Postgraduate education is for the master’s

or doctoral degrees.

Higher education of tourism and hospitality in Taiwan has been divided into academic

higher education and technical/vocational education (technical institutes/universities of

technology, five-year junior colleges, and two-year junior colleges) (Horng & Lee, 2006).

Traditionally, the geography departments reside in the pure sciences in academic univer-

sities and almost all of the faculty members have doctoral degrees. A small number of the

faculty members without a doctoral degree are appointed as lecturers. However, some

geography departments at academic universities are expanding their scope from the pure

sciences to the applied sciences and offer more courses in tourism geography and plan-

ning to better cope with the increasing enrollment and the pressure from student job

placements. At the same time, more and more faculty members teaching and doing

research in tourism are attracted to consulting jobs in tourism from all level of govern-

ments and corporations.

On the other hand, geography departments at technical institutes and universities of

technology are more vocationally oriented and focus on applied aspects. With the tourism

industry flourishing across the Taiwan Strait, almost all the technical institutes or univer-

sities of technology have started to set up tourism management departments or offer

majors in tourism. Since many of them were upgraded from junior colleges, most teach-

ing faculty hold lower degrees, mostly master’s or even bachelor’s degrees. Given the

increasingly severe competition in finding teaching positions in academic universities,

more and more young faculty with doctoral degrees in tourism or related fields are staffed

in these institutes or universities as lecturers. Hence, the faculty composition in these

technical institutes and universities of technology is more diverse compared to their coun-

terpart in academic universities. Those faculty members with good research performance

may eventually be promoted to the assistant professor, associate professor, and full pro-

fessor ranks. Given the increasing weight placed on research when assessing postgraduate

students’ performance in Taiwan, it has become a more common practice for faculty

members and their postgraduate students to collaborate in research articles through co-

authorship. Hence, in addition to the dissemination of traditional professional knowledge

in tourism geography, more and more emphasis has been paid to research capacity build-

ing and journal article writing in the training of postgraduate students.

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Research method

Under the direction of the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, the higher educational insti-

tutions in Taiwan have established curricula mapping with course descriptions and syl-

labi that are readily available online to students and the public (Institute of Education

website: http://univ.edu.tw/). This offers us a unique opportunity to systematically col-

lect and analyze the tourism geography syllabi in Taiwan. Using the list of Taiwan

higher education institutes, this paper performed a thorough research on the curricula

mapping. To avoid omissions, the available websites of geography and tourism institutes

were also visited to gather further information on their curricula plans and related infor-

mation on the tourism geography departments, faculties, and courses offered. Detailed

information of 77 tourism geography courses offered by 62 faculty members of 49 insti-

tutes was collected. Among these are 60 detailed syllabi that allow us to perform a thor-

ough content analysis. There are some missing variables in the data as will be explained

in the annotation of the tables in the ‘Research Results’ section later. Data analysis

includes descriptive statistics and chi-square tests to better understand the overall state

of tourism geography education and to identify different relationship among different

departments and institutes, faculty information, and categories of tourism geography

courses offered at the 49 institutes.

Research results

Who to teach � tourism geography institutes and faculty

Table 1 presents the different characterization of the 77 tourism geography courses

offered by 62 faculty members in 49 higher educational institutions. Table 1 shows that

academic institutes offer 45 tourism geography courses (58.4%) while vocational insti-

tutes offer 32 (41.6%). It appears that academic institutes play a slightly more significant

role in teaching tourism geography. However, the difference is not statistically significant

at the 5% level of significance. We have also found that public institutes offer 34 tourism

Table 1. Number of courses offered by tourism geography departments in Taiwan (N = 77).

Variable Category Frequency Percentage Chi-square statistics

Orientation Academic 45 58.4 2.1948

Vocational 32 41.6

Ownership Public 34 44.2 1.0519

Private 43 55.8

Disciplines Earth and environmental science 27 35.1 66.9481�

Tourism and recreation 45 58.4

Education 4 5.2

Social and psychological science 1 1.3

Total 77 100.0

Note: The chi-square statistics are the statistics for testing the equality of proportions across different categoriesof each variable. *Differences are statistically significant at the 5% level of significance.Source: Syllabi collected by the authors.

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geography courses (44.2%), while private institutes offer 43 (55.8%). Even though private

institutes have a slightly higher percentage, the difference is again not statistically signifi-

cant at the 5% level. Across disciplines, earth and environmental science departments,

recreation and sport departments, education departments, and social and psychological

science departments offer 27, 45, 4, and 1 tourism geography course, respectively. The

difference in proportions is statistically significant. More courses are offered by earth and

environmental science, and recreation and sport departments, which reflects the interdis-

ciplinary nature of tourism geography.

