Revitalizing traditional villages through rural tourism: A case study of Yuanjia Village, Shaanxi Province, China

In recent years, the survival and development of traditional villages in China have been serious challenges. Rural tourism is regarded as an important way to solve rural problems, and the combination of rural culture and tourism has become a new power point for rural development. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the spatial distribution structure between traditional villages and rural tourism. In this paper, rural tourism was represented by the rural tourism characteristic village (RTCV), and Henan Province, China, was taken as a study area to analyze the distribution pattern and spatial correlation of rural tourism and traditional village (TV) and discuss the relationship between the spatial correlation and regional natural environment and socioeconomic factors. The results show that the coupling of the spatial correlation between RTCVs and TVs in Henan was clear. They could be divided into 5 regions based on geographical factors. In addition, the research summarized 4 typical spatial structures between TVs and RTCVs in Henan based on the regional symbiosis theory, and the spatial pattern formation mechanism of TVs and RTCVs was discussed based on three driving mechanisms. The spatial structure of the two can provide reference value for other developing countries and regions to achieve sustainable rural development.

The research is centred on rural tourism and its socio-economic effects on the local community of Hlabisa located adjacent to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, investigating and disclosing the socio-economic conditions, tourism activities, rural tourism models/ strategies, community participation and challenges faced by the local community and businesses in the area. The socio-economic conditions include employment, income, education, quality of life and other relevant infrastructure contributed by rural tourism to the local economy of Hlabisa. According to Ivanovic et al. (2009) rural tourism can develop rural economies by providing new economic activities and employment. The research was guided by five research objectives: (1) To determine the socio economic well-being of the local community of Hlabisa, i.e. employment, income, skills development, entrepreneurial opportunities; (2) To determine level of tourism development and the nature of tourism activities taking place in the Hlabisa area; (3)To determine the level of community participation and representation on tourism activities taking in Hlabisa; (4) To ascertain rural tourism strategies / rural tourism models in place to empower the local community of Hlabisa socially and economically? (5) To ascertain the challenges / obstructions faced by the rural community and tourism entrepreneurs of Hlabisa? The research problem of the study seeks to investigate the extent to which the wellbeing of the local communities of Hlabisa is being empowered or changed for the better socially and economically through the game park and tourism development inter alia. The Rural Tourism Strategy (2012) states that between 10-15 million South Africans live in areas that are characterised by extreme poverty and underdevelopment. “There is limited integration of local communities and previously neglected groups into tourism, inadequate tourism education, training and awareness and lastly lack of infrastructure, particularly in rural areas” (Rural Tourism Strategy 2012). Moreover, what triggers the researcher’s curiosity is that while seeing and knowing that there is quite a number of tourism activities taking place in the study area but the extent to which those activities affect the livelihood of the surrounding rural communities economically and socially is unknown. The concept and literature were matched or tested in line with the identified themes which were as follows:  Socio-economic conditions;  Rural tourism models (strategies);  Community participation and representation in tourism;  Tourism activities; and  Challenges / obstructions faced by the local community and businesses in the area. The study was anchored around the Integrated Rural Tourism (IRT) development model “with emphasis on co-planning, learning and participation which originates from the Global North” (Saarinen and Lanao 2014). This model was relevant to this study because “it discusses key challenges of rural tourism development especially related to the integration of the tourism industry and rural communities in developing countries and overviews the applicability and conditions of the IRT framework as a potential approach for rural tourism development in the developing world” (Saxena et al. 2007). The study employed a qualitative research approach, with the following tools or instruments used to collect data i.e. questionnaires, unstructured interviews with open ended questions and focus groups. The questionnaires were analysed using the Atlas.ti 8 Data Analysis Software in order to enhance reliability by applying the rules built into the programme. The information analysed included employment, income, education, quality of life and other relevant infrastructure contributed by rural tourism to the local economy of Hlabisa. The software provided tools that helped with transcription analysis, coding and text interpretation, recursive abstraction, content analysis and discourse analysis. The outcomes from the interviews indicate that the majority of the local community respondents are happy with the economic opportunities presented by tourism development in the area. The majority of respondents indicated the community participates in tourism planning and development activities in the area. There are structures in place such as Co-management boards in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and, Local Community Committees and Community Trust that represent communities in decision making processes in relation to tourism. However, the key challenges that emerged from the findings were that the majority of the locals employed in tourism occupied low paying positions, with grade 08-12 and no tourism qualifications. This means locals do not have the necessary qualifications and skills to qualify to be employed in Senior Management positions in the tourism establishments in the area. The lack of a tourism qualification, training and skills would prohibit locals to progress up the ranks to become managers who earn higher salaries and be in a position to make key decisions about tourism in the area. On the other hand, the small family run tourism business cited access to capital and incentives, markets access, road access, lack of training programmes, unreliable electricity and water supply among the main challenges they face in the area of Hlabisa which affects their growth and revenue. Recommendations arising from the study include but are not limited to the following: The local and district municipality, provincial and national government tourism institutions should consider providing bursaries to the youth and scaling leanership programmes in Hlabisa in order to have greater reach and impact in advancing the careers of the local people in the local tourism industry. The Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park should put in place a sound educational programme to improve the education of the local people of Hlabisa so that they can advance to high ranking positions in order to earn high income. The small businesses in the area of Hlabisa should enter into joint marketing agreements with one another, travel trade, destination marketing organisations in order to increase tourist volume and revenue but also to meet tourist demand in the interim. In addition, the local, provincial and national tourism institutions should put in place sound tourism dedicated incentives and capital to assist small tourism business businesses to grow and expand their businesses to enable these small tourism businesses to employ more local people and pay them high income

