Since 1978, tourism geography research in China has been characterized by "the gradual improvement of theoretical framework, the strengthening of applied research, the maturity of research methods, the wide application of new technologies, the comprehensive multidisciplinary research, and the expansion of international academic exchanges." Based on the newest research and development of the tourism geography in China and current national and social needs, the new research topics of tourism geography in China were discussed in this article. The topics include: the pattern and evolution of tourism destination system, mechanism of tourism development in the context of the differentiation of natural and humanities environment, tourism ecological civilization construction and regional tourism resources protection and utilization, the regional pattern of tourists flow and behavior and a "dual circulation" development pattern, the spatial-temporal relationship between tourism and regional development and the mechanism of balanced development, geography factor in the high quality development of Chinese tourism industry, tourism destination multi-source information integration and decision support system construction.

In the era of mass tourism, the development of China's tourism industry is entering a period of great change and adjustment, which requires us to re-examine the transformation of China's tourism geography research based on the basic national conditions of China's tourism industry. The paper holds that the internationalization of tourism geography research in China is an important trend, and this internationalization also promotes the process of research localization to a certain extent. On the whole, the research of tourism geography with Chinese characteristics should be rooted in the major needs of tourism industry to realize the transformation. In terms of the research object, it should be expanded from the research of typical tourism destination to the research of optimization of recreation space. In terms of research focus, it should be gradually transformed from the study of tourism elements to the study of process simulation and the prediction of complex regional system of tourism destination. In terms of research paradigm, it should be further improved from the disconnection between existing theoretical research and planning practice to the effective link of "theoretical research-planning practice-policy application". In this process, foreign tourism geography research can provide important reference for China's tourism geography research.

In the context of the rapid development of China's tourism industry, tourism geography research has always been integrated with national strategic needs, providing crucial theoretical support for China's tourism industry practice. Chinese tourism geographers have made a noticeable impact in this process, with tourism being a meaningful way to transform the advantages of resources and environment into ecological and economic benefits under the support of the critical concept of "Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains Are Invaluable Assets" by establishing a mechanism to realize the value of ecological products and building a policy and institutional system to transform lucid waters and lush mountains into invaluable assets. By establishing a mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products, tourism development has become an essential means for backward regions to get rid of poverty. The measurement and analysis of the multidimensional poverty reduction effect of tourism can help identify poverty more accurately, and then study the multidimensional poverty reduction effect of tourism development on the economy, society, culture, and environment of impoverished regions. Through the research on the evolution of tourism spatial patterns under the influence of transportation in the new era, the differences in tourism influence regions, and the spatial behavior of tourism transportation, we can provide some theoretical support for sustainable and high-quality development tourism transportation. Facing the national strategic needs and work priorities, tourism geography research practice is both an effective combination with national conditions and a broad academic world.

Cross-culture, cross-discipline, and cross-field research in tourism geography has become a new trend. How we promote multi-culture, multi-discipline, and multi-field research has become a key issue in tourism geography research that needs to be solved urgently. This article focuses on the cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and cross-field perspectives of tourism geography research. Firstly, the importance of cross-culture communication in tourism geography research from a macro level is discussed. Secondly, the explanatory power of cross-discipline research in the phenomenon of tourism geography from the disciplinary level is demonstrated. Finally, the unique role of cross-field research in exploring new trends in tourism development from the field level is analyzed. This article holds that the focuses of Chinese tourism geography research should adhere to the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and diversity; closely integrate with China's economic and social development practices in the new era; and develop tourism geography with Chinese characteristics.

The industrial attributes of tourism determine the practicality of tourism geography research. In the process of supporting the national strategy and the demand of industrial practice, the subject of tourism geography in China presents new characteristics in research fields, methods, and applications. This paper summarized and prospected the topics of tourism planning, tourism resources, tourism big data, and tourism experimental methods. We found that (1) Tourism planning is an important perspective to understand the development of tourism geography research. The knowledge domain of tourism planning mainly includes 12 aspects, such as tourism development strategies and countermeasures, tourism industry and tourism enterprises, rural tourism and rural revitalization, etc. (2) The general investigation of culture and tourism resources in the new era faces important practical needs such as protection and integrated utilization, which brings new propositions for the study of tourism geography, including connotation, classification and evaluation of cultural tourism resources, information integration and application of the investigation, as well as investigation technology and organization mode. (3) New features of big data require tourism geography to explore new scientific issues. More attention should be paid on the norms of statistical measurement model and index rules of tourism big data, data ethics and information cocoons, geographical effect and spatial pattern of tourism big data. (4) Experimental research methods promote the change of tourism research from description to interpretation and prediction at epistemological level, from survey to direct measurement at methodology level, which provide a path for understanding the key scientific issues of human and land relations in tourism situation. Therefore, with the strategic requirements and the development trend of tourism of the new era, tourism geography should strengthen industry practices, research methods, and disciplines intersection to support national strategies and regional social and economic development.

The tourism sector — once thought as a highly resilient industry that has seen immense growth in the past few decades and was envisioned to continue on this trajectory in the coming decades — has been faced with intense challenges since 2020 due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, numerous key issues that were originally considered in tourism geographies remain relevant — if not more so as a result of this global pandemic. This paper reviews the major areas of research in tourism geographies in the recent decade as a signal of what kinds of emphasis the subdiscipline should focus on in the coming decades. These include tourism's impact, influence, and relationships with sustainable development goals; climate change; making "better tourism" in the post-Covid world; shifting geographical dimensions of tourism in recent and coming decades; and the rapidly emerging digitalization of tourism services and social media's influence on tourism. From being marginalized in comparison to work and other subdisciplines in Geography, the pandemic has shown in numerous ways that leisure and tourism was never peripheral to begin with — it serves as an important economic industry, as much as it contributes to people's social well-being and imaginations of happiness. As tourism geographers, this offers numerous pressing research areas that must now be looked into.