In the course of the development of the last century, the tourist
orientation of Zhaoqing, a famous tourist city of China,
has experienced three major stages. At the first stage, from the 1950s to 1970s, Zhaoqing was vividly orientated as the "Eastern Geneva". At the second stage, from 1979 to the beginning of the 1990s, Zhaoqing was orientated as one of the domestic scenic spots. At the third stage, from 1992 to 2000, Zhaoqing was orientated as "Garden Tourist City" by the municipal Party committee and government of Zhaoqing under the objective of constructing outstanding tourist city of China. With the tourism development at home and abroad in the new century, the tourist
orientation of Zhaoqing is schemed as follows: based on the frame of "Garden Tourist City" and the connotation of
ecological culture and Lingnan culture, Zhaoqing will be constructed as a major domestic tourist city and international ecological city, forming the famous vocational area with the characteristics of "Ecological Tourist Starting Region" and "Ecological Exemplary Region" combining recreation, relaxation, shopping and conference between the two famous tourist markets of "Zhaoqing, Guangzhou, Yunfu, Zhuhai, Hongkong and Macao Tourist Region" and "the Xijiang Tourist Corridor". To demonstrate the validity of the new tourist orientation of Zhaoqing, the tourist resources and markets of the city are analyzed.