Community participation is the key point of rural Eco-tourism's connotative development, and the community is key stakeholder of rural Eco-tourism.This paper explores and researches the selection and application of rural ecological tourism community and participation mode, draws on the successful cases of domestic and foreign relevant experience, and makes implementable analysis with the starting point of domestic tourism market and its related interests.With the ongoing global economic integration process, the third service industry economy, dominated by tourism as a pillar industry, has also made rapid development.At present, in our country's domestic tourism market, rural tourism has become one of the themes of the new century, and the rural economic development in the new period.With the constant improvement of rural Eco-tourism industry pattern system, it not only drives all-round development of rural economy in our country, but more importantly put forward a new idea, a new road for the sustainable development of tourism industry in China.This paper selects some domestic cases of rural ecological tourism community, combines these classic cases for comparison and analysis, and finds out the suitable community participation model with local characteristics for our country's tourism development.

Traditional villages are the convergence points for rural tourism and cultural heritage, with their uniqueness deriving from their enduring cultural genes. Villagers serve as the continuators of traditional villages, the transmitters of cultural heritage, and active participants in rural tourism, all predisposing villagers to adopt key positions in these areas. However, villager-centered research has not been systematically explored. This gap may be due to the marginalization of villagers in developing rural tourism and cultural heritage, the challenges associated with measuring villager-centered impacts, and the lack of appropriate measurement tools. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a scale to assess the impact of rural tourism on villagers. Using Shangzhuang Village and Guoyu Village in China as case studies, a total of 305 samples were collected. Through construct dimensions, potential item generation, scale purification, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and reliability and validity testing, a villager-centered tourism impact scale was established, encompassing 13 items across three dimensions: economic, social, and cultural. The findings provide a new tool for village leaders, tourism developers, and policymakers to effectively incorporate villagers’ perspectives into rural tourism and heritage preservation efforts, contributing to the sustainable development of traditional villages and their associated tourism.

This research critically examines the interplay between rural tourism and poverty alleviation in Sri Lanka, using an analytical framework based on secondary data analysis. By aggregating reports from institutions, the study employs empirical evidence and time-series data analyzed through econometric methodologies to explore this relationship. Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses delineate the magnitude and directionality of the interconnection between the tourism sector and poverty reduction mechanisms. Correlation analysis evaluates interdependencies among variables, selecting significant ones for the regression model to enhance predictive capacity and minimize errors. Exhibit 3 presents Pearson correlation coefficients among these pivotal variables.The methodological framework is anchored in an empirical model derived from extensive literature review, positioning rural tourism development as the independent variable and poverty alleviation as the dependent variable. This model includes dimensions such as warfare impacts, economic growth trajectories, employment opportunities, and financial requisites for poverty mitigation, scrutinized through correlation and regression analyses.A key revelation is the multifaceted relationship between rural tourism and poverty alleviation, intricately linked with economic growth, political stability, and employment generation. While the direct linkage is modest, indirect connections through employment, infrastructure development, and political stability are significant. The research highlights these previously underexplored pathways, challenging conventional underestimations of socio-economic impacts of tourism. The findings advocate reconceptualizing rural tourism as an instrument for socio-economic transformation, addressing poverty challenges in rural contexts. The study critiques existing government poverty alleviation programmes, revealing gaps and inefficiencies. It argues for leveraging rural tourism within socio-economic frameworks, proposing a dual-strategy approach for policy implementation that emphasizes sustainable development and responsiveness to rural socio-cultural and environmental contexts.This research contributes to the discourse on sustainable rural development, positing rural tourism as a pivotal yet underutilized vector for socio-economic revitalization. The insights and recommendations extend beyond Sri Lanka, offering a blueprint for rural tourism-centered poverty alleviation strategies in the developing world.

