Rural Tourism Destinations Research Articles

The influence of rural tourism landscape perception on tourists’ revisit intentions—a case study in Nangou village, China

Rural tourism development has an important impact on optimizing the rural industrial structure and stimulating local economic growth. China’s Rural Revitalization Strategy has promoted the development of rural tourism nationwide and emphasized Chinese characteristics in the process of local development. Based on the theoretical analysis of landscape perception, this article uses the external Landscape Perception→Satisfaction→Revisit Intention influence path as a theoretical research framework to construct a structural equation model to analyze the willingness of tourists to revisit rural tourism destinations. We selected Nangou Village, Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province, as a key model village for rural revitalization, and conducted an empirical analysis. The empirical analysis results show that landscape perception has a significant positive impact on satisfaction and revisit intention. Tourist satisfaction has a significant positive impact on revisit intention and plays an intermediary role between landscape perception and revisit intention. The five dimensions of natural ecology, historical culture, leisure recreation, research experience, and integral route under landscape perception are all significantly positively correlated with revisit intention, with historical culture and integral route having the greatest impact on landscape perception. The survey about Nangou Village verifies the relationship between landscape perception, satisfaction, and tourists’ revisit intention. Based on the objective data analysis results, this study puts forward suggestions for optimizing Nangou Village’s tourism landscapes and improving tourists’ willingness to revisit from three aspects: deeply excavating rural historical and cultural resources, shaping the national red culture brand, and creating rural tourism boutique routes. It is hoped that the quantitative research method of landscape perception theory in Nangou Village can also provide a reference and inspiration for similar rural tourism planning.

A Study on Residents' Willingness for Tourism Ecological Compensation and Its Influencing Factors: A Case Study of Zhujiawan Village in the Qinba Mountain Region

Ecological compensation plays a crucial role in balancing stakeholder interests, aligning with the principles of ecological civilization and sustainable development. However, research on tourism ecological compensation, especially concerning community residents' perspectives, remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining the case of Zhujiawan Village in China's Qinba Mountain region. Through surveys and analysis, the study investigates community residents' perceptions, preferences, and factors influencing their willingness to accept tourism ecological compensation. The findings reveal that while residents acknowledge the positive economic impacts of rural tourism development, they also express concerns about environmental pollution, particularly waste and noise. They largely attribute responsibility for ecological compensation to the government and tourism developers. Cash compensation emerges as the preferred method, with employment opportunities also valued. Additionally, residents expect an annual compensation standard of 1,033 RMB, influenced by their satisfaction with the local ecological environment and awareness of ecological compensation policies. The study highlights the importance of balancing economic development with environmental protection in rural tourism destinations. It underscores the need for diversified compensation mechanisms and emphasizes the significance of community involvement in decision-making processes for sustainable tourism development.

Exploring Guests’ Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction with Homestay Experiences: A Netnographic Study of a Rural Tourism Destination in Vietnam

ABSTRACT Few studies have used online reviews to gain useful insights into homestay guests’ satisfaction. This study responds to demands from the existing literature on homestay tourism in a rural destination context to identify the factors that contribute to tourists’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction by examining homestay experiences in Vietnam’s Ben Tre province. User-generated content on Booking.com was analyzed using a netnographic approach. The data comprised 656 online posts. The findings suggest that guests achieve satisfaction from host families’ attitudes and language abilities, high-quality facilities in the bedrooms and grounds, authentic cuisine, a peaceful location, the availability of complementary services, and affordable prices. The findings contradict studies suggesting that homestay guests may seek familiarity, and this was largely not evident in terms of tourist food consumption while at the destination. In addition, the findings challenge studies indicating that prices have a strong influence on tourists’ satisfaction with homestay tourism.

Risk perceptions and behaviors concerning rural tourism and economic-political drivers of COVID-19 policy in 2020.

When COVID-19 was first introduced to the United States, state and local governments enacted a variety of policies intended to mitigate the virulence of the epidemic. At the time, the most effective measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 included stay-at-home orders, closing of nonessential businesses, and mask mandates. Although it was well known that regions with high population density and cold climates were at the highest risk for disease spread, rural counties that are economically reliant on tourism were incentivized to enact fewer precautions against COVID-19. The uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the multiple policies to reduce transmission, and the changes in outdoor recreation behavior had a significant impact on rural tourism destinations and management of protected spaces. We utilize fine-scale incidence and demographic data to study the relationship between local economic and political concerns, COVID-19 mitigation measures, and the subsequent severity of outbreaks throughout the continental United States. We also present results from an online survey that measured travel behavior, health risk perceptions, knowledge and experience with COVID-19, and evaluation of destination attributes by 407 out-of-state visitors who traveled to Maine from 2020 to 2021. We synthesize this research to present a narrative on how perceptions of COVID-19 risk and public perceptions of rural tourism put certain communities at greater risk of illness throughout 2020. This research could inform future rural destination management and public health policies to help reduce negative socioeconomic, health and environmental impacts of pandemic-derived changes in travel and outdoor recreation behavior.