Table 2. Number of faculty members in tourism and recreation geography in Taiwan (N = 62).

Variable Category Frequency PercentageChi-squarestatistics

Gender Male 44 71.0 10.9032*

Female 18 29.0

Professional title Lecturer 17 27.4 4.9677

Assistant professor 22 35.5

Associate professor 11 17.7

Professor 12 19.4

Degree Bachelor 1 1.6 43.1935*

Master 18 29.0

Doctorate 43 69.4

Academic background Geography 31 50.0 73.2581*

Tourism management 13 21.0

Park and recreation 4 6.5

Forestry 2 3.2

Biology 4 6.5

Geology 4 6.5

Other 4 6.5

Graduating institutes** Chinese Culture University 11 17.7 53.0968*

National Taiwan University 8 12.9

National Taiwan NormalUniversity

7 11.3

National Changhua University ofEducation

4 6.5

National Kaohsiung NormalUniversity

3 4.8

Kansas State University 2 3.2

Ming Chuan University 2 3.2

Note: Different stratifications of the 62 faculty members from 49 different institutes. The chi-square statistics arethe statistics for testing the equality of proportions across different categories of each variable. *Differences arestatistically significant at the 5% level of significance. **Due to space constraints, the table includes only thename of the institutes that have at least two faculty members.Source: Syllabi collected by the authors.

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Table 2 presents the different stratifications of the 62 faculty members from 49 higher

educational institutions. Males (71%) constitute a statistically significant majority of the

faculty. There is no statistically significant difference among the proportions of the differ-

ent ranks in the faculty. Regarding their academic degrees, those with a doctoral degree

make up 69.4% of the total, while those with a master’s degree comprise 29.0%. One pos-

sible explanation for this is that doctoral degrees have become a required qualification for

young faculty members to find teaching positions in Taiwan, particularly in tourism

departments and institutes that are established since 1990s. With regard to their profes-

sional background, 50% of the faculty members specialize in geography science, 27.5%

in tourism, parks, and recreation, and the remaining in biology, geology, forestry, etc.

This also reflects the interdisciplinary nature of tourism geography. As for their graduat-

ing institutions of higher education, almost 60% of the faculty graduated from the seven

institutes listed in Table 2, among which six institutes offer traditional geography courses;

this is very much similar to the overall situation in American institutes. Hence, traditional

geography institutes are still the main training grounds for tourism geography talents,

while, tourism geography, as a relatively new applied discipline, provides an extensive

employment market for graduates from traditional geography science and related sciences

such as geology, biology, and forestry graduates. All the differences are statistically sig-

nificant at the 5% level.

To whom to teach � analysis of student major disciplines and degree levels

Table 3 shows that Taiwan tourism geography departments offer 77 courses for associ-

ate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, among which 63 (81.8%) courses are

designed for associate and bachelor’s degrees, while merely 14 (18.2%) are for master’s

and doctoral degree students. A chi-square test for the relationship between degree lev-

els and disciplines shows a statistically significant relationship with a Pearson chi-

square statistic of 29.883 with a p-value of essentially 0. Tourism geography is primar-

ily taught in the recreation and sport discipline at the junior college level, in the recrea-

tion and sport as well as earth and environmental science disciplines at the bachelor’s

degree level, and in the earth and environmental science discipline at the master’s and

doctoral degree level. Hence, recreation and sport departments are the main producers

of undergraduate tourism geography students, while geography departments provide

extensive training and employment opportunities for postgraduate students of the

Table 3. Cross-tabulation analysis of tourism geography degree levels and students’ major disci-plines in Taiwan (N = 77).

Discipline

Degree level Earth and environmental science Recreation and sport Education Total

Junior college 0 9 0 9

Bachelor 15 36 3 54

Master 7 0 1 8

Doctorate 6 0 0 6

Total 28 45 4 77

Note: Pearson chi-square statistic for testing the association between degree levels and disciplines is 29.883 witha p-value = 0.000< 0.001.Source: Syllabi collected by the authors.

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discipline of geography. Some scholars point out that due to different evaluation sys-

tems of the different disciplines as well as the negative perception of traditional geogra-

phers on tourism geographers, many advanced tourism geographers have transferred

from geography departments to recreation and sport departments, which is not a healthy

phenomenon in terms of the training and sustainable development of future tourism

geographers (Dornan & Truly, 2009).