Traditional village protection and sustainable development: Knowledge graph construction and hotspot evolution

RESEARCH ON TOURISM ATTRACTION, TOURISM EXPERIENCE VALUE PERCEPTION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TENDENCY OF TRADITIONAL RURAL TOURISM DESTINATIONS

Revitalizing traditional villages through rural creativity and tourism has become a universal phenomenon. In China, bookstores have begun to implement tourism practices in rural destinations, providing tourists with multiple experiences. However, bookstores as emerging creative agents in creativity-led rural tourism have rarely been discussed in academia. Therefore, this study examines the role of bookstores’ creativity in rural revitalization and tourism development in traditional Chinese villages. Three case studies were conducted using qualitative and inductive methods. Consequently, the findings categorize the employment of creativity into three dimensions through which bookstores contribute to rural tourism development: creative programming, creative atmosphere, and creative interaction. This study further enriches the theory of creativity-led rural tourism by demonstrating how innovative cultural facilities, such as rural bookstores, participate in the redevelopment of rural areas. Practical insights into new forms of creative practices and approaches to rural tourism planning are also provided.

The case of rural tourism and community development has been made in general terms with less focus on poverty alleviation and more emphasis on economic modernisation. Recently, a link between rural tourism and poverty alleviation has been emphasised in the contemporary tourism and poverty alleviation literature. The aim of the study was to analyse the direct and indirect livelihood impacts of tourism development and their implications on poverty alleviation in Bergville. Since tourism is one of the largest sectors in the economy of South Africa, the researcher was keen to know more about its benefits to rural society like Bergville at large and in particular the rural poor in Bergville. This paper addresses the following three research questions. What is the level to which rural tourism development can contribute to economic development, which can result in poverty alleviation in the Bergville area? Can rural tourism development in Bergville bring a halt to the continuous rural-urban migration which is triggered by poverty in the area? What are the perceptions of the Bergville residents towards rural tourism development as a mechanism for poverty alleviation? This study was carried out on the basis of a combination of two types of research data. The first is secondary data which aimed at defining the terms related to the research and focus on literature review. From literature review we discuss the different viewpoints about rural tourism, poverty alleviation and community development. The second type of research data is primary data obtained through field research. Results show that while the people are pessimistic that the resourcefulness and accessibility of Bergville can support tourism development, they are also of the view that rural tourism is a very important, probably the most important, factor for economic development. The research also recommends that local tourism planners adopt both the advocacy paradigm and the cautionary paradigm by taking advantage of the benefits of rural tourism development and managing the negative impacts thereof.

Yunnan, the province with the largest number of traditional villages in China, is currently facing multiple challenges brought about by globalization and rapid urbanization. These challenges include destructive construction in the process of cultural development and the degradation of regional culture. However, research on the factors influencing the sustainable development of traditional villages is still insufficient. To effectively mitigate this challenge, an in-depth understanding of the influencing factors is crucial. Shaxi Town, with its complex environmental, cultural and socio-economic context, is a unique and critical case for studying cultural tourism and heritage conservation management. This study introduces the Integrated Rural Tourism (IRT) model to analyze the multidimensional factors affecting the sustainable development of traditional village cultural landscapes. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 48 respondents from six tourist-oriented traditional villages in Shaxi Town. The findings include factors in four dimensions and seven themes: social, economic, cultural and environmental. This study deepens our understanding of the prerequisites for developing cultural landscapes in traditional villages. It provides valuable guidance to governments and cultural protectors in promoting the sustainable development of these landscapes.