The soundscape and tourism experience in rural destinations: an empirical investigation from Shawan Ancient Town

Rural tourism is becoming more valued by different tourist destinations along with the expansion of its market, especially, ancient town tourism, as one of the special rural tourism destinations, has become popular in recent years. This study aims to take Shawan ancient town as a case to comprehend the role of soundscape perceptions in affecting both flow experience and memorable tourism experience and further influence future behavioral intentions. The method of systematic sampling was performed, and finally, 394 samples were retained for further PLS-SEM analysis. The results show that both natural soundscape perceptions and human-made soundscape perceptions have significant effects on flow experience and memorable tourism experience, and natural soundscape perceptions have a stronger effect on tourism experience. In addition, both flow experience and memorable tourism experience were found to influence behavioral intention positively, and flow experience shows the stronger impact. Findings provide managerial implications suggesting that destination managers should cleverly integrate natural soundscape elements into the design of ancient towns and reduce interference from human-made soundscapes. Additionally, practical implications are provided for destination managers in designing soundscapes in the ancient town.

PRODUKSI RUANG PUBLIK PEDESAAN SEBAGAI DESTINASI WISATA: STUDI DESTINASI WISATA MUNCAR

Abstract: The public space of the Muncar cravingtourist destination is experiencing a majortransformation gradually. The advantage of a tourist destination is that it has natural beauty that is still preserved and culture, local wisdom is still preserved from generation to generation by the people of Muncar village. Many people use the Muncar rural tourist destination as a public space as a place to interact. The Muncar craving areahas transformed from an unkempt area to a well-maintained area and is producing space with the emergence of new buildings and new faces. This research method uses descriptive qualitativemethodology, data is collected through observationand in-depth interviews. This study aims to examine the production of public space in the Muncar rural area using Henry Lefebvre's theory ofpublic space production. Apart from that, tomaintain the sustainability of Muncar Rural Tourismas a public space that can be used by anyone and to accommodate various human activities, bothindividually and in groups Keywords: public space, tourist destination

Measuring the resilience of rural tourism in Indonesia using the Adjusted Mazziotta-Pareto index

Rural tourism plays a crucial role in rural development in Indonesia by providing employment opportunities, livelihood, infrastructure, cultural preservation, and environmental preservation. However, it is prone to external shocks such as natural disasters, public health events, and volatility in the national and global economy. This study measures the resilience of rural tourism to external shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 24 rural tourism destinations in Indonesia covering four years from 2019 to 2022. A synthetic composite index of the Adjusted Mazziotta-Pareto index (AMPI) is used to measure rural tourism resilience followed by clustering analysis to determine the typology of the resilience. The AMPI measure is also compared with the conventional Mazziotta-Pareto index (MPI) method. The resilience index is composed of capacity and performance components related to resilience. The results show that in the first year of COVID-19, most tourism villages in Indonesia were severely affected by the pandemic, yet they were able to recover afterward, as indicated by positive differences in the AMPI index before and after COVID-19. Thus, rural tourism villages in Indonesia have a strong capacity and performance to recover from pandemic shock. Lessons learned from this analysis can be applied to policies related to rural tourism resilience in developing countries.

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION OF LISTINGS ON AIRBNB AND BOOKING.COM AS SHARING ECONOMY PLATFORMS IN THE TOURISM DESTINATION OF MARAMURES LAND ROMANIA

The innovations brought by the sharing economy model through digital booking platforms have produced changes in the dynamic of the accommodation supply in many tourism destinations. The fastness with which changes occur has left this market segment either largely unaccounted for statistically, or poorly regulated, and Maramureș Land, a known cultural and rural tourism destination with inherent regional and local particularities, is no exception. The study raises the issue of evidence regarding the level of adoption and the true scale of the accommodation supply in the area by focusing on listings from two of the most popular digital booking platforms – Booking.com and Airbnb, an aspect that can support policy-making adapted to its specific characteristics. These objectives were pursued through an empirical methodological approach to map the spatiotemporal distribution of listings from the area of Maramureș Land between 2010 and 2023. The methodology assumed the creation of an M.Excel database with all listings from the area, the extraction of descriptive variables and coordinates, the conversion of coordinates into vector point data, and the subsequent analysis using vector and attribute data processing instruments in QGIS.