How to teach � analysis of the teaching methods

A content analysis of the teaching methods was performed based on the collected tour-

ism geography syllabi, and the major teaching methods were tabulated into lecturing,

discussion, questions and answers, academic literature reading, exams, group reports,

field studies, case studies, video watching, web-based interaction, etc., for the different

degree levels, as shown in Table 4. It can be seen that junior college students are taught

primarily through lecturing (100%) and group reports (66.7%); bachelor’s degree stu-

dents primarily through lecturing (97.3%), discussion (75.7%), and group reports

Table 4. Cross-tabulation analyses of tourism geography teaching methods and degree levels inTaiwan.

Degree level

Teaching method Junior college Bachelor Master Doctorate Total

Lecturing 6 36 6 4 52

100.0%* 97.3% 75.0% 66.7%

Discussion 2 28 5 4 39

33.3% 75.7% 62.5% 66.7%

Question and answer 2 4 1 1 8

33.3% 10.8% 12.5% 16.7%

Academic literature review 1 7 5 3 16

16.7% 18.9% 62.5% 50.0%

Testing 2 15 0 0 17

33.3% 40.5% 0% 0%

Group reports 4 27 5 4 40

66.7% 73.0% 62.5% 66.7%

Field study 1 9 2 1 13

16.7% 24.3% 25.0% 16.7%

Case study 0 7 2 2 11

0% 18.9% 25.0% 33.3%

Video watching 1 4 2 2 9

16.7% 10.8% 25.0% 33.3%

Web-based interaction 0 2 1 1 4

0% 5.4% 12.5% 16.7%

Total 6 37 8 6 57**

64.9% 14.0% 10.5% 10.5% 100.0%

Note: *The percentages stand for the percentages of the frequencies each teaching method used divided by thetotal of each degree level. **Part of the teaching methods are missing or incomplete in 20 syllabi, so the tableonly shows the summary statistics based on 57 complete syllabi.Source: Syllabi collected by the authors.

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(73.0%); master’s degree students primarily through lecturing (71.4%), discussion

(66.7%), academic literature reading (57.1%), and group reports (57.1%); and doctoral

students are taught primarily through lecturing (66.7%), discussion (66.7%), academic

literature reading (50.0%), and group reports (66.7%). Hence, it appears that the higher

the degree levels are, the less popular are the traditional teaching methods like lecturing

and testing, and the more popular are the self-motivated learning methods like discus-

sion, academic literature reading, case studies, video watching, and web-based interac-

tion. Also, the higher the degree levels are, the more diverse are the teaching/learning

methods. Lecturing, discussion, and group reports are the universally popular teaching

methods at all degree levels.

What to teach � analysis of the teaching contents

Teaching focuses

Tourism geography can be classified into general tourism geography and regional tour-

ism geography (Wu & Yu, 2010). Different types of the institutes (public and private,

academic and vocational), different disciplines (earth and environmental science, recre-

ation and sport), and different faculty will all have different teaching focuses as exem-

plified in Table 5. In terms of the different types of institutes, public and academic

universities tend to offer general tourism geography at a higher frequency, while pri-

vate vocational institutes are inclined to offer regional tourism geography more fre-

quently. As for variation across departments, earth and environmental science students

will generally be taught general tourism geography, while recreation and sport students

will generally be taught regional tourism geography. Junior college and bachelor’s

degree students are primarily taught regional tourism geography, while master’s and

doctoral degree students are taught general tourism geography. In terms of faculty’s

professional titles, lecturers and assistant professors as well as those with a non-geogra-

phy educational background tend to primarily teach regional tourism geography,

aiming to pass on knowledge about tourism resources, tourism routes in diverse tourism

areas, and cultivate students’ skills in tourism interpretation and guidance. Meanwhile,

faculty members with a doctoral degree or a geography background have a propensity

to teach general tourism geography and consider tourism geography as a branch of

geography science, passing on knowledge about diverse research themes of tourism

geography.

Even though not explicit in Table 5, public institutes gravitate toward primarily offer-

ing tourism geography courses through earth and environmental science departments.

The faculty members of these departments are generally traditionally trained in tourism

geography and they tend to perceive tourism geography as a branch of applied geography.

Naturally, they have a tendency to concentrate on the classic themes of geography science

like people, earth, environment, and place (Gaile & Willmott, 2003; Hall & Page, 2009;

Ni, 2005). At the same time, as regional study is also one of the classic themes in geogra-

phy, there tend to be courses that are offered to try to pass on knowledge about regional

tourism geography following the vein of regional geography.

On the other hand, private institutes have been establishing diverse tourism and recre-

ation departments in response to the increasing market demand. As a result, regional tour-

ism geography is primarily offered in these departments. These departments primarily

focus on vocational training and tend to offer courses on applied topics. A good portion

of the faculty of these departments directly come from tourism and recreation industries.

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Hence, they naturally offer courses in regional tourism geography in an effort to pass on

knowledge about tourist origin countries and regions, tourism resources, tourism routes,

tourism products, etc., serving tourism product designers and tour guides in travel

agencies.

