Constructing the Green Supply Chain for Rural Tourism in China: Perspective of Front–Back Stage Decoupling

Jue Chen,Jing Xu,Cecile Clergeau,Jingjing Guan

doi:10.3390/su10114276

Jue Chen, Jing Xu + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114276

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Abstract

Rural tourism serves as an important engine for rural development, but also brings environmental pressure. The balance between sustainability and local economic benefits is critical to rural tourism development in developing countries. Incorporating the theories of green supply chain and front–back stage decoupling, this paper proposes a new model of green tourism supply chain for rural tourism to relieve the dilemma between economic efficiency and environmental sustainability. Back-stage functions have been decoupled from individual rural tourism service units to form shared service centers, which centralize the provision of back-stage functions and generate an independent tier of suppliers in the green Tourism Supply Chain (TSC). Field practice experiences relating to green TSC construction and operation are also discussed. The new structure of green supply chain shows positive environmental and economic effects of rural tourism. It increases the tourism business efficiency without sacrificing the local environment. The paper intends to present a new perspective and explores a new research path to green supply chain research in tourism and other service industries which have been previously limited in manufacturing framework and provide some insights into tourism destination practice.

Highlights

Rural tourism acts as an important engine for rural development and revitalization [1,2,3]
Considering that the front–back stage structure is the fundamental feature of service delivery system, this paper proposes a model of green supply chain for rural tourism from a new perspective: the front–backstage decoupling which is regarded as an advanced service system structure
A better solution would be to achieve a balance between tourism development and environmental pollution, which is a basic principle of sustainable rural tourism [64]

Summary

Introduction

Rural tourism acts as an important engine for rural development and revitalization [1,2,3]. It can reduce unemployment, boost the regional economy, improve the living standard of local populations, and decrease the imbalance between urban and rural life [4,5,6]. According to Bramwell, “special” refers to the physical fragility of rural area, and to the unique rural environment that fulfills people’s views about the high quality of life in the countryside. These are the key elements attracting tourists to the countryside [9]. The importance of environmental protection in rural areas has led to the argument that rural tourism is synonymous with sustainable tourism development [4]

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