A phenomenological explication of guanxi in rural tourism management: A case study of a village in China

Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology in tourism studies as well as Heidegger's concept of being-in-the-world, this paper reveals how tourism can and should be done in a Chinese rural village. This research contributes a contextual interpretation of guanxi in Chinese rural tourism development through an empirical study of a traditional agricultural village in China that has been transformed through tourism development. The paper argues that for the Chinese indigenous residents who are the primary actors engaged in tourism, guanxi is, neither a Confucian political ideal nor an instrumental tool, but the specific manner in which they dwell in their place. It demonstrates how the tourist destination, landscape and managerial regulation have been modified and adapted in a guanxi way. The paper suggests that an emic understanding of guanxi and the roles it plays in tourism participants' daily life is warranted and can provide a more holistic picture of tourism development in rural China.     

国内乡村旅游研究:蓬勃发展而有待深入

从现有的研究资料看，我国目前的乡村旅游研究主要集中在以下五个方面：乡村旅游概念；乡村旅游开发意义、条件和模式；乡村旅游规划与设计；乡村旅游存在问题和发展策略；国外和台湾乡村旅游发展的经验借鉴。虽然我国乡村旅游研究近年来发展迅速，也取得了不少有价值的研究成果，但整体上研究水平不高，许多方面都有待深入。     

Segmentation by motivation for rural tourism activities in The Gambia

In The Gambia, as in many other African countries, rural areas rarely profit from the turnover earned in the country's tourism sector. In academic and political literature, however, rural tourism is frequently identified as a diversification strategy that may trigger local economic development in remote communities. To promote rural tourism development, further knowledge is required to understand why tourists are motivated to engage in distinct tourism market segments. In this study, survey data was collected from 450 tourists in The Gambia using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was constructed to identify the key characteristics and motivations of tourists so that the significant market segments could be categorized and the (latent) tourist demand for rural tourism activities could be gauged. This study identified four distinct segments of tourists in The Gambia: heritage & nature seekers, multi-experiences seekers, multi-experiences & beach seekers, and sun & beach seekers. Drawing on our key findings, we conclude by identifying a development path that could diversify Gambia's tourism sector. The development path would also include event-based rural tourism initiatives that align with the motivations of the identified market segments and may additionally benefit rural communities by reducing economic leakage rates.     

Elite circulation in Chinese ethnic tourism

Chinese ethnic tourism has grown rapidly alongside national goals to eradicate poverty by 2020, but not without concern. This study analyzes the rise and evolution of ethnic tourism elites (n = 29) in three minority villages of southwest China. Linking Elite Circulation Theory to ethnographic work in the region since 2013, findings highlight a differentiable conversion of ethnic tourism and other resources fueling 1) individuals' rise to power, and 2) shifts characterizing elite positioning across political, traditional, economic, and educational fields. The study proposes a framework for understanding elite-led tourism, conceptualizing elite circulation in rural China according to evolving attributes of elite groups competing for increased rights and capital within ethnic tourism systems.     

Social disruption theory and crime in rural communities: Comparisons across three levels of tourism growth

The study compares rural tourism places under different growth levels in terms of crime effects. Adopting social disruption theory, the study hypothesized that average crime rates would differ for tourism counties with different growth levels, and that high growth tourism counties would experience the greatest increase in average crime rates. The study used data from a sample of rural Colorado tourism communities. Results partially supported the hypothesis and confirmed some results of the relationships between rapid growth and crime identified in previous boomtown studies. The results of the study provide useful insights to public leaders and policy makers engaged in processes of evaluating alternative tourism growth strategies for their community.     

Rural tourism in China

In the latest two decades, Rural Tourism (RT) has speedily developed and become an important concept of tourism in China. However, there remains little understanding in the western world about RT for its special role in China’s rural socio-economic regeneration. This paper represents an attempt to analyze six different models of RT development. More specifically, the collective imagery of “Nong jia le” (Happy Farmer Home) tourism, a Chinese version of rural tourism, is examined. The findings of this study not only highlight the widely-held beliefs about the important role of RT but also identify a number of related problems and challenges facing its sustainable and healthy development in future, which hopefully would stimulate the interest for further studies in this area.     