Table 5. Cross-tabulation of tourism geography classification on institute, discipline, and facultytypes in Taiwan (N = 77).

Classification of tourism geography

Variable CategoryGeneral tourismgeography

Regional tourismgeography

Chi-squarestatistics

Ownership Public 25 (75.8%) 8 (18.2%) 25.525*

Private 8 (24.2%) 36 (81.8%)

Orientation Academic 30 (90.9%) 15 (34.1%) 25.065*

Vocational 3 (9.1%) 29 (65.9%)

Departments Earth and environment 27 (81.8%) 5 (11.4%) 38.540*

Recreation and sport 6 (18.2%) 39 (88.6%)

Degree levels Master 2 (6.1%) 17 (38.6%) 10.766*

Doctorate 31 (93.9%) 27 (61.4%)

Professional titles Lecturer 1 (3.0%) 16 (36.4%) 28.245*

Assistant professor 6 (18.2%) 17 (38.6%)

Associate professor 6 (18.2%) 7 (15.9%)

Professor 20 (60.6%) 4 (9.1%)

Academic Geography science 28 (84.8%) 16 (36.4%) 22.562*

background Tourism management 0 (0%) 13 (29.5%)

Parks and recreationmanagement

2 (6.1%) 3 (6.8%)

Forestry 0 (0%) 2 (4.5%)

Biology 0 (0%) 4 (9.1%)

Geology 2 (6.1%) 3 (6.8%)

Other 1 (3.0%) 3 (6.8%)

Degree levels Junior college 0 (0%) 9 (20.5%) 17.622*

Bachelor 21 (63.6%) 33 (75.0%)

Master 7 (21.2%) 1 (2.3%)

Doctorate 5 (15.2%) 1 (2.3%)

Total 33 (100%) 44 (100%)

Note: The chi-square statistics are the Pearson chi-square statistics for testing the association between each of thevariables and the classification of tourism geography. *p-value< 0.001 and, hence, there is sufficient evidence ofassociation at the 0.1% level of significance.Source: Syllabi collected by the authors.

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Teaching contents

Based on a content analysis of 60 tourism geography syllabi in Taiwan, the following 38

tourism geography teaching themes have been found: (1) tourism resource; (2) tourism

place; (3) tourism planning and policy; (4) geography of tourism destinations; (5) demand

and supply analysis; (6) tourism impacts; (7) tourism geographic element analysis; (8)

sustainability; (9) tourism supply; (10) tourism behavior; (11) ecotourism; (12) tourism

route; (13) basic concepts and definitions; (14) natural and cultural heritage tourism; (15)

tourism activity; (16) history of tourism development; (17) tourism transportation; (18)

research methods; (19) rural tourism; (20) urban tourism; (21) culture tourism; (22) life

circle of tourism destinations; (23) tourism cartography; (24) tourism interpretation; (25)

festival and event tourism; (26) tourism development and marketing; (27) coast tourism;

(28) tourist carrying capacity; (29) mountain tourism; (30) tourism mobility; (31) tourism

geographical information systems; (32) national parks and scenic zones; (33) spectacle

and sport geography; (34) island tourism; (35) tourism space competition; (36) global and

local tourism; (37) disaster and tourism; and (38) tourism experience, fully revealing the

diverse and scattered themes of tourism geography (Hall, 2005; Mitchell, 1984).

According to Table 6, the themes that junior college courses cover most include tour-

ism resource, tourism place, geography of tourism destinations, relevant tourism geo-

graphic elements, tourism transportation, and tourism cartography, showing that junior

colleges primarily adopt a regional geographical perspective to teach the knowledge of

tourist origin countries and regions, regional tourism resources, and geography knowl-

edge. Bachelor’s degree courses are concerned not only with the traditional themes of

regional geography like tourism resources, tourism places, geography of tourism destina-

tions, and relevant tourism geographic elements, but also with the classic themes of gen-

eral tourism geography like tourism planning and policy, demand and supply analysis,

tourism impact, tourism behavior, ecotourism, tourism route, concepts and definitions,

history of tourism development, and tourism activities. Master’s and doctoral degree

courses primarily cover tourism resource, tourism planning and policy, tourism destina-

tion, demand and supply analysis, tourism impact, tourism supply, sustainability, tourism

behavior, ecotourism, tourism route, etc. Even though master’s and doctoral degree

courses still follow the teaching vein of general tourism geography, they no longer focus

on the detailed knowledge of regional tourism geography. Instead, teaching themes have

become more diversified and thorough, not only adding the leading topics about ecotour-

ism, sustainability, disaster and tourism, etc., but also emphasizing the teaching of

research methods.