Key villages of rural tourism have become an important carrier for the high-quality development of rural tourism. The precise identification of the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of rural tourism key villages is of great value in promoting the quality upgrading of rural tourism in China and realizing the goal of rural revitalization strategy. The aim is to realize the complementary coordination and integration of urban and rural areas, promote rural transformation and increase farmers’ incomes. Taking three batches of 1199 key rural tourism villages in China as research samples, the nearest neighbor index, disequilibrium index and kernel density methods were used to reveal the spatial differentiation characteristics of key rural tourism villages and the influencing factors were further analyzed using the geographical connection rate and buffer analysis. The results showed that (1) the key villages of rural tourism demonstrated a typical agglomeration in the spatial distribution, with the Hu Huanyong line as the obvious boundary. (2) The very high-density agglomeration centers were mainly located in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta region, while the high-density agglomeration zones were mainly located in the North China Plain on the east side of the Taihang Mountains and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin. (3) The spatial distribution characteristics of hot regions were in the central and eastern regions; however, the cold regions were in the northwest and northeast regions. (4) The spatial distribution characteristics of key rural tourism villages were the result of the interaction and coupling of multiple factors. The key villages of rural tourism were mainly distributed in plain and hilly areas with dense river networks, dense populations, high levels of economic development, developed transportation and suburban areas.

It is crucial for the protection and sustainable development of villages in China to effectively determine the changes that have occurred in traditional villages’ architectural features and the causes of such changes in order to provide timely feedback, correct protection planning, and construction in these villages. This paper analyzed quantitative indexes at three different scales in Lingquan village, namely construction land, public infrastructure, and the form, material, and color of roofs, using remote sensing images at different time points, drone shooting, and a field survey. It was found that the rate of change of the architectural features at the village and street levels were low, with an overall trend of improvement observed. However, the residential roof features at the building level showed more changes, with a trend of deterioration observed. It was also found that the active participation of the government was the main reason for the substantial improvement observed in the village’s street-level features. Further, for residential houses, the lack of standard guidance for their protection and renovation, as well as the lack of protection awareness and participation mechanisms, were the main reasons found for the deterioration of the village’s building-level features. Finally, the study forwarded some suggestions in order to provide reference value for the timely revision of protection strategies for many villages in China similar to Lingquan village.

The protection and utilization of traditional villages is not only a major practical issue to realize China's rural revitalization and Chinese-style modernization, but also a hot topic in the integration and cross-research of geography, sociology, planning, economics and other disciplines. In order to systematically explore the theoretical cognition, practical problems, system mechanism, practical experience and effective path of the protection and utilization of traditional villages in China, 11 experts in the research field of traditional villages were invited to conduct interviews. The interview mainly focuses on the classification of Chinese traditional villages from three perspectives: policy change and typical model, macro mechanism and core theme, theoretical cognition and practical path, and focuses on specific practices such as industrial integration, landscape protection, vitality, value realization, subject drive, spatial governance and locality, based on the theoretical understanding of the macro system and mechanism for the protection and utilization of Chinese traditional villages. Advanced theoretical and practical issues such as industrial integration, landscape protection, organic renewal, vitality, value realization, subject drive, spatial governance and locality were discussed in depth. According to the main views of the experts, the protection and utilization of China's traditional villages in the new era should focus on: (1) The main problems of protection and utilization of Chinese traditional villages facing the impact of rapid urbanization and modernization, the innovation of mechanism and system, and the realization path. In view of the conflict between modern civilization and agricultural civilization faced by traditional Chinese villages and the major strategic needs for national rural revitalization and Chinese-style modernization, the combination of "top-down" and "bottom-up" is adopted to build a diversified integration mechanism featuring multi-subject participation, organic integration of agriculture, culture and tourism, and overall coordination. By exploring the endogenous growth factors of traditional villages and the historical inheritance and cultural context of traditional villages, strengthening the leadership of rural grassroots party building, giving play to the role of villagers as the main body, reshaping the public cultural space system of traditional villages and all-round digital twin modeling, etc., we will create a living environment that is in line with modernization development and ecological civilization construction and jointly build a cultural map, to realize the transformation of traditional Chinese villages from "vegetable gardens" and "back gardens" to "spiritual homes". (2) Core themes and specific spatial practices of protection and utilization of traditional Chinese villages for rural revitalization and Chinese-style modernization. Focus on the core themes of traditional village classification, industrial integration, organic renewal, landscape protection, vitality, value realization, subject drive, spatial governance and local reconstruction, and strengthen the classification and classification of traditional villages based on the coupling of key factors such as "livelihood, water, food, energy and land"; focus on the significance, connotation and influence mechanism of the time dimension, space dimension and attribute dimension of traditional village industrial transformation; focus on the three tasks of "protection and development countermeasures, measures to improve people's livelihood, and strategies to activate utilization" to promote the organic renewal of traditional settlements; emphasis should be placed on the gene protection and inner spiritual value mining of traditional human settlement cultural landscape, the "living" protection and utilization of traditional living space and the "activation" of traditional cultural heritage; focus on the diversification of traditional village activities, "co-construction, co-governance and sharing" and the construction of beautiful villages; the importance of natural non-human elements and human beings as spatial order construction and place construction of traditional villages and their active practice are emphasized to promote the realization of multi-functionality and multi-value of traditional villages. Pay attention to the excavation of traditional cultural heritage and intensive and efficient material space, create a harmonious and comfortable social space and protect and inherit traditional culture space; focusing on rural elements such as "ecology, culture, subject, and industry", strengthening ecological background, inheriting and developing local culture, balancing capital advantages and local embeddedness among local and cross-local subjects, so as to realize local reconstruction and characteristic remodeling of traditional Chinese villages.