The impacts of world cultural heritage site designation and heritage tourism on community livelihoods: A Chinese case study

This article examines how cultural heritage conservation, often reflective of Western values, impacts local sustainable livelihoods (SL) in a living cultural heritage site. The article argues for the modification of the SL framework for analysing cultural heritage tourism through including an explicit focus on the transforming structures and processes of local livelihoods in Fujian tulou, China, a World Cultural Heritage Site. Drawing on data collected through in-depth interviews, non-participatory observations, and secondary sources, findings show that changes related to tourism development and heritage conservation can reduce the sustainability of livelihoods in living heritage sites. Tulou clusters tend to be regarded as tourist attractions and cultural relics rather than lived-in places. Traditional livelihoods have been affected as residents are forced to adapt to the demands of tourism. This research helps to expand the SL theory by incorporating cultural heritage capital and community self-organisation, and highlighting residents' self-controlled capacity toward assets.     

Tourism and Transport Relationships: The Suppliers' Perspective in Gateway Destinations in New Zealand

This paper provides a supply-side perspective on how tourism development might be fostered by enhancing the links between tourism and transport. This question is explored by identifying issues raised by tourism suppliers relating to the Cook Strait ferry services between Wellington and Picton (New Zealand) and examining how visitation in these two gateways might be developed so that they have more of a destination function. Five major themes emerged; “the characteristics and products of contrasting places”; “sales and marketing”; “the implications of ferry cancelations”; “fast ferry speed restrictions and environmental impacts”; and “threats and opportunities from the creation of another gateway ferry port in Clifford Bay”. The question of destination development is thus extended by focusing on ferries, a less commonly studied mode of transport, drawing on the perspectives of tourism suppliers, stakeholders whose voice is rarely heard in the transport and tourism literature; and in studying places with multiple nodal functions.     

新乡村经济精英在乡村旅游中的形成和作用机制研究——以虎跳峡徒步路线为例

文章从乡村精英的性质、特点等方面对这一特殊阶层做出初步分析,以虎跳峡徒步路线地区为例,分析受益于乡村旅游的发展,脱胎草根而非传统权力社会的新乡村经济精英的形成及其在乡村旅游中的地位,探索应如何更好地发挥他们的作用,从而带动欠发达地区乡村旅游业的发展,并为整个社区带来更大的福利.结论指出,中国欠发达地区的乡村需要培育和支持新乡村经济精英,虎跳峡徒步路线发展乡村旅游的模式值得其他欠发达地区借鉴.该案例研究对社会学领域的社会分层理论和人类学领域的旅游涵化理论都具有一定的借鉴意义.     

Conflict in tourism development in rural China

This paper explores the phenomenon of conflict in tourism development in rural China. Four cases were selected and analyzed as part of this exploration. The study identified eight major conflict issues: land expropriation, ticket revenue distribution, vending rights, tourism management rights, house demolition, house building, entry restrictions, and village elections. The conflict evolution process indicates that these issues are dynamic and connected rather than static and isolated. Local government was found to be the most important conflicting party for local people due to its authority and economic interests in tourism development. In addition, an often-ignored conflicting party, villagers' committees, was found to have limitations in maintaining local people's interests. The findings of this study shed light on this complicated and sensitive tourism conflict phenomenon in rural China. A couple of practical implications for local authorities and UNESCO are outlined at the end of the paper.     

