Prof. Liu Wei
Department of Tourism
Guangzhou municipal Finance & Trade Management Institute

GM Tian Yutang
Tian Yuan Resort
Beijing, P.R.China

The international tourism industry began to develop very quickly. It has replaced the traditional industry such as petroleum industry, steel industry, automobile industry etc., to become the greatest industry in the 20th century.

In the 21st century, The framework of the international tourism industry has been changed greatly, one of which is the traditional tourism for the purpose of sightseeing has given its seat to holiday-making for the purpose of leisure, relaxation, health, entertainment. Under such background, the international resort industry that provides service to holiday-makers will gain an unprecedented development full of vitality.

Up to now, the development of the international resort has had a history of several hundred years, however it is only in the latter half century that the industry got a large-scale development. After World WarⅡ, the world is in a relative peace period. The society, economy got a full speed unprecedented development. The revolution of traffic industry created a very good condition for the development of the international tourism industry including the resort industry. In the developed countries such as Europe and the U.S., holiday-making has become a kind of fashion and irresistible trend. Statistics shows that early in 1983 the rate of holiday-makers to the population in France is 58%. In1985, it is 57.1% in West Germany and higher than 70% in the United King. There were 14.9 million people going abroad for holiday-making, the ratio is 98.3% to all the people who go abroad for travelling in 1985, especially in July and August. Up to 75% of the people went to the Mediterranean to make holiday; It is also true in America, about 27.18 million people went abroad for travelling, of which 59% were holiday-makers.

The true development of tourism in China dates back to about 20 years after the Reform and open-door policy, and it is only in recent years that the resort industry began to develop. Although China's resort industry started to develop very late, the development speed is very astonishing. Up to now, there are already more than 1000 resorts big or small. How to run these resorts is a very practical and important theme that every investor and manager has to confront. It is of great significance to direct the operation by studying the development trend of the international resort and its management in the 21century.