Although existing studies on tourism geography cover the aspect of tourism geography education in China, they are often in generalities and lack comprehensive empirical research on faculty strength, educational levels, curriculum systems, and teaching content. Among the 97 institutions of higher education and 44 scientific research institutes listed on the website of the Geographical Society of China, 62 institutions offering tourism geography majors or courses are selected as samples of the study. Information concerning faculty, recruitment, program offerings, and curriculum and courses on the official websites of these institutions is analyzed in this study and findings are as follows: (1) since the 1980s, the national and local demands for tourism development and planning in China have offered the discipline of geography abundant opportunities to play a role in socioeconomic practices, directly giving birth to an applied branch of geographical science, i.e. tourism geography. (2) Academic research on tourism geography by national research institutions and geography departments of comprehensive universities, coupled with the cultivation of high-level talents, has not only cultivated high-quality faculty teams but has also driven geography departments of local institutions of higher education to transform the education of the discipline. These local institutions have renamed the departments to expand disciplinary connotations and have added new majors to expand enrollment. (3) Under the reference system of geography, tourism geography is subdivided into general, regional, and applied tourism geography. Consequently, teaching content becomes more hierarchical, refined, and in-depth, further enhancing the quality of tourism geography talent cultivation. (4) The knowledge sources and structural evolution of tourism geography reflect the alignment of tourism geography curriculum in China with the international research system as well as the summarization of the latest theoretical achievements derived from Chinese tourism geography practices. This study facilitates a systematic understanding of the characteristics and values of China's tourism geography education among domestic and international geographical and tourism academic communities.