Analysis of the syllabi at the National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal

University, Chinese Culture University, National Kaohsiung Normal University, and

National Chiayi University reveals that topics related to the development of geographic

thought such as regional studies, behavioral geography, humanistic geography, radical

geography, cultural turn, and postmodern geography are sprouting up in various courses

and research topics at these universities.

Source of knowledge

A content analysis was conducted on the major teaching materials of tourism geography

based on author, year of publication, literature type, and literature language so as to gain

a better understanding of the knowledge source of tourism geography education in Tai-

wan. From Table 7, it is clear that Taiwan tourism geography primarily uses Chinese

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Table 6. Themes of tourism geography across different degree levels in Taiwan.

Degree level

Tourism geography teaching theme Junior college Bachelor Master Doctorate Total

Tourism resource 8 36 8 6 58

Tourism destination (place) 8 29 5 3 45

Tourism planning and policy 0 19 6 5 30

Geography of tourism destination 7 20 1 0 28

Demand and supply analysis 0 16 5 4 25

Relevant tourism geographic element 5 18 1 0 24

Tourism impact 1 15 5 3 24

Sustainability of tourism activity andenvironment

2 14 4 3 23

Tourism supply 1 12 5 4 22

Tourism behavior 1 14 4 2 21

Ecotourism 0 14 4 3 21

Tourism route 1 13 4 2 20

Definitions of tourism 0 12 3 3 18

Tourism activity 2 11 2 1 16

Heritage tourism 2 9 3 2 16

Tourist transportation 3 9 2 1 15

History of tourism development 0 12 2 1 15

Research method 0 5 4 3 12

Rural tourism 1 8 2 1 12

Urban tourism 1 8 2 1 12

Culture tourism 2 9 1 0 12

Life circle of tourism destination 0 9 2 1 12

Tourism cartography 3 8 0 0 11

Tourism interpretation 1 7 1 1 10

Festival and event tourism 2 6 1 0 9

Tourism development and marketing 1 4 2 1 8

Tourist carrying capacity 1 5 1 0 7

Coast tourism 0 4 2 1 7

Tourism mobility 1 4 1 0 6

Geographical information systems 0 4 1 1 6

Mountain tourism 1 4 1 0 6

National park and scenic zone 1 2 1 1 5

Spectacle and sport geography 0 3 1 1 5

Island tourism 1 3 0 0 4

Tourism space competition 0 3 1 0 4

Tourism globalization 0 4 0 0 4

Tourist experience 1 2 0 0 3

Disaster and tourism 1 2 0 0 3

Total 8 38 8 6 60

Note: Tabulation of the various themes in tourism geography courses across different degree levels in Taiwan.Source: Syllabi collected by the authors.

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documents as reference (70.7%) and most of them are textbooks. Among those cited,

more than 10 times are Recreation Geography by Stephen L.J. Smith (translated by Bihu

Wu) and Tourism Geography by Ming-Huei Lee. The textbooks that are cited more than

five times include Modern Tourism Geography by Yunting Lu, Tourism Geography by

Ya-Whei Shie and Tao-Lie Chu, and The Geography of Tourism and Recreation:

Environment, Place and Space by C. Michael Hall and Stephen J. Page. The textbooks

cited more than three times include An Outline of Tourism Geography by Anze Chen and

Yunting Lu, The Geography of Travel and Tourism by Brian Boniface and Chris Cooper,

Tourism Geography by Stephen Wynn Williams, Tourism Geography by Jigang Bao,

Tourism Geography in Taiwan by Hui-Chen Liu and Xu-Chu He, and An Introduction to

Tourism Geography in Taiwan by Wu-Chung Wu and Shi-Ping Fan. Basically, these text-

books are major knowledge sources of Taiwan tourism geography teaching. The

Table 7. Content analysis of the main tourism geography references in Taiwan (N = 123).

Variable Category Frequency Percentage

Language Chinese 87 70.7

English 36 29.3

Type of reference Textbooks 113 91.9

Journal articles 7 5.7

Research reports 1 0.8

Proceedings 2 1.6

Major book references* Smith (1983) 11 8.9

Lee (2000) 11 8.9

Lu (1993) 9 7.3

Chu and Shie (2006) 7 5.7

Hall and Page (1999) 5 4.1

Chen, Lu, and Chen (1999) 4 3.3

Boniface and Cooper (1987) 3 2.4

Williams (1998) 3 2.4

Bao and Chu (1999) 3 2.4

Liu and He (2008) 3 2.4

Wu and Fan (2005) 3 2.4

Cited journals Geography Journal 2 1.6

Outdoors Recreation Studies 4 3.3

Geography Studies of Taiwan NormalUniversity

1 0.8

Interval of years Within 10 years 32 29.4

of the literaturepublication

Equal and above 10 years 77 70.6

Note: Tabulation of the major teaching materials of tourism geography courses taught in Taiwan based onauthor, year of publication, literature type, and literature language. *Due to space limitations, figures are pro-vided only for literature with at least three citations.Source: Syllabi collected by the authors.