Exploring Community Self-efficacy to Light Pollution Mitigation in A Tourism Destination

ABSTRACT Light pollution is an emergent environmental concern, it disrupts the natural patterns of wildlife, contributes to the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, disrupts human sleep, and obscures the stars in the night sky. However, rural and urban communities often overlook this factor, since it is not seen as a problem, and even if the destination has taken measures to mitigate light pollution, it is still challenging to maintain optimal levels. This study applied a questionnaire (N = 366) to examine the community involvement in light pollution mitigation in a Portuguese rural tourism destination in 2023. Results demonstrated that tourism is not a sufficient incentive for participants to take individual measures to mitigate light pollution (β = 0.075, p = 0.243). However, they consider that integrating tourism with light pollution mitigation at the local community level could enhance the tourist experience (β = 0.427, p = 0.000). Tourism destinations should promote environmental education about the effects of light pollution.

The developmental role of tourism in rural areas

Rural areas in the Republic of Serbia occupy about 85% of the territory, where about 55% of the total population lives, while in the Republic of Srpska rural areas occupy about 95% of the territory and about 83% of its population lives in them. Rural tourism is a common name for various activities and forms of tourism that occur outside cities, ie urban areas and those areas where mass tourism has developed. It is conditioned by the tourist attractions that are located in these rural areas. The importance of rural tourism is reflected, above all, in the very important interaction of agricultural production, traditional agri-food products, presentation of traditions, traditional gastronomy and tourist services, and the use of already existing resources. Considering that the statistics of rural development capacity in Serbia and Republic of Srpska are based on estimates, it is assumed that a significant part of overnight stays, which are realized in spa and mountain areas, can also be treated as realized overnight stays in the field of rural tourist offer. Observing the general state of rural development in the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, it can be noticed that there are a number of limiting factors that condition the unenviable position of the rural tourist product on the tourist market. Some of them are as follows: low level of achieved quality of services provided, insufficient knowledge of new approaches to rural economy development in both competitive domestic and foreign tourism markets, lack of adequate institutional framework to ensure the coordinating role of the state and greater involvement of local authorities. in integrated rural development, poorly developed infrastructure, inadequate diversification of activities, dominance of sectoral policies. Respecting the census of agriculture and the statistical definition of agricultural holdings, the importance of a rural tourist household, ie a household located in a rural area and engaged in tourism, or as a more appropriate name for a tourist family farm must be mentioned. In addition to tourism in rural tourist households, in rural areas we encounter many special forms of tourism. Tourism in rural areas equally includes the activities of tourists (multi-day visitors) and excursionists (one-day visitors). Rural tourist households are generally considered to be basic rural tourism. However, for the development of rural tourism, not only rural tourist households are sufficient, but also other facilities on the rural tourist household itself and in the rural area. Other catering infrastructure is also needed: rooms and canopies for serving food, rooms for wine tasting, brandy, fruit and vegetable products, arranged approaches to the rural tourist household and parking lot, arranged tourist attractions (real, tourist available), restaurants, defined wine and brandy roads, marked bicycle and hiking trails, pilgrimage routes, receptive tourist agencies, ie designed and organized rural tourist destinations are needed, with all possible feasible contents of the tourist rural product. The quality of the rural tourist offer is affirmed as an important factor only in the new age, after it has been in the background for a long time, ie in the shadow of quantitative values. For each destination or company, it is important to be competitive in order to successfully sell their products on the market, and enable loyal tourists. In order for the quality to achieve its true level of development, certain specific circumstances should be determined, and that, along with modern technological development, is a very intensified competitive competition, especially pronounced on the global market.

Empowering local communities engagement: Rural tourism and business innovation for SDGs desa

Purpose: This study investigates the role of social entrepreneurship and business innovation in empowering local communities for rural tourism development within the framework of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Research methodology: A comprehensive review of the existing literature on social entrepreneurship, business innovation, and rural tourism development is conducted. The study also involved qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and community members in the selected villages, followed by thematic analysis of the data. Results: The findings reveal that Social entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in fostering community engagement, promoting social inclusivity, and creating sustainable tourism initiatives. On the other hand, business innovation enables local communities to differentiate themselves, enhance visitor experiences, and improve the overall competitiveness of rural tourism destinations. Limitations: This study acknowledges certain limitations, including the selection of a limited number of case study villages and potential bias in qualitative interviews. Further research is needed to explore the generalizability of the findings across different contexts. Contribution: This study contributes to the understanding of the synergistic relationship among social entrepreneurship, business innovation, and rural tourism development. These findings provide insights for policymakers, community leaders, and practitioners in designing effective strategies to empower local communities and promote sustainable tourism within the SDGs Desa framework. Novelty: The novelty of this study lies in its comprehensive examination of the combined influence of social entrepreneurship and business innovation on rural tourism development in the context of sustainable development goals (SDGs Desa). This highlights the potential of these concepts to drive positive change and create inclusive and resilient rural tourism destinations.

