RESIDENTS＇ ATTITUDES TO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ANCIENT VILLAGE RESORTS——Case Study of World Cultural Heritage of Xidi and Hong Villages

Tourism development surely has social, economic and environmental impacts on tourist destinations.The study on resorts residents‘ attitudes can help understand the nature of tourism development and the extent to which it may influence on tourist destinations. By now, researches on residents‘ perception and attitudes are plenteous in the international circle and achievements are great, yet few are found in developing countries. As a most representative cultural tourist destination, World Cultural Heritage-Xidi and Hong villages in Yi County of Anhui Province, are drawing the attention of both tourists and academic circles. This article, taking Xidi and Hong villages as examples, seeks to analyze ancient village residents‘ attitudes towards tourism impacts and then tries further to explore the connection between tourism development and residents‘ attitudes. Both qualitative and quantitative surveys are applied in the exploratory investigation into local residents‘ attitudes of tourism impacts. Based on abundant face-to-face interviews with the local households, tourism enterprises concerned, local government and tourists from July to August of 2002, we are able to have a better understanding of local residents‘ attitudes to community life, and perception of tourism impacts on society, economy and environment. By this we can promote domestic study on resorts residents‘ attitudes, and provide some theoretical grounds for establishing tourism development planning and perfect community participation system at tourist destinations.     

Impact of the Wenchuan Earthquake on tourism in Sichuan, China

An intensive earthquake, the Wenchuan Earthquake of 8.0 on the Richter scale, struck western Sichuan, China on May 12, 2008. The earthquake has tremendously affected all industries in the quake-hit areas, with no exception ：of the local tourism. The study of the effect of the earthquake on tourism enriches the theory of tourism, and more importantly, it well serves as the foundation for policy making. The objective of this study is to outline for readers the empirical findings on the various ways that the earthquake affected the operations and viability of tourism in the quake-hit areas. This paper is mainly divided into 3 parts. The first part is to discuss the importance of tourism in the quake-hit areas. The second is to analyze the influencing factors of tourism. The third is to assess the impact of the earthquake on tourism in Sichuan in different seasons.     

Influence of tourists’ environmental tropisms on their attitudes to tourism and nature conservation in natural tourist destinations: A case study of Jiuzhaigou National Park in China

People′s environmental tropism has an effect on their understanding of tourism-nature relationship,and also influences their attitudes to natural resources utilization and environmental protection.Taking Jiuzhaigou National Park of China as a study case,the authors conducted some quantitative analyses with the tools of SPSS 16.0 and LISREL 8.7,to explore the influence of tourists′ environmental tropism on their attitudes to tourism and nature conservation in the natural tourist destination.Three hypotheses and the theoretic model of influences of tourists′ environmental tropism on their attitudes to tourism and nature conservation have been tested and accepted based on the Structural Equation Model analysis on survey data collected in Jiuzhaigou National Park of China.Some conclusions were drawn as follows: 1) tourists′ human-prioritized concept influences their cognition to tourism-nature relationship.This concept has a positive influence on their supportive attitudes to tourism,but a negative influence on their attitudes to nature conservation;2) tourists′ human-nature coordination concept has a positive influence on their supportive attitudes to both tourism and nature conservation,especially to the latter.This paper generally proves that human′s environmental tropism does have an influence on their attitudes to tourism and nature conservation in natural tourist destinations.     

FOUNDATION AND APPLICATION OF BACKGROUND TREND LINE OF CHINA'S INBOUND TOURISM

Modern tourism in China began in 1978(DENG,1994), so far, it has a history of nearly 20 years. A clear trend line has appeared in embryonic form in statistical data on overseas tourists. There is a strong need for theoretical studies. This research paper introduces the concept of tourism background trend line and explores its functions in demonstrating fluctuations in the tourism economy ( barometric function) and in forecasting future tourism development (forecast function). 1 THE CONCE…     

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESORT LIFE CYCLE AND RESIDENTS' PERCEPTION AND ATTITUDE——A Case Study of Putuo Mountain

Residents'perception and attitude towards tourism are essential to the resort development. It has become the important fields of study in foreign tourism geography and tourism sociology, whose research has produced some satisfactory results (DOGAN, 1989; JOHN and JOHN, 1993; BRUNT etal., 1999; ELIZABETH and BILL, 2000; DAVID and LAURA, 2001). Recently, related research in China has been under way. The life cycle, as the basic evolving law of resort, has also at-tracted much at…     

