Tourism resources are the basic conditions for developing tourism. Without characteristic tourism resources, it is impossible to develop tourism. Because tourism is a new industry, compared with the traditional concept of resources, tourism resources are much more complicated in content and composition, and its exact definition is difficult to form a unified expression at home and abroad at present, but it can usually be divided into narrow and broad categories. The so-called narrow sense of tourism resources refers to various factors that can effectively create and maintain the attraction to tourists, including natural factors, social factors and human factors. Tourism resources in a broad sense should include all the elements that can promote and produce tourism attraction.
Tourism resources in a narrow sense are simply considered from the perspective of tourism behavior. According to the traditional view, it can be divided into natural landscape resources, human landscape resources, customs and habits resources, traditional food resources, cultural resources, handicrafts resources and urban and rural scenery resources. From the perspective of modern tourism, it can be divided into sightseeing tourism resources, holiday tourism resources, eco-tourism resources, special tourism resources and special tourism resources. According to the causes or attributes, tourism resources can be divided into two categories: natural tourism resources and humanistic tourism resources. Natural tourism resources refer to all kinds of natural landscapes composed of topography, water, climate, animals and plants and other natural geographical and environmental factors, which have obvious natural attributes; Humanistic tourism resources are extensive and rich, such as various historical sites, characteristic buildings, ethnic customs, characteristic traditions and so on. These resources are the artistic crystallization and cultural achievements formed by people's long-term activities in a specific environment. Tourism resources in a narrow sense are the premise of the existence and development of tourism, the material basis of tourism, the object of tourism and the basic elements of tourism products and activities. Therefore, a certain element of tourism resources needs to meet the following conditions: first, it is attractive to tourists and can stimulate their travel impulse; Second, it is available. With the change of tourists' travel hobbies and habits, the inclusive scope of this factor can be continuously expanded; Third, the development of resources can produce enough economic, social and environmental benefits to ensure the sustainability of development and utilization.
Tourism resources in a broad sense cover all aspects of tourism, and tourism resources in a narrow sense are only the occurrence of tourism behavior. In fact, before the emergence of tourism, there were a large number of supporting tourism resources, such as transportation resources, scientific and technological resources, market (tourist source) resources, capital resources and so on. Tourism must first solve the problem of tourists' access, which requires certain transportation facilities, and inconvenient transportation will greatly reduce the attraction to tourists. Take Huangshan Scenic Area as an example. Before the opening of Hefei-Huangshan Expressway, it took 7-9 hours for Hefei to go to Huangshan and 3 days for Hefei to go back and forth. If it takes two days to go back and forth, you need to go up the mountain at 3-4 pm the day before and down the mountain at noon 12 the next day. I can only play in the mountains for two short days, and it is already afternoon 10 when I return to Hefei. Therefore, although Huangshan Scenic Area is very attractive, it is less attractive to tourists because of the long round-trip time. However, after the opening of Hehuang Expressway, it can take three hours to go directly from Hefei to Huangshan. General tourism teams can go up the mountain for sightseeing around noon 12, go down the mountain the next day 12, and return to Hefei at 6-7 pm, which will increase the effective tourism time of the scenic spot by more than 40%. Because of the convenient transportation, a "one-day tour" of Huangshan Mountain was developed, that is, starting early in the morning, arriving at the scenic spot at 9 ~ 10, descending the mountain around 5 pm, and returning to Hefei around 10 in the afternoon. The effective sightseeing time in the scenic spot is basically the same as the two-day tour, so it is very popular. Market (tourist source) resources are the basis for the survival of tourism. Without a stable source of tourists, tourist attractions cannot be maintained for a long time. Since the 1990s, with the strong support of relevant government departments, the characteristic agricultural products planting industry has been developed in Sangang, a suburb of Hefei. After years of efforts, its characteristic agricultural products planting industry has gained a certain popularity in Hefei market. Gradually, urban residents spontaneously made friends in this area, and the local government departments guided them in time, and gradually launched a characteristic farmhouse tour with the theme of picking local dishes. Through the joint efforts of transportation departments, Hefei's bus lines have been extended to this area, and it has cultivated stability with convenient transportation and pollution-free characteristic aquaculture.
With the changes of the times, the concept of tourism resources is constantly updated and expanded, and more and more fields are included in the category of tourism resources. For example, with people's growing concern for health, health tourism has become popular, and centenarians in some longevity towns have visited, Chinese herbal medicine museums, "forest baths" and "sunbathing" have quietly emerged. Participatory tourism activities are not limited to skating, skiing, surfing and swimming. There are also projects such as sand skiing, grass skiing, flying kites and farm work. Tourism activities are not limited to the ground, but have begun to develop underwater and high altitude: for example, flying by plane or airship and enjoying the scenery; Diving to see the underwater world; Even the invitation for space travel has become a reality; The satellite monitoring and control centers in Xi 'an, Jiuquan and xichang satellite launch center are also partially open to tourists and become new tourist attractions; Large-scale comprehensive tourist cities with beautiful environment, modern high-tech and profound cultural connotation also have a tendency to continue to expand. Some factors that are not tourism resources now are likely to become active tourism resources in the future.
In modern tourism, people generally pay more attention to tourism resources in a narrow sense, and list them as tourism resources, rather than market (tourist source) resources, infrastructure resources, scientific and technological resources and capital resources. Although there is some truth in this, it also has considerable limitations. In order not to cause ambiguity, the following discussion on tourism resources refers to tourism resources in a narrow sense, and other resources become auxiliary tourism resources.