Empowering local communities engagement: Rural tourism and business innovation for SDGs desa

Purpose: This study investigates the role of social entrepreneurship and business innovation in empowering local communities for rural tourism development within the framework of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Research methodology: A comprehensive review of the existing literature on social entrepreneurship, business innovation, and rural tourism development is conducted. The study also involved qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and community members in the selected villages, followed by thematic analysis of the data. Results: The findings reveal that Social entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in fostering community engagement, promoting social inclusivity, and creating sustainable tourism initiatives. On the other hand, business innovation enables local communities to differentiate themselves, enhance visitor experiences, and improve the overall competitiveness of rural tourism destinations. Limitations: This study acknowledges certain limitations, including the selection of a limited number of case study villages and potential bias in qualitative interviews. Further research is needed to explore the generalizability of the findings across different contexts. Contribution: This study contributes to the understanding of the synergistic relationship among social entrepreneurship, business innovation, and rural tourism development. These findings provide insights for policymakers, community leaders, and practitioners in designing effective strategies to empower local communities and promote sustainable tourism within the SDGs Desa framework. Novelty: The novelty of this study lies in its comprehensive examination of the combined influence of social entrepreneurship and business innovation on rural tourism development in the context of sustainable development goals (SDGs Desa). This highlights the potential of these concepts to drive positive change and create inclusive and resilient rural tourism destinations.

Empowering local communities engagement: Rural tourism and business innovation for SDGs desa

Purpose: This study investigates the role of social entrepreneurship and business innovation in empowering local communities for rural tourism development within the framework of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Research methodology: A comprehensive review of the existing literature on social entrepreneurship, business innovation, and rural tourism development is conducted. The study also involved qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and community members in the selected villages, followed by thematic analysis of the data. Results: The findings reveal that Social entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in fostering community engagement, promoting social inclusivity, and creating sustainable tourism initiatives. On the other hand, business innovation enables local communities to differentiate themselves, enhance visitor experiences, and improve the overall competitiveness of rural tourism destinations. Limitations: This study acknowledges certain limitations, including the selection of a limited number of case study villages and potential bias in qualitative interviews. Further research is needed to explore the generalizability of the findings across different contexts. Contribution: This study contributes to the understanding of the synergistic relationship among social entrepreneurship, business innovation, and rural tourism development. These findings provide insights for policymakers, community leaders, and practitioners in designing effective strategies to empower local communities and promote sustainable tourism within the SDGs Desa framework. Novelty: The novelty of this study lies in its comprehensive examination of the combined influence of social entrepreneurship and business innovation on rural tourism development in the context of sustainable development goals (SDGs Desa). This highlights the potential of these concepts to drive positive change and create inclusive and resilient rural tourism destinations.

Perceived Value, Place Identity, and Behavioral Intention: An Investigation on the Influence Mechanism of Sustainable Development in Rural Tourism

Rural tourism has been a hot spot in tourism studies in recent years. This research uses Attitude Theory to investigate the influence mechanism of tourists’ perceived value and place identity on their behavioral intention in rural tourism in Zhejiang Province, China. The study adopts the PLS-SEM method to process the data. The results indicate that tourists’ behavioral intention is positively influenced by their perceived value and place identity. Additionally, perceived value has a positive impact on tourists’ place identity, and place identity plays a positive intermediary role between perceived value and behavioral intention. Meanwhile, cultural value is perceived as having the greatest influence on place identity and behavioral intention. Therefore, rural tourist destinations should focus on cultural value and the tourists’ sense of place to promote sustainable rural tourism development.

Examining the change in the rurality of rural tourism destinations: evidence from China

ABSTRACT Rural tourism destinations that exhibit rurality can effectively enhance their core competitiveness. This study explores the evolving characteristics of rurality in typical rural tourism destinations near Nanjing City. Employing methodologies such as interviews, questionnaire surveys, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, paired sample t-tests, potential conflict index, and cluster analysis, the study reveals that overall rurality perception has improved with tourism development. However, material and social aspects weakened, contrasting with a substantial improvement in the spiritual dimension. The potential conflict index analysis indicates conflicting post-development perceptions of rurality, with increased differences among individual items. Moreover, cluster analysis categorizes tourists into four groups: (1) rurality perception enhancers, (2) relatively neutral, (3) rational, and (4) rurality perception diminishers. These findings offer valuable insights for rural tourism management.