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textbooks that are cited more than three times constitute 50.4% of the total and the major-

ity of the textbooks are in Chinese, among which four were written by Taiwan scholars.

Ming-Huei Lee’s Tourism Geography (first edition in 1990) is considered as the most

influential while Hui-Chen Liu and Xu-Chu He’s Tourism Geography in Taiwan and Wu-

Chung Wu and Shi-Ping Fan’s An Introduction to Tourism Geography in Taiwan, both

written in the framework of regional tourism geography, are regional geography-focused

and widely used in tourism and recreation departments. Thus, it appears that Taiwan tour-

ism geography is taught mainly through the perspective of regional tourism geography.

Tourism Geography (first edition in 2006) by Ya-Whei Shie and Tao-Lie Chu adopts the

framework of general tourism geography. Published a bit later, the book has relatively

limited influence upon tourism geography teaching in Taiwan. Meanwhile, four of the

remaining eight textbooks are translated or edited by scholars in Mainland China, which

indicates that the academia in Mainland China has quite an influence on tourism geogra-

phy teaching in Taiwan due to the use of the same language.

Other types of teaching materials are hardly utilized in Taiwan. There are only seven

journal articles used and they are all written in Chinese, primarily published in tourism

and recreation journals. Geography journals are seldom cited, which provides another

piece of evidence to substantiate Hall and Page’s (2009) observation that geographers’

papers published in tourism and recreation journals are more easily cited than those pub-

lished in geography journals. If the publishing year of the articles is used as a measure of

recency of the knowledge source of Taiwan tourism geography education as of 2013, we

can see that the literature cited within the preceding ten years in Taiwan tourism geogra-

phy teaching hardly reach one-third (29.4%) while more than two-thirds of the articles

are those published more than ten years ago. Based on the limited number of articles

from English-language journals and the dated literature cited, we can see that Taiwan

tourism geography education pays relatively little attention to the recent development

and latest knowledge in international tourism and recreation geography.

How to assess � analysis of the assessments tools

From Table 8, it is obvious that the major assessment tools of Taiwan tourism geography

teaching include assignments, final exams, attendance, research reports, mid-term exams,

classroom participations, discussions, oral reports, and literature reading. Among them,

assignments, mid-term exams, and final exams are the major assessment tools for junior

college students, while assignments, mid-term exams, final exams, class participations,

etc., are the major assessment tools for bachelor’s degree students. Research reports,

assignments, attendance, literature reading, discussions, etc., are the major assessment

tools for master’s degree students, while assignments, attendance, research reports, dis-

cussions, etc., are the major assessment tools for doctoral students. Hence, lecturing and

supervised study are the major channels of knowledge acquisition for junior college and

bachelor’s degree students, while investigative learning and the cultivation of the research

abilities are emphasized for master’s and doctoral degree students. Meanwhile, the higher

the students’ academic levels are, the more flexible the assessment methods become, aim-

ing to foster students’ self-learning abilities and creativity.

Conclusions and discussions

The tourism discipline has flourished as a new applied geography science in the backdrop

of geography departments and institutes aiming to cope with the increasing challenges of

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students’ employment pressure. Current tourism geography education primarily focuses

on the macroscopic aspect of tourism geography education that includes directional

courses development, teaching practice, the tension between tourism geography and tour-

ism and hospitality programs, and faculty research development while relatively neglect-

ing the curriculum design and teaching pedagogy of tourism geography. Even among the

few studies conducted on the teaching curricula, the focus is primarily on the course

design of tourism geography within geography departments but not the state of teaching

tourism and recreation geography in tourism and recreation departments. Tourism geog-

raphy educational studies are primarily conducted in English-speaking countries such as

the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and Britain, whereas in Asian countries,

particularly in Chinese-speaking areas, tourism geography education has not been fully

studied though there are some discussions about tourism geography education in Main-

land China (Bao, 2002; Bao & Ma, 2011; Wu, Feng, & Zhang, 2000). As there were no

relevant studies about tourism geography education in Taiwan, this paper has filled the

gap in this area. On one hand, it will help us better understand the transmission and accep-

tance of international tourism and recreation geography in Taiwan as well as Taiwan tour-

ism geographers’ knowledge development in this field, while, on the other hand, it will

contribute to the popularization and discussions of international tourism geography

Table 8. Content analysis of the assessment tools used in Taiwan tourism geography education.

