Tourism research in China: Insights from insiders

•We report on a survey of tourism research by Chinese scholars residing in China.•We analyzed publications in four Chinese tourism journals.•We interviewed seven members of CTA’s academic committee.•Most of the earlier tourism research in China is applied work.•Tourism research in China is expected to contribute to global tourism knowledge.

This paper presents an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of tourism research by Chinese scholars residing in China, through analyzing Chinese journal publications and conducting interviews with members of the academic committee of the China Tourism Academy (CTA). There has been an imbalance in the type of research on tourism in China: most research has reflected applied work whereas little priority has been given to theory development. In addition to this imbalance, tourism research in China still faces challenges such as the academic development of tourism researchers and the raising of the status of research on tourism to a level in line with research in other academic disciplines. Mastering cutting-edge research methods is also critical to helping China’s tourism scholarship.