Study of Conceptual Framework of Tourism Temporal Planning

Space-orientated tourism planning answers questions like what tourism resource do we have,which kind of resource could be turned into tourism projects and where those projects layout, and play an important role in the initial stage and the rapid development stage of tourism development. While the core issue of tourism planning is changed from Attraction to Quality of Experience, due to the ignoring of temporality, the new issue could not be solved under the framework of space- oriented tourism planning in the advanced stage of tourism development. Based on the studies of tourists' temporal-spatial behavior, this paper attempts to explore a conceptual framework of Tourism Temporal Planning. First of all, the concept of tourism product is discussed as the logical starting point in the conceptual framework of tourism temporal planning. The value orientation of tourism temporal planning is compared with traditional space-oriented tourism planning. Space-oriented planning gives priority to efficiency as the value orientation, while tourism temporal planning adheres to the peopleoriented value orientation from the perspective of a temporal- spatial product view, standard tourist behavior is considered a tourism product and forms the main logic line in the theoretical framework of tourism temporal planning. From the perspective of temporal- spatial unity view, concepts such as constraints and space-time path, of time-geography are used as the main method and tool of analysis of tourism temporal planning. From the perspective of the temporal- spatial resource view, affordance theory is introduced to be the bridge between subjective behavior and objective environment as it emphasises the cognition of human beings. Based on time geography, affordance theory and tourists behavior studies, this paper sets up a conceptual framework of Tourism Temporal Planning consisting of a concept and core contents system. The definition of tourism temporal planning is put forward clearly with six main contents in the original conceptual framework. As tourism temporal planning is a dynamic open framework, there will be more contents from more case studies in the future. Those six core contents deduced theoretically are tourism temporal product planning, tourism dynamic simulation planning, tourism resource temporal evaluation, tourism market time- division investigation, tourism market timing planning, tourism temporal interpretation planning. At the end, the paper we discuss the practical significance and the applicable conditions of Tourism Temporal Planning. Tourism temporal planning can be a new planning theory and method for tourism attraction and tourism destination upgrading, while making tourism planning development more scientific. Also, the relationship between Tourism Temporal Planning and traditional space- oriented tourism planning is discussed. This paper emphasizes that Tourism Temporal Planning is a complement to space-oriented tourism planning both in terms of planning method and in the content of planning, rather than a new separate planning system.