Degree level

Assessment tool Junior college Bachelor Master Doctorate Total

Assignments 6 28 6 5 45

100.0% 73.7% 75.0% 83.3%

Final exams 6 31 4 3 44

100.0% 81.6% 50.0% 50.0%

Attendance 3 24 5 5 37

50.0% 63.2% 62.5% 83.3%

Research reports 4 20 7 5 36

66.7% 52.6% 87.5% 83.3%

Mid-term exams 6 31 0 0 37

100.0% 81.6% 0% 0%

Classroom participation 3 23 3 3 32

50.0% 60.5% 37.5% 50.0%

Discussions 1 8 4 4 17

16.7% 21.1% 50.0% 66.7%

Oral reports 1 11 2 1 15

16.7% 28.9% 25.0% 16.7%

Literature reading 0 7 5 3 15

0% 18.4% 62.5% 50.0%

Total 6 38 8 6 58

10.3% 65.5% 13.8% 10.3% 100.0%

Note: Tabulation of the assessment tools used in tourism geography courses taught in Taiwan at different degreelevels. The percentage for each assessment tool at each degree level is the percentage of the total at each degreelevel. The percentages in the ‘Total’ column are the percentages of the total number of observations = 58.Source: Syllabi collected by the authors.

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education and professional knowledge. Based on the content analysis of the web-based

data about Taiwan tourism geography and the teaching syllabi of Taiwan institutes, the

following conclusions have been reached:

(1) As an applied interdisciplinary sub-discipline, tourism geography is primarily

established in earth and environmental science, and tourism and sport depart-

ments in Taiwan. The faculty is mainly composed of young lecturers or assistant

professors. They primarily graduated from geography departments of universities

in Taiwan but assume teaching positions in tourism and recreation departments,

showing that tourism and recreation geography, as a young applied discipline,

provides abundant opportunities for traditional geography science graduates. It

also demonstrates that geography science has strong vitality, flexible adaptability,

and enormous social values.

(2) Tourism and recreation geography is primarily offered at the junior college and

undergraduate level in Taiwan. When it comes to the departments that offer

courses in tourism geography, they are offered mainly in the recreation and sport

departments discipline at the junior college level; in the recreation and sport as

well as earth and environmental science disciplines at the bachelor’s degree level;

and in the earth and environmental science discipline at the master’s and doctoral

degree level.

(3) Concerning teaching methods, the higher the degree levels, the less popular are

the traditional teaching methods like lecturing and testing, and the more popular

are the self-directed learning methods like discussion, academic literature read-

ing, case studies, video watching, and web-based interaction. Also, the higher the

degree levels, the more diverse are the teaching/learning methods. Lecturing, dis-

cussions, and group reports are the universally popular teaching methods for all

degree levels.

(4) The teaching content in tourism geography in Taiwan consists of as many as 38

diverse and fragmented themes. For the junior college students, it is primarily

about the knowledge of tourism places (destinations) and tourism resources geog-

raphy from the perspective of regional geography. For bachelor’s degree students,

it is not only about the knowledge of regional tourism geography but also some

classic themes in general tourism geography. The teaching content for master’s

and doctoral degree students revolve around the vein of general tourism geogra-

phy, not only relating to the leading themes about ecotourism and sustainability

but also emphasizing the teaching of research methods. The reference literatures

are primarily in Chinese and consist mainly of textbooks whereas other types of

references like journal articles are seldom used. The referenced journal articles

are mainly from tourism and recreation journals rather than geography journals.

The reference sources are usually dated with articles within the last 10 years mak-

ing up of less than one-third of the total, while the majority of them are more than

30 years old.

(5) As for the assessment tools, junior college students are assessed primarily through

assignments, mid-term exams, final exams, etc.; bachelor’s degree students are

assessed primarily through assignments, mid-term exams, final exams, class

attendance, etc.; master’s degree students are assessed primarily through assign-

ments, research report, class attendance, academic literature reading, discussion,

etc.; and doctoral students are assessed primarily through assignments, research

report, class attendance, and discussion. The teaching methods for junior college

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and bachelor’s degree students aim primarily at knowledge transmission through

lecturing and supervised studies, while the teaching methods for master’s and

doctoral degree students aim primarily at research methodology and capacity

building for doing research.

