Chinese philosophy and tourism development: A case study of Hangzhou

Purpose – This study aims to evaluate the correlation of Chinese philosophy to the process of tourism development. The current Chinese philosophy involves three influential ideologies: Chinese Confucianism, Chinese communism and Western capitalism, which significantly affect people's perspectives, behaviors and importantly, the whole tourism system. Design/methodology/approach – This study conducted 47 semi-structured in-depth interviews through field visits, in order to understand people's perspectives and social interactions in the tourism development process. The case study is based on the Hubin Street Project of Hangzhou, China. Findings – The study finds that all three ideologies in Chinese philosophy have strong influences in the decision making processes of tourism development. They result in a relatively centralized decision-making power centre, and increasing decentralized needs from the society. Research limitations/implications – This research helps to understand the reasons for social actions in China's tourism development from a different perspective, the philosophy. The study gives implications for other researches to further explore the relationship between ideologies and behavior. Originality/value – The influences of Chinese philosophy to social actions could be even more complicated. More case studies could reflect different situations and more in-depth views.