Cross-Border Tourism on the Russian–Chinese Border in 2014–2019: Customization of the Service Sectors of Border Cities for Chinese Tourists

E. V. Mikhailova ()
Additional contact information
E. V. Mikhailova: University of Geneva

Regional Research of Russia, 2021, vol. 11, issue 3, 349-360

Abstract: Abstract The article examines cross-border tourism and changes in the tourism industry that occurred at the Russian–Chinese borderland since 2014. Using two city pairs—Blagoveshchensk/Heihe and Khabarovsk/Fuyuan—as case studies, the article reveals that owing to the altered structure of tourist flows after the 2014 devaluation of the ruble, Russian and Chinese border cities have customized their services for Chinese tourists. Fieldwork data and data collected from the media analysis allowed mapping the service sector openness of border cities and demonstrating that central districts of border cities concentrate the majority of businesses catering to clients from the neighboring state. This finding confirms the role of central districts of border cities as thermometers of cross-border dynamics as they react first to fluctuations in exchange rates and tourist flows. Based on an assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cross-border flows and the tourism industry at the Russian–Chinese borderland, it was concluded that an earlier reorientation towards domestic tourists (after 2014) allowed Heihe and Fuyuan to be more prepared for the next external shock. The tourism industry in Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk suffered significant losses and found itself in a situation of high uncertainty, in which it was impossible to predict the timing of resumed arrivals of Chinese tourists.

Keywords: cross-border tourism; Russian–Chinese border; customization of the service sector; Russian Far East; Northeast China; border cities; devaluation of the ruble; Chinese tourists (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1134/S2079970521030096 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:rrorus:v:11:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1134_s2079970521030096

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... cience/journal/13393

DOI: 10.1134/S2079970521030096

Access Statistics for this article

Regional Research of Russia is currently edited by Vladimir M. Kotlyakov and Vladimir A. Kolosov

More articles in Regional Research of Russia from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().