Progress and prospect of research on coastal resorts

Abstract

Coastal resort plays an important role in the world’s marine economy and has always been one of the core topics of international tourism research. The increasing intensity of human activities has seriously threatened the stability of coastal ecosystems and the sustainable development of coastal resorts. Based on the literature from 1991 to 2021 in China and internationally, this article systematically reviewed and discussed the research progress of coastal resort using quantitative and qualitative methods, and suggested the key directions of future research. From 1991 to 2021, the research of coastal resort is closely related to the development of this industry. Some progresses have been made in the industrial development and transformation of coastal resort, the interactions between coastal resort and natural environment, perception and behavior of holidaymakers, and sustainable governance of communities. However, previous studies often had the following insufficiencies: weak theoretical basis, traditional research content, and insufficient application of big data methods. The focus of future research should include four aspects: sustainable development theory of coastal resorts; coordinated development and adaptive governance of complex tourism regional system in coastal resorts; risk management and resilience enhancement of coastal tourism industry under complex international and domestic situations; and the application research of coastal tourism resort using big data, new method, and new technology.