Influential factors in agrarian households' engagement in rural tourism development

To understand the most significant factors that influence agricultural households' decision whether or not to work in rural tourism in China, this study applies Elinor Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) extension model. It also constructs a model of influence consisting of five key variables: land consolidation, market characteristics, institutional arrangements, farming household's understanding of tourism, and household information. Based on a binary logistic regression model, the results indicate that market characteristics and cognition have direct positive influences, and the source of household income has a negative influence, on farmers' willingness to be involved in providing tourism services. Results also indicate that there is no difference between farmers who work in tourism and those who do not in terms of risk assessment, but there are significant differences among other factors. Finally, some implications are provided to optimize rural tourism development.     

基于地方实践的旅游发展与乡村振兴:逻辑与案例

我国长期以来存在城乡发展不均衡和乡村发展不充分的问题。新时代背景下",乡村振兴"战略直面乡村社会发展困境,以乡村的多维发展重塑合理的新型城乡关系。文章基于对旅游发展推动乡村振兴内在逻辑的探讨,借助傣族园村寨、双廊村、天龙村、落水村和明月村等多案例研究,具体分析旅游推动乡村在不同维度上的振兴实践,研究认为:旅游发展为乡土空间重聚发展主体,将各类经济生产要素注入乡村,实现乡村在经济层面的产业结构多元化和空间多功能化,文化层面的物质文化保存与修复和精神文化的调适与再造,治理层面的内生自组织治理优化和网络治理的构建与深化,有效缓解甚至逆转乡村多重危机;同时,旅游发展在推动乡村各层面发展的过程中释放乡村居民的自主性,构建地方和外部力量的互动场域,共同推动乡村实现"新内生性发展"和持续振兴。研究有助于进一步理解旅游发展与乡村振兴的多元内在关系,为我国乡村地区尤其是西部地区的乡村振兴和贫困消除提供指导。     

Implementing sustainable tourism in Scotland: an interview

In China, sites categorised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites are commonly used as a means of economic regeneration through tourism development. This study is of a recent addition to the list, the diaolou (fortified tower houses) of Kaiping, Guangdong, in South China. This rural zone, characterised by past emigration and farming, is in the early stages of tourism development. The study, based on interviews and a survey, permits findings to be compared with other rural areas in China such as Hungcun and the Tangyue Arches of Bao Village in Anhui, and thus while similarities in attitudes are found, in Kaiping differences exist whereby tourism has been found to permit entrepreneurial activities while retaining an agricultural base as the “new tourism rich” employ others to continue farming. The work is contextualised within a model of evolving literature related to tourism impacts on communities. The paper explores a range of issues in sustainable tourism, including the use of tourism as a tool for social, economic and cultural development, holistic approaches to heritage tourism, and the development of glocalisation as a response to globalisation. It discusses differences in approach to heritage tourism, cultural change and commodification between western and Chinese scholars and society.     

Comparing literary tourism in Mainland China and Taiwan: The Lu Xun Native Place and the Lin Yutang House

Renowned writers are noted for their literary works. Sometime their former residences and birthplaces become landmarks where readers can pay homage to or trace the footsteps of places that inspired the literature. This study compares two writers' residences in Asia, the Lu Xun Native Place in southern China and the Lin Yutang House in Taiwan. A review of Lu Xun's and Lin Yutang's lives and their literary works was conducted and their significance noted. Then surveys with questionnaires, open-ended interviews, and on-site observations were conducted and importance-performance analysis (IPA) was utilized, in order to understand the visitors' satisfaction. Also, perusal of advertising and promotional literature for the two places and interviews with the administrative staffs of the two literary places gave better comprehension of local governments' policies and operation strategies for these places. From information gathered from the two cases we may consider how to strike a balance between literary value and economic effects and use this information as a vital tool when planning a literary tourism site. Both literary tourism sites have seen a steady growth in the number of tourists. This can be seen as a positive message about the fast-growing Asian tourism business and the need to prepare sites such as the two examined here.     