Recently urban areas have been advanced in the aspects of convenience, traffic, and cultural environments, but they have faced various problems including environmental issues, traffic congestion, and increasing stress. In contrast, rural areas are in charge of various functions, conservations of natural environments and traditional cultures. Rural life style may be beneficial to urbanites. As urbanites are increasingly interested in leisure activities, such as experiences of tradition cultures and education, safe foods and rural tourism are gaining attention as alternative ways of satisfying their desires. In other words, the rural tourism not only provides urbanites with leisure spaces by playing a role in relations between urban and rural areas, but also acts as a nonfarm income to the rural residents. With the changes of time, the number of current rural experience tourism on a nationwide is increasing and competition among locations is getting intensive. Particularly, despite various rural tourism villages in operation, there is not a standard in the dice for experience cost and accommodation costs. Accordingly, the aim of the study was to estimate urbanites' willingness to pay(WTP) for rural experience tourism and to provide basic data for qualitative growth and revitalization with regard to the tours. The estimated WTP for rural experience tourism was found to be 5,600won for experience, 5,600won for food, 42,000won for accommodation, and 13,000won for purchasing farm products, respectively. This trend could be similarly found (there were slight differences in food cost) on all analyses, such as the research of the current situations of rural tourism villages in Gyeongnam province, the pilot survey and the estimation depending on whether or not urbanites experienced the tours. In other words, the WTP for urban hands-on experience tours estimated by this study is considered highly significant in terms with possibility of its application in the sites. It is concluded that the urbanites' WTP for rural experience tourism obtained by this study will contribute to the setup of standard index of rural tourism, the qualitative development of rural hands-on experiences, and the raise of nonfarm income.

Rural tourism strategies in underdeveloped countries have gained significant popularity in recent years. However, the repetitive and irrational construction of tourist destinations contributes to the homogeneity of the tourism environment. Low quality in the rural landscape and tourism services could affect the attraction of tourist spots. Collaboration between rural areas and service-based tourism is essential for the development of tourist-oriented villages. This review paper aims to thoroughly analyze the relationship between rural landscapes and tourism services within tourist-oriented villages in China. It further explores how the synergistic development of these two sectors can enhance rural tourism and addresses the sustainability challenges these villages face. After analyzing the data by integrated review, it is evident that the “wisdom product” concept, which integrates a high-quality rural landscape with tourism services through cultural branding, can improve the attractiveness of tourist-oriented villages and achieve sustainable growth. By grasping this concept, rural areas can experience a revival, enabling local governments, villagers, and tourism service providers to actively participate in the long-term planning, management, and development of tourist-oriented villages, crucial for the enduring success of rural tourism initiatives in China.