Development and Conservation of Glacier Tourist Resources —— A Case Study of Bogda Glacier Park

1 Introduction As a special kind of tourism, glacier tourism is popular to tourists all over the world owing to its meeting tourists’ needs for seeking after freshness, difference, surprise and risk. Differing from conventional tourism, glacier tour- ism has its special characters while there is little literature on it. It is of great significance to study its characters and seek after the harmonious development in exploitation and protection of glacier tourism resources. Glacier tourism refe…     

REGIONAL TOURISM COOPERATION IN TRIANGLE ZONE OF LIAONING PROVINCE

Strengthening the regional tourism cooperation is the requirement of both tourism development and tourist competition drive. On the one hand, resources, products, market and infrastructure in tourism are characteristics of half-public goods, which are the externalities. On the other hand, tourism competition has evolved from individual scenic spot, or finn competition to regional competition, which also requires urgent regional tourism cooperation. In recent years, the regional economic cooperation has been becoming popular in the world. The triangle tourism zone of Liaoning Province, constituted by Shenyang, Dalian and Dandong, is the core region of Liaoning tourism system. This regional tourism cooperation has been raised for a long time, but has not made substantial progress as yet. In recent years, the strategic cooperation among them has been becoming urgent, along with the change of tourism competition models, as well as the desire for building a Northeast Asia tourist economy circle. Based on literature, this paper establishes a conceptual frame of regional tourism cooperation and applies it in the analysis of the strategic tourism cooperation of Liaoning Province＇s golden triangle zone. This paper firstly examines both qualifications and motives concerning with cooperation among the three cities, and believes that the biggest difficulties involve traditional ideas, administrative institutions, communications, economic performances, time constraints, and more overlap among their tourist markets. Then this paper continues to construct a cooperating mechanism, including participant arrangements, construction of operating mechanism and construction of assisting mechanism. At last, this paper proposes approaches to the strategic cooperation such as introducing Xiuyan County, strategic integration and developing differentiated and complemented tourism products.     

Tourism versus nature conservation: reconciliation of common interests and objectives——an analysis through Picos de Europa National Park

Nature tourism and particularly tourism in national parks have acquired significant importance in contemporary societies. Post-Fordist consumers have reevaluated the meanings of ‘nature' and ‘natural spaces' and now avoid standardization to seek singularity. Tourism in national parks is a consequence of this tendency and has both positive and negative aspects. The purpose of this sociological research is to describe the most relevant conflicts in the Picos de Europa National Park(Spain) involving the park's conservation, local economic development,and tourism. Seven in-depth interviews and three focus groups were addressed to key local stakeholders.In this research were identified three chief areas of existing or potential inter-related conflicts and the main actors interacting with them. The first is on population, particularly, the negative consequences of depopulations on the local socio-economic development and the environment. A second source of conflicts identified is caused by the difficult conciliation between commercial exploitation and conservation of the protected natural area. More precisely, this specific form of tourism positively contributes to the economy of local communities whilst problems can arise for the conservation goals of National Parks. Thirdly, in this research is also analyzed the institutional governance and the inter and intra-governmental conflicts as well as with the Park's management body. These findings provide important information for the improved management of tourism and conflicting interests in natural parks.     

Distance decay of place attachment and perceived authenticity of mountain tourism destinations in China

Place attachment has been a research focus in the fields of park and recreation management.Place attachment plays an important role in promoting sustainable development of parks and mountain tourism destination,however,there are limited studies that identified the spatial patterns of place attachment,especially in the context of mountain tourism destinations in China.Also,the geospatial spectrum of visitors is usually broad,examining the multivariate relationships among spatial proximity,perceived authenticity,and place attachment are essential for mountain tourism destinations to promote destination image and strengthen emotional bonding with targeted visitor groups.In this study,we selected an iconic and highly visited park,Jiuzhai Valley National Park in China,as our study site and conducted an on-site visitor survey to collect 557 samples.Study uses factor analysis and the structure equation model to analyze the relationship among spatial proximity,perceived authenticity,and place attachment.Results validate the two-dimension structure of place attachment and perceived authenticity.Study findings suggest that spatial proximity has significant impacts on existential authenticity and place identity,but has no significant impacts on place dependence.Perceived authenticity has a positive impact on place attachment.Study results advance the theories of place attachment and provide effective strategies to enhance emotional attachment between visitors and mountain tourism destinations.     