Path creation and the role of entrepreneurial actors: The case of the Otago Central Rail Trail

Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) has emerged as a theoretical framework offering insights into how tourism activities develop in different places. Much of this research has drawn upon path dependence concepts and takes a macro or regional perspective. This paper takes a different approach and uses path creation concepts to explore the emergence and evolution of a cycle tourism attraction that has become an important development path for the Central Otago region in New Zealand. Insights drawn from the case highlight the potential of path creation concepts such as distributed and embedded agency, action nets and mindful deviation to understand the decisive role that entrepreneurial actors and the organisations they belong to may play in the development of significant tourism products.     

国外乡村旅游研究述评

国外乡村旅游研究已经积累了不少成果，其研究焦点主要集中在乡村旅游概念研究，乡村旅游与乡村可持续发展的相互关系研究，基于供给和需求的乡村旅游发展的动力机制研究，社区居民对发展旅游的态度研究，乡村旅游发展的管理研究，乡村旅游发展的策略研究，乡村旅游发展中的女性问题研究等7个方面。研究方法以社会学和旅游学的研究方法为主。     

Business characteristics and efficiency of rural tourism enterprises: an empirical study from China

The booming rural tourism (RT) has broadened ways for rural revitalization and poverty alleviation strategy in China. Rural tourism enterprises (RTEs), as the core operator and a hinge delivering its benefits to rural communities, play a critical role in the achievement of RT expectation on rural revitalization. To address the research gap in business characteristics and efficiency of RTEs, and make the theoretical contribution to rural business and tourism management, this study collected and analyzed the business data with investors or managers of 60 national-class RTEs in Jiangsu Province, north Yangtze River Delta of China. The results showed that business characteristics of RTEs varied with their property, business strategy, and rural industrial base. Flexible and sustainable business operation and comprehensive regional development have a profound influence on business efficiency that presented multi spatial disparity from inter-regional and intra-regional views, respectively. In addition, the political and practical implications on rural business and RTEs for research and practice were also discussed.     

基于《里山倡议》的乡村旅游发展途径初探——以台湾桃园地区对乡村旅游转型的需求为例

乡村旅游作为乡村地区发展的途径之一,必须面对当代乡村景观中传统农业主体性破坏对游憩资源运用的影响。在此过程中,最基本的问题在于乡村地区如何在发展与保护之间取得平衡?乡村旅游以环境资源为基础,建立适宜的乡村环境管理与旅游模式才是乡村旅游发展的根本。该研究主要结合《里山倡议(Satoyama Initiative)》的环境管理概念,探讨其融入乡村旅游发展的可能性,并以我国台湾桃园地区乡村景观为案例,通过对桃园地区乡村景观变迁的研究访谈、空间分析及乡村旅游发展课题的探讨,初步提出三种基于里山倡议概念的乡村旅游发展的可行途径,为未来乡村旅游规划活动提供一定的参考。     

A Study of Experiential Quality,Equity, Happiness,Rural Image,Experiential Satisfaction,and Behavioral Intentions for the Rural Tourism Industry in China

This study aims at examining the interrelationships among experiential quality, equity, happiness, rural image, experiential satisfaction, and behavioral intentions for the rural tourism industry in China. The data used in this study were based on a sample of 694 rural tourists staying in Sansheng Flower Town of Chengdu, indicating that the proposed model fits the data. The result of this study will assist rural tourism management in developing and implementing market-orientated service strategies to increase experiential quality and equity, and enhance the image and experiential satisfaction of rural tourists in order to generate favorable intentions to return or revisit the same rural village.     

环境旅游与文化旅游紧密结合--贵州省乡村旅游发展的前景和方向

本文紧紧围绕乡村旅游发展的方向——环境旅游与文化旅游紧密结合这个主题，从乡村旅游的基本概念和本质特征入手，就乡村旅游的市场特点和发展趋势进行了分析．并对如何开发贵州省乡村旅游产品进行了分类讨论，指出环境旅游和文化旅游紧密结合是贵州乡村旅游可持续发展的基本要求．贵州省乡村旅游只有沿着环境旅游和文化旅游紧密结合的方向前进，才有希望把贵州省建设顾国内、乃至国际著名的乡村旅游胜地。