Institutional ethical analysis of resident perceptions of tourism in two Chinese villages

Existing research on perceptions of tourism has mainly focused on the empirical study from the perspectives of management, sociology, statistics and other disciplines. However, the ethical or philosophical perspective has been relatively neglected. Many issues related to institutional ethics have not been given sufficient attention by tourism academics. This article will test the effect of tourism on institutional ethics from a new perspective: by comparing the residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards tourism's impact in the villages of Zili and Maxianglong in Kaiping County of Guangdong Province where they share similar geographical locations and demographic features. Findings show that due to different levels of tourism development, the residents’ pursuit of institutional ethics varies. In particular, citizen ethics cannot be derived from traditional Chinese ethics. In fact as the level of tourism increases, the awareness of being involved in public affairs becomes stronger and the pursuit of a fair distribution and a focus on public interest becomes more obvious. For example: (1) a more developed tourism industry results in a larger demand for equal distribution from residents; (2) as the tourism industry develops, resident awareness increases as well as the ability to participate in public management; (3) with the development, resident demands for democracy become more obvious; and (4) with the development of the tourism industry, residents pay more attention to public interests and the construction of public spaces, and they acquire more of a public spirit.     

The challenge of proximity: the (un)attractiveness of near-home tourism destinations

ABSTRACT

Imaginaries of touristic otherness have traditionally been closely related to geographical distance and travel far away from the everyday. But in today's context of sustainable tourism, a moral and behavioral shift may be expected, toward traveling near home. Distance may actually become a disadvantage and proximity a new commodity. This implies a need to disentangle subjective understandings of both distance and proximity in relation to perceived attractiveness of and touristic behavior in places near home. Thus, it is aimed to shed light on how ‘proximity tourism’ is constructed, endorsed and appreciated (or not).

An online survey (N = 913) was administered to residents of the Dutch province of Friesland, exploring their attitudes toward their home province as tourism destination and representations of proximity and distance in relation to preferred vacation destinations. We grouped respondents into four categories, reflecting destination preferences: (1) proximate, (2) distant, (3) intermediate and (4) mixed. These groups were differentiated and characterized using quantitative and qualitative analyses. The ‘proximate’ and ‘distant’ preference groups, respectively, were most and least engaged in proximity tourism. However, the perceptions of proximity and distance expressed by the ‘intermediate’ and ‘mixed’ preference groups were associated in a nonlinear way with appreciation of the home region as a tourism destination. Additionally, respondents used proximity and distance in various ways as push, pull, keep and repel factors motivating their destination preferences.

Interpretations of both proximity and distance were thus important in determining engagement in proximity tourism and, in turn, the potential for proximity tourism development in the region. This implies that such development will require a balanced consideration of the relative, temporally sensitive ways that people negotiate distance and proximity in their perceptions of being at home and away. Our results advance the discussion about imaginaries of travel, distance and proximity, and their impact on regional tourism.     

Minorities,tourism and ethnic theme parks: employees' perspectives from Yunnan,China

Ethnic tourism has been promoted and widely adopted as a strategy for economic development and cultural preservation. Employing surveys, interviews, observations and secondary sources, this study explores tourism employees' perceptions of tourism, park and cultural representation using a case study at an ethnic theme park in Yunnan, China. The employees generally have favorable perceptions of tourism. Many expressed positive views of the site and indicated that the folk villages in the park are authentic and reflect essential elements of minority culture. However, some employees perceived negative aspects of tourism, including cultural commercialization, acculturation, misrepresentation, inappropriate visitor behavior, heavy workload and low pay. The park is operated by Han entrepreneurs, while the minority workers who are paid low wages are mainly involved in providing entertainment for tourists. Tourism developers and operators should consider the perceptions and attitudes of minorities when creating ethnic attractions if the development is to be successful in the long term.     

Using PP GIS interviews to understand residents’ perspective of European ecological network Natura 2000

ABSTRACT

Sustainable nature-based tourism was brought to the public's attention as a solution to the problem of economic diversification in Central and Eastern European (CEE) communities included in European Ecological Network – N2000. However, Natura 2000 tourism development has not yet proven to be an effective way to boost local economies and the notion of sustainable tourism based on Natura 2000 resources has been challenged by residents of the CEE communities. The study goal was to explore issues concerning Natura 2000 tourism from the perspective of local residents within three municipalities of Ma?opolska in Poland to determine if Natura 2000 is perceived by local residents as a valuable tourism asset. We employed a mix-mode methodology: an in-depth interview and public participation GIS mapping task. The study results highlight several areas of concern regarding resident perspectives of Natura 2000-based tourism: first, the misconception that residents need and want nature-based tourism when other economic activities provide sufficient income; second, the misconception that Natura 2000 is considered a valuable asset when other tourism attractions in a municipality attract more visitors; third, the residents misconception of nature-based tourism itself; and last but not least the importance of engaging with residents when assessing the potential for Natura 2000 tourism. These findings can assist policy-makers and tourism managers with prioritizing avenues for further action.     

节事旅游对乡村聚落影响的居民感知差异研究——以京郊江水河村和长哨营村为例

以乡村节事及节事旅游对不同类型乡村聚落的影响差异为主要关注点,选取北京远郊区的江水河村、长哨营村作为节事举办地案例,以当前国内乡村地区普遍应用的民俗文化类节事作为节事类型案例,从居民感知角度采集节事影响的基础数据,结合SPSS等数据处理工具分析和探讨了两地居民对同类节事的感知差异。在此基础上,结合两个村落人文环境和地理环境的差异,进一步从节事活动可参与程度、节事举办地特征以及节事与节事举办地资源适配性的角度,阐释了乡村节事应用绩效的主要影响因素,为乡村节事的差异化推广和应用提供参考和依据。     

恩施州乡村旅游扶贫模式及其效应差异研究

为了回答如何判别旅游扶贫模式、旅游扶贫模式是否影响旅游扶贫效应等问题,提出了由区位—产业—文化组成的旅游扶贫资源多要素协同框架作为判别旅游扶贫模式的依据,以此为指导,利用访谈数据,将恩施州南部4县的22个旅游扶贫重点村划分为4种模式：优势景区依托模式、生态农业依托模式、民宿农家乐依托模式和民族文化依托模式。而后,利用问卷调查数据,运用方差分析法比较了不同模式扶贫村居民的旅游扶贫效应感知差异,结果发现：①不同旅游扶贫模式村居民对经济收益、经济成本、环境成本和社会成本的感知具有显著差异,说明旅游扶贫模式是影响旅游扶贫效应的因素;②与其他两种模式村相比,优势景区、生态农业依托模式村居民的旅游扶贫经济效益感知更高,同时经济、环境或社会成本感知也更高,表明旅游扶贫在带来经济效益的同时,也带来了较高的经济、环境和社会成本。最后,提出了促进民族地区旅游扶贫工作改进的对策建议。     

Political trust and residents’ support for alternative and mass tourism: an improved structural model

ABSTRACT

Political trust is a key requirement for tourism policies to flourish and sustain. The purpose of the research was to investigate the determinants of political trust and analyze whether the latter influences residents’ support for mass and alternative tourism. To this end, we develop a structural model based on the social exchange theory, institutional theory of political trust, and cultural theory of political trust. The model proposes six determinants of political trust which in turn is considered to influence residents’ support for mass and alternative tourism. Data were collected from residents’ of Mauritius selected using a stratified random sampling approach. We used a survey method based on a structured questionnaire. Using AMOS, the data were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis to determine the fit of the measurement model. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. Results indicated that such variables as the political and economic performance of government in tourism, interpersonal trust, and tourism benefits significantly predicted political trust. In turn, the latter was found to influence residents’ support for mass tourism only, lending support to Hetherington sacrificed-based concept borrowed from political science. The theoretical contribution of the study relates to the inclusion of the political trust variable to analyze its relationship with residents’ support for two opposing types of tourism development in a single theoretical model. We found that such relationship is contextual, depending on the object of exchange, conceptualized in here as the types of tourism residents are asked to support. Political trust figures more prominently for mass tourism than for alternative tourism given the considerable amount of sacrifices residents have to make to accommodate mass development. Our findings suggest that it is important for government to foster political trust among local people for tourism development to sustain.     

江南文化古镇居民旅游影响感知及其形成机理——以同里为例

本文以江南文化古镇同里为例,借助质性访谈与问卷调查探讨古镇居民对旅游影响的感知。结果表明:同里古镇居民对当地旅游发展存有正面和负面双重感知,主要体现在经济、社会、文化、环境等各个方面;具体感知维度可分为"原真性削弱与环境恶化"、"经济获益和生活改善"、"成本增加和分配不公"、"社会失序"、"地方认同与思想更新"、"文化传承和形象提升",整体上积极感知强于消极感知,但对地方旅游发展引发的负面效应感知日益增强;由此,从直接经验、社会互动以及媒体影响3个层面对古镇居民旅游影响感知形成机理进行深入剖析,并据此提出相应建议和对策。     

旅游发展中居民态度与社区问题研究--以江苏省无锡市(马山)太湖国家旅游度假区为例

旅游发展不可避免地会引发一些社区问题,这些社区问题与当地居民的社会经济生活密切相关,并直接或间接影响着当地居民对旅游发展所持的态度。该文以无锡市(马山)太湖国家旅游度假区为例,在详细的实地调查所得数据的基础上,运用SPSS(11.5)统计软件,衡量了马山居民对旅游发展的态度及对社区问题的重要性感知,并对两者之间的相关关系与可信度进行了分析。     

The political economy of dive tourism: precarity at the periphery in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Using a critical political economy approach and the concept of labour precarity, the international dive tourism industry in Sabah, Malaysia and its workers’ vulnerabilities are interrogated. Fieldwork data highlights dive tourism's socio-economic impacts and the precarity of labour within the international tourism sector and also critiques it as a development strategy for a peripheral region. The paper challenges the optimistic views of labour precarity found in the existing political economy literature. Rather than identifying labour empowerment, evidence demonstrates significant worker vulnerability, uncertainty, and contingency – especially among ethnic minorities – resulting from Malaysia's state-led rentier economy.     

Tourism development,rights consciousness and the empowerment of Chinese historical village communities

In recent years, China's tourism researchers have started to pay attention to the empowerment of rural communities. Current theoretical research and social practices reflect that tourism needs to seek localized empowerment with respect to different types of tourism destinations. This paper, taking Furong Historical Village in Zhejiang Province as a case study, examines a special kind of Chinese historical village community in which the villagers’ consciousness of their rights is weak and tourism development is only in its initial stages. Based on the field surveys, this paper points out four roots of such a community's disempowerment: (1) the failure of political institutions to ensure the community's public interest; (2) accusations of historical villages ‘damaging protection’; (3) information asymmetry in the relationship between rural leaders and villagers; and (4) a sense of powerlessness in the daily lives of rural residents. Based on these findings, this paper suggests several empowerment paths: (1) placing the enhancement of psychological power as the core of community empowerment; (2) addressing villager empowerment needs according to different types, rather than generalizing a community as a whole; and (3) including a diversity of subjects in the process of empowerment. These empowerment paths would be a moderate extension toward increasing community empowerment, based on this empirical study.     

目的地居民对旅游影响的评价研究——来自山东省的实证检验

运用Ap和Crompton（1998）提出的旅游影响量表,本文从经济、社会文化、拥挤程度、环境、服务和社区态度等方面实证检验了山东省的目的地居民对旅游影响的感知程度、对旅游影响的态度以及对旅游影响的综合评价,探讨了目的地居民对旅游影响的感知与他们对旅游影响的态度之间的关系。研究结果表明,多数情况下目的地居民对旅游影响的感知与态度之间并不相关。     

居民对城市社区内非赌场类博彩的感知差异——以香港为例

香港的非赌场类博彩发展成熟,是研究此类博彩产业的良好案例。本研究采取问卷调查的方式,收集可供分析的603份问卷,采用单因子方差分析(one way ANOVA)等统计手段,得出以下研究结论:香港居民对于博彩业发展的态度不算积极;居民由于性别、年龄、受教育程度和职业的不同,出现对于博彩业态度与感知的差异。男性、老年人、受教育程度较高的人、中产阶级更加支持博彩发展或者更多的感知到其带来的正面影响,主要在于他们从中得到了更多的利益。本研究为香港政府进一步规划和管制非赌博类博彩业发展提供参考依据。     

A multi-stakeholder examination of destination image: Nanluoguxiang heritage street,Beijing, China

ABSTRACT

Perceived destination image is rarely examined through the gaze of stakeholders other than visitors, in particular residents and tourism business operators. This hinders the comprehensive understanding of destination image and limits its practical implications for destination marketing and management. Therefore, this study proposes a multi-stakeholder approach to image evaluation to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the destination image and better inform destination planning and management. Taking Nanluoguxiang hutong tourism site in Beijing as an example, the image perceptions of residents, on-site business operators, and domestic and international tourists are compared. Questionnaire surveys with both types of tourists and semi-structured interviews with residents and business operators are the main research methods. Major between group differences are identified in the evaluation of the authenticity of this Beijing hutong area, its representation of traditional Beijing culture and whether or not it is a place in which to relax. Results demonstrate that visitors, residents and business operators share similar cognitive images of Nanluoguxiang as a traditional historical street and a special business street with Beijing character. However, the historical and cultural values of Nanluoguxiang are undervalued. Moreover, distinct differences exist between the actual motivations for visiting held by domestic and international tourists and their motivations as perceived by residents and business operators. Suggestions are made to better meet the expectations and desires of all stakeholder groups through the provision of participatory programmes and activities to enrich the visitor experience of hutongs and the hutong lifestyle while maintaining a boundary between tourists and residents’ personal space to reduce unnecessary interruptions to residents’ daily life.     

Micro-level assessment of regional and local disaster impacts in tourist destinations

ABSTRACT

The tourism sector faces severe challenges due to the economic impacts from changing natural environments as seen with the increased frequency of natural disasters. Therefore, analyses of disaster impacts models are necessary for managing successful tourism recovery. Typically, disaster assessments are conducted on a countrywide level, which can lead to imbalanced recovery processes, and a distorted distribution of recovery financing or subsidies. We address the challenges of recovery using the tourism disaster management framework by Faulkner. To calculate precise damage assessments, we develop a micro-level assessment model to analyze and understand disaster impacts at the micro-level supporting tourism recovery in an affected destination. We examine economic consequences of a disaster at a small regional scale arguing recovery from a natural disaster is more difficult in individual areas because of differences in geographic location or infrastructure development. The island of Dominica is chosen as an example for the model using statistical data from the tourism sector to outline and detail the consequences of a disaster specifically for communities. The results highlight the importance of damage assessments on a small-scale level, such as communities in order to distinguish between individual regions facing severe changes for resident livelihoods and the local tourism sector. We argue that only after identifying regional impacts it is possible to apply adequate governmental subsidies and development strategies for a country's tourism sector and residents in a continuously changing environment in the hopes of mitigating future financial losses and future climate change impacts.     

历史街区旅游开发与居民生活环境发展研究——以扬州“双东”历史街区为例

生活环境作为居民传统生活方式的形塑产物,是历史街区保护的重要内容。旅游开发为历史街区发展提供了一种现代途径,也干扰历史街区的空间转变。旅游影响对居民生活惯习的介入效应调整旅游历史街区生活环境的存续-发展结构。扬州"双东"历史街区旅游发展对生活环境具有较大影响。居民围绕生活环境质量和旅游支持性形成三类亚群。旅游影响以不同方式介入居民生活环境,应结合具体情况确定生活环境维护导向。传统生活方式与现代发展诉求、生活环境整体转变与街区居民个体利益之间的矛盾是维护"双东"生活环境遭遇的现实困境。     

拉萨八廓历史文化街区旅游发展居民感知研究

历史街区是特定地域历史、社会、文化的核心载体,兼具遗产保护、旅游开发价值,在历史街区旅游发展过程中,如何平衡保护与开发是历史地段发展一直面临的挑战。拉萨市八廓街为"中国历史文化名街",代表着藏族历史文化街区的价值与特色,同时也是西藏集宗教、文化、旅游、商业为一体的重要旅游吸引物。本文以八廓街历史文化街区为例,通过实地观察及问卷调查等方式,探讨旅游开发影响与居民感知之间的关系。研究表明,旅游对于地方经济的积极效益已得到普遍肯定,但是旅游对历史街区的具体作用,尤其是对社会文化负面影响的表现是存在分异的,由此也形成了居民态度的差异。     

Tourism and sacred landscape in Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park,Nepal

Abstract

While tensions between the sacred and the profane in tourism have been of long standing interest to tourism scholars, there is a dearth of literature on the growing influence of tourism on local residents’ spirituality and religious practices in sacred landscapes. This paper examines how local residents’ interpretations of sacred landscapes are influenced by tourism development, and whether tourism plays a role in influencing and reproducing sacred landscape and place-based spiritual values. This exploratory study is based on four months of fieldwork conducted in 2014 and 2015 in Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park in Nepal’s Khumbu Region. Results of the 33 interviews conducted with ethnic Sherpa community indicate the Sherpa consider their homeland as a beyul (sacred, hidden valley), and its landscapes (i.e. mountains, forests and lakes) as the abode of local deities. Tourism’s influence on local spiritual values is evident and reflected in changes in mountain deity worship, shift in human-environment relationship, and alterations in religious routines and practices. Although Sherpa still regard Khumbu as a sacred place and are actively involved in maintaining their spiritual values and cultural identity, the religious influence of beyul is slowly diminishing as reliance on tourism grows.     

古村落旅游社会文化影响:居民感知、态度与行为的关系——以广西龙脊平安寨为例

以龙脊平安寨为例,从居民感知的视角,通过构建结构方程模型对古村落的旅游社会文化影响进行研究,探讨居民主体因素与旅游社会文化影响感知、社区发展满意度及行为倾向之间的关系。主要结论:(1)居民文化认同感越强,对旅游社会文化影响的正向或负向感知越强。(2)居民的旅游参与程度越高,对旅游社会文化影响的正面感知越强。(3)居民对旅游社会文化影响的正向或负向感知越强烈,对社区发展的肯定或否定评价越强。(4)居民对旅游社会文化影响的正向或负向感知越强烈,其支持或反对旅游开发的行为倾向越明显。研究还对旅游开发中古村落的社会文化传承和发展提出建议。     

Key variables for developing integrated rural tourism

Considering how important tourism development is as an element of economic recovery in rural areas, one of its objectives should be sustainability. The starting point must therefore be the existence of partnerships and cooperation between stakeholders. Such cooperation would enable the integration of tourism development through the endogeneity, complementarity, and embeddedness of the resources and the empowerment of the residents. The objective of this research is to determine the basic types of relationships to be developed in order to achieve integrated rural tourism. Initially, we verify the variables involved in integrated rural tourism by determining the measurement models, and subsequently we propose a model that reflects the relationships between the variables under study. Our research shows that there must be two types of collaboration between stakeholders. First, there must be collaboration to develop a tourism product, and second, there must be collaboration to provide adequate information about the existing tourism activities. Due the nature of tourism, various types of businesses must work together, but if information is not subsequently provided about the product, then tourism cannot develop as desired. Collaboration as a whole also favours the development of rural tourism in which tourism activities complement the traditional activities of an area, consequently increases the embeddedness of the product and the endogeneity of the resources. Furthermore, the opinions of the various stakeholders in tourism development must be taken into account, especially the residents, which takes place through empowerment. Finally, collaboration means that residents and tourists must coexist and come into contact, therefore sharing public services and entertainment and leisure locations. All the aforementioned factors consequently provide the basis for integrating the rural tourism that is developed in an area, which will favour the economic, sociocultural, and environmental sustainability of that area.