Rural tourism development in China: Principles, models and the future

Rural tourism in China,has undergone a rapid development in the last three decades.It is an emerging and effective catalyst that promotes industrial restructuring,agricultural development and the upgrading of rural areas.However,there remains little understanding about the core issues of rural tourism in China:the exact connotation,the principles,the development models and the future directions.This review paper identifies the key issues based on literature analysis,national statistics and press reports to form a general picture of the past,the current and the future prospects of China’s rural tourism.The paper firstly addresses the definition,content and principles of rural tourism,and then provides an overview and brief evaluation of the progress and the current development models in China.Finally,based on the analysis of the experiences and problems,the authors sum up with five pathways of the future development of China’s rural tourism from the perspective of rural tourism resources,product,market and promotion.     

Image of Landscapes in Ancient Water Towns—— Case Study on Zhouzhuang and Tongli of Jiangsu Province

1 Introduction Image is generally a mental picture which is built on an environmental impression. Since the 1960s, the urban image has become a new field for studying urban spatial structure from perceptive of environment (Gu and Song, 2001). Lynch (1960) considered that urban image implies “discernable” and “impressive”. However, the urban image emphasizes urban spatial structure and landscapes. In tourism the image of destination has developed into two components closely interrelated: …     

SPATIAL STRUCTURE EVOLUTION OF SYSTEM OF RECREATION BUSINESS DISTRICT ——A Case of Suzhou City

The growing attention on urban tourism was very widespread. There are two angles to study urban tourism: supply-side and demand-side. And the supply-side of the tourism remains very important. The RBD (Recreation Business District) is a useful framework to understand the components of urban tourism and how they fit together. The paper begins with a review on the RBD and the spatial structure of tourism in urban areas and then attempts to develop a more general understanding of the spatial structure evolution of RBDs in a tourist-historic city—Suzhou. The spatial structures and functions of the RBDs in Suzhou are examined, based on field observations, interviews with city officials and industry leaders, and a review of available documents. The urban tourism of Suzhou has developed in a range of contexts, that various types of RBDs have emerged as a result of different urban development strategies. The spatial structure has evolved from the past “Single-cored Structure“ to “Double-cored Structure“ at present, and then to “Chain Structure“ in the future. The spatial form and evolution of RBD in Suzhou are closely relative with its urban spatial expansion. Urban area dispersal is the prerequisite of the emergence of the RBD. Planning and constructing the RBD becomes a new impetus to urban growth or renewal. Finally, a number of strategies for planning and developing the RBD in Suzhou are suggested. The different RBDs should adopt different strategies.Intensification can be the possible strategy for the RBDs in the ancient city. Accreting with the urban theme park or engrafting on the Jinji Lake is suggested respectively for the RBD in the Suzhou New District and the Suzhou Indus-trial Park.     

An assessment of the climatic suitability of Afriski Mountain Resort for outdoor tourism using the Tourism Climate Index(TCI)

Tourism Climatic Indices(TCIs) are widely used in the global North to quantify the climatic suitability of a destination for tourism. Only one such study has been conducted in southern Africa to date. It is in a chronic shortage of research on tourism and climate change in the southern hemisphere. This study presents the application of the TCI in Lesotho, calculated for the eastern Lesotho Highlands. The region has an emerging tourism sector, which primarily comprises outdoor activities.These include hiking, horse-riding, music festivals,mountain biking, cultural visits, sightseeing, and at the Afriski lodge, skiing and snowboarding. These activities are reliant on climatic conditions that are conducive to the activity taking place, prolonged periods outdoors, and tourist satisfaction of the activity. Climate is a major determinant of both the length of season for these activities and the timing of peak tourist arrivals. Rising temperatures and changes in relative humidity and precipitation pose real threats to hiking, sightseeing and snow tourism at Afriski. The reliance of tourism in the region on specific climatic conditions for successful tourism prompted the use of the TCI. TCI results classify the eastern Lesotho Highlands as having.good‘ climatic conditions with an overall TCI score of 64 for the period 2012-2017. Monthly TCI scores for the easternLesotho reveal a bimodal-shoulder, meaning the peak climatic conditions are in the regional summer months(December to February). This conflicts with the peak tourist seasons of summer and winter, which align with South African school holidays, and the timing of the most profitable tourism activity(skiing)which occurs during the winter months of June, July and August. Lesotho is landlocked by South Africa.TCI analysis for South Africa reveals more suitable climatic conditions for tourism than Lesotho, with significantly higher scores of 80-89.     