Unveiling Naga Oun Village: Transforming Egypt's Hidden Gem into a Thriving Rural Tourism Destination

Unveiling Naga Oun Village: Transforming Egypt's Hidden Gem into a Thriving Rural Tourism Destination

How Are Rural Homestays Achieving Sustainable Development in the Post-COVID-19 Period: Value Co-Creation by Operators, Tourists, and Government

The mental fatigue of rural homestay operators is of great significance to their performance as well as the sustainability of the rural tourism industry. Mental fatigue is a state of mind caused by consistently demanding cognitive activities. The mental health of rural homestay operators has been severely hit during the COVID-19, and they are in urgent need of finding a path to recovery. Based on value co-creation theory, this paper explores how rural homestay operators’ mental fatigue affects their performance under the moderating effects of government support and tourists’ participation. We conducted a questionnaire survey in the 19 rural tourist destinations of Nanjing, China, and collected a total of 201 questionnaires from the homestay operators. The results reveal that the operators’ mental fatigue has a negative effect on the performance of rural homestays. What’s more, tourists’ participation could moderate the relationship between operators’ mental fatigue and their performance. Although the moderating effects of government support are not significant, they can influence operators’ performance directly and indirectly. Through the value co-creation of operators, tourists, and government with the aim of improving the performance value of the rural homestay co-creation process, the operators’ mental fatigue could be alleviated and their performance restored. These findings can help us explore the recovery mechanism of rural homestays and promote the sustainable development of rural tourism in the post-COVID-19 period.

How does social entrepreneurship achieve sustainable development goals in rural tourism destinations? The role of legitimacy and social capital

Rural tourism has emerged as a pivotal catalyst for local economic development, particularly in emerging economies. However, sustainable rural tourism development should not solely prioritize economic outcomes but also emphasize social values. Social entrepreneurship underscores both economic and social values, presenting a viable approach to attaining sustainable development goals (SDGs) in rural areas. This study introduces the concepts of legitimacy and social capital to examine how social entrepreneurship achieves SDGs in rural tourism destinations using a case study of Mingyue village in China. The findings suggest that social enterprises establish their legitimacy by effectively navigating institutional complexity while also fostering social capital at the community level, which ultimately facilitates the transition of the community from “low legitimacy-low social capital” to “high legitimacy-high social capital.” Throughout this process, social entrepreneurship promotes individual empowerment and enhances collective efficacy, thereby contributing to achieving SDGs. In essence, this paper constructs a theoretical framework illustrating how social entrepreneurship achieves SDGs while providing valuable insights into exploring the sustainable development of rural tourism driven by such entrepreneurial endeavors.

Governing the Tourism Commons: Can Self-governing Institution Ensure the Continuation of the Rural Tourism Life Cycle?

Rural tourism is regarded as an important development strategy in many countries. However, some rural tourist destinations are facing decline after a period of prosperity. Based on the interaction between local residents involved in rural tourism and the common pool resources on which rural tourism depends, this paper discusses the reasons leading to the unsustainable development of rural tourism and proposes solutions to the tragedy of the tourism commons to realize a more sustainable development of rural tourism. This paper uses the data collected in 2017 from 56 villages across 13 provinces of China and obtains the following results using econometric methods. In the absence of a self-governing institution, there was a nonlinear inverted U-shaped relationship between the income of local residents involved in rural tourism and their scale, indicating that the increase of local residents involved in rural tourism only increased their incomes in the initial stage of rural tourism development. However, with the continuous increase of local residents involved in rural tourism, the tragedy of the tourism commons led to lower income from rural tourism. In the presence of a self-governing institution, there was a positive correlation between the income and scale of local residents involved in rural tourism, which indicates that the self-governing institution successfully overcame the tragedy of the tourism commons and ultimately supported the continuous surge of income from rural tourism. This paper also provides a new way for people to understand the development and evolution of the tourism area life cycle theory.

System Construction, Tourism Empowerment, and Community Participation: The Sustainable Way of Rural Tourism Development

The development of rural tourism serves as a crucial strategy for achieving rural revitalization and common prosperity in China. However, the uneven distribution of interests caused by the imperfect tourism destination system is common, and its economic and social impacts have become a major problem and obstacle to the sustainable development of rural tourism. Tourism empowerment and community participation are important for balancing community interests and promoting the sustainable development of tourism. Therefore, from the perspective of tourism empowerment and community participation, this paper takes the Wuzhen scenic area as a