Based on the current studies available, almost all geography departments of Taiwan

offer multiple tourism and recreation geography courses, potentially aiming at expanding

enrollments for traditional geography science students to increase students’ employment

opportunities and to meet the demands of the rapidly developing Taiwan tourism and

recreation industry since 2000. The number of tourism and recreation curricula in Ameri-

can geography departments is relatively low and the curricula are primarily designed for

bachelor’s degrees. Though some geography science departments offer research programs

for master’s degree students, the programs for tourism geography are even fewer in num-

ber. On the contrary, even though Taiwan geography departments offer few tourism and

recreation curricula for bachelor’s degree students, they offer more for master’s degree

students. On the other hand, tourism and recreation departments offer curricula mostly

for junior college and bachelor’s degree students. Due to the increased communication

and interaction between Taiwan and Mainland China and the Taiwanese people’s increas-

ingly abundant leisure time, Taiwan tourism and recreation industry has been developing

rapidly. As a result, all geography departments offer tourism and recreation curricula,

broadening the employment channels of geography science students and increasing

students’ employment possibilities. At the same time, tourism and recreation departments

offer tourism and recreation geography curricula to train tour guides as well as talents for

tourism environmental science, travel agencies, tourism institutes, non-governmental

organizations, and the public sector at the local and national levels. Students with geo-

graphic information system and remote sensing skills are also in popular demand in sub-

fields such as tourist route design and tourism planning.

Geography departments in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand offer many

curricula for bachelor’s degree students in tourism specialty areas and tourism orienta-

tion, but few for master’s degree students, while geography departments in Taiwan offer

not as many curricula for tourism specialty at the undergraduate level but relatively more

master’s degree programs. All Taiwan geography departments have added more tourism

and recreation courses in recent years in an attempt to improve geography science

students’ competitiveness in the job market and maintain the attractiveness of geography

science to increase students’ enrollment.

In terms of tourism geography teaching methods, American geography departments

make fuller use of online teaching while incorporating diverse teaching channels like

overseas practical training and service learning, while Taiwan geography departments

still rely heavily on old and traditional teaching methods and are confined primarily to tra-

ditional face-to-face classroom instructions. Different from the group-based assessment

tools that American geography departments employ to evaluate students’ academic per-

formances, Taiwan geography departments still rely on traditional assessment tools like

exams and research reports in their tourism and recreation geography courses.

This study is not without its limitation. First, although the teaching information of

Taiwan institutes is generally available online and all departments try to make available

their faculty’s background information, curricula mapping, and teaching plans, not all

departments and institutes provide the complete details and make them available online.

Thus, the sample in this study is based on the available data. Second, the online informa-

tion about Taiwan tourism geography is not very specific and incomplete at times.

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Although most departments attempt to display content about faculty teaching schedules,

curriculum descriptions, etc., some merely provide faculty personal data and contain no

information on the curriculum teaching plans. Hence, the analyses are based only on

information collected on the faculty and the curriculum syllabi. Third, it seems valuable

to conduct tourism geography education investigation in the Greater China Area, includ-

ing Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao. Through comparative studies, international

scholars of tourism geography can gain a better understanding of the process of knowl-

edge acceptance, transmission and communication of Taiwan tourism geography educa-

tion, and the characteristics of Taiwan tourism geography education.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank two anonymous referees for their insightful and meticulous comments onan earlier draft of the paper. All remaining errors are ours.

Funding

The first author was supported by Shandong University Postdoctoral Program [grant number111291], Shandong University at Weihai [grant number 2011SHYQ010] and Shandong ProvincialSocial Science Foundation [grant number 09CSHZ11].

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Book.

Notes on contributors

Guosheng Han is an associate professor of tourism geography in the College of Business, Shan-dong University (Weihai) and postdoctoral researcher at the School of Philosophy and SocialDevelopment, Shandong University. He received his doctorate degree in tourism geography andplanning at the School of Geography of Nanjing University in 2011 and now teaches mainly tourismand recreation geography, tourism development and planning and introduction to tourism. Hisresearch interests focus on the history and development of tourism and recreation in Greater China.

Pin Ng is a professor of economics and W. A. Franke Professor in the W. A. Franke College ofBusiness, Northern Arizona University. He is also a chair professor at the School of Economics,Anhui Univeristy. He teaches mainly business statistics, econometrics and managerial economicsat the Northern Arizona University. His research interest spans across econometrics, computationalstatistics, urban and rural economics, international finance, and tourism and leisure study. The

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major theme of his research has been the computational aspects of quantile regression and applica-tions of quantile regression technique to interdisciplinary research.

Yingjie Guo is currently a lecturer and a doctoral student at the School of Foreign Languages atShaanxi Normal University (Xi’an). He teaches mainly creative writing, advanced English, and con-temporary American literature. His research interest spans across world literature, comparative liter-ature, and tourism and leisure study. The theme of his research concerns British and Americanliterature, English teaching methodology, and the study of tourism and recreation in Greater China.

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