Sustainable tourism development in mountain areas in Sumadija and Western Serbia

Sustainable tourism,as an integral part of sustainable development,emerged as a logical outcome of preventing the uncontrolled and excessive use of tourism resources and attractions.This study analyzes whether mountain tourism development in Serbia can be sustainable and feasible in the long term.Given the heterogeneity of mountains in Serbia in terms of tourism development,the subject of this research is the achieved level of sustainable tourism development in mountains in the most developed and most visited region in Serbia-sumadija and Western Serbia:Zlatibor,Kopaonik,Tara,Zlatar,Mokra Gora and Go?.The sustainable tourism development level was analyzed by using five groups of the EU’s comparative indicators:economic,social,cultural,environmental and tourist satisfaction indicators.The results showed that the development of tourism in the examined mountains is not fully aligned with sustainable development.The tourist satisfaction indicator has the most acceptable values,which is a good basis for further harmonization of tourism development on the principles of sustainability.Economic indicators,especially the ratio of overnight stays and accommodation capacities,show the most unacceptable values,which indicate the need for implementing changes in the process of tourism development in the coming period.The analysis of sustainable tourism in mountain areas in sumadija and the Western Serbia undoubtfully points out that it is necessary to significantly change the current tourism product portfolio,which implies harmonizing mountain tourism development with global trends.Certainly,a comparative analysis that looks at the degree of sustainability of mountain tourism in some countries of the Alpine region,such as Switzerland,Austria and Slovenia,contributes to this.The more intensive development of tourism throughout the year would significantly improve indicators of sustainable tourism in all analyzed mountain areas of Sumadija and Western Serbia.This would improve the value of economic indicators,which are marked as the most unsustainable.The development of tourism in the summer season,especially recreational and adventure tourism,would improve the social and cultural component of sustainable tourism.Environmental dimension of sustainable tourism would be enhanced by the development of ecotourism.By connecting spatially close mountains(Zlatibor,Zlatar,Tara and Mokra Gora)into a unique and integrated tourism destination,synergistic effects would be achieved resulting in international recognition and making the region of?umadija and Western Serbia competitive on the European market.     

Village Network Centrality in Rural Tourism Destination:A Case from Yesanpo Tourism Area,China

With the development of rural tourism, the cooperation of villages has become very important.Identifying the status and importance of each village can contribute to better understanding of the integrated rural tourism management and sustainable rural tourism development. The research focused on 46 villages of Yesanpo scenic spot in China(39°35'-40°north latitude, and 115°16'- 115°30' east longitude). Integrating the method of Geographical Information System(GIS) and social network analysis, the spatial centrality and interrelation of each village in Yesanpo tourism destination were evaluated. The results showed that Xinggezhuang is the spatial core village of the whole 46 villages in Yesanpo tourism areas; Xinggezhuang, Nanzhuang, Zhenchang, Daze, Liujiahe and Zishikou are sub-core villages of the six tourism spots. Magezhuang, Ximagezhuang, Eyu, Zishikou, Daze, Shangzhuang, Zhenchang and Xiazhuang should be support of the core villages, which provide subsidiary services and connects with other nodes. The results also indicated that the study of the village centrality will contribute to build an integrated hierarchy structure and to provide sufficient basis for further development of rural tourism destination.     

Simulating the Saturation Threshold of a Water Environment＇s Response to Tourist Activities：A Case Study in the Liupan Mountain Eco-tourism Area

The effect of tourism on water environments has received a high degree of interest in the study of eco-tourism.Based on the analysis of the relationship between tourist activities and the water environment in the Liupan Mountain eco-tourism zone,the case study area,a Water Environment of Tourism Area Model（WETAM） is built to simulate the temporal and spatial changes in water quality and the response saturation thresholds under four sewage treatment scenarios.The results imply the following：（1） WETAM performs well in modeling a water environment to represent the dynamic process of water quality change in response to tourist activities.（2） Under four sewage treatment scenarios（fundamental,low,medium,and high）,the threshold shows an obvious uptrend.（3） The response threshold of water quality with respect to the interference of tourist activities fluctuates seasonally due to changes in tourist density.（4） The thresholds differ significantly among five tourism functional areas.According to the response saturation threshold of the water environment,effective control based on the scale and intensity of tourist activities is important for a successful transformation of this tourism destination＇s development strategies.Therefore,the integrated management of water pollution in tourism areas plays a crucial role in sustainable tourism development.     

Spatial differentiation of tourism impact based on the perception of residents in mountainous valley resorts

Valley economy is a type of economy that comprehensively utilizes the natural economic and social resources of the region based on environmental protection. This economy utilizes the basic role of the market in disposing resources and achieving regional development and social progress. In this paper we studied the town of Yanqi, a valley resort that has developed tourism-based valley economy for several years in the mountainous area of Beijing. This research identifies the spatial differentiation of tourism-related economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impact and level of support for tourism according to the perception and attitude of residents of Yanqi. The research area was divided into three zones （i.e., core, transition, and peripheral） according to the standard proposed by Jaakson. The residents in all three zones showed a positive attitude toward the tourism industry, and the residents in the core zone had a stronger perception toward the impact of tourism. However, several items indicated the converse. Correlation analysis and analysis of variance were used to explore the correlative factors associated with the attitudes of residents toward the tourism industry. Results indicated major differences among the three zones. Multiple factors, including natural conditions, policies, scenic spots, dependence on the tourism industry, and external investment in the three zones resulted in the spatial differentiationof the perception and attitude of residents toward the impact of tourism.     

Community responses to mountain tourism: A case in Bhyundar Valley, Indian Himalaya

Tourism industry has become an important part of Indian economy, and tourism development has been, however, concentrated to a few areas. Accumulation of tourism activities has reached the critical stage in most of the tourism centers, which pose serious threats to the natural environment. The Bhyundar Valley of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve （NDBR） in Uttarakhand State of the Indian Himalaya is a burning example of such problems. Land use/cover changes, deforestation and accumulation of garbage are some of the negative impacts of unregulated tourism in the valley. Unsustainable activities of tourists and villagers in the valley make such problems very severe. To deal with the ongoing problems and ensure community involvement in tourism management and environmental conservation, the Biosphere Reserve Authority introduced ecotourism in the form of Eco Development Committees （EDCs） in the Bhyundar Valley. Study reveals that many problems associated with tourism have been minimized to some extent with the help of EDCs but few are still prevailing in valley. However, the existing attempts to conserve the valley from the negative effects of tourism are inadequate and modifications are needed in the current initiatives.     

Community tourism as practiced in the mountainous Qiang region of Sichuan Province, China — a case study in Zhenghe Village

In China, community tourism is still a relatively new phenomenon, but the villagers of a small Qiang village in the Qiang Autonomous County of Beichuan in Southwestern Sichuan have initiated tourism in a way which conforms to the basic theory of community tourism development. This demonstrates that community tourism possesses a strength and vitality that can promote the development of tourism in the rural and mountainous areas. In the district of Zhenghe Village, the tourism industry, based on the community tourism model, is the mainstay of its economy. The practice of community tourism in the village not only promotes the economic development of the village community, but also leads to the protection of the mountainous natural environment and of the culture of the Qiang people. This paper investigates the development process of community tourism in Zhenghe and shows how the local residents participate in this process. It also looks at how profits have been distributed within the community. It demonstrates that community tourism is a correct choice by the Zhenghe people as they have dearly been moving from poverty to prosperity, while the local ecology and environment have been simultaneously protected. The authors hope that other minority villages with similar local conditions and natural resources will be able to use this example to develop their own community tourism.     

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON RESIDENTS＇ PERCEPTION OF TOURISM IMPACT AT TOURIST PLACES—A Case Study of Xidi, Zhouzhuang and Jiuhua Mountain

Based on the questionnaire investigation, the authors make a comparative study on local residents‘ perception of tourism impacts in Xidi, Zhouzhuang and Jiuhua Mountain. The result shows that residents of the three places tend to have strong and consistent perception of its positive economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts, but distinctly diverse ones of its negative impacts. Residents in Xidi and Zhouzhuang also have noticeable perception of its negative environmental impacts while those in Jiuhua Mountain have weaker perception of them.The research confirms the fact that residents are more liable to have positive perceptions at the early stage of the life cycle of the tourist places. The authors conclude that there exists a nonlinear relationship between residents‘ perception and tourism development stages, and that tourism socio-cultural impact may appear at an early stage of tourism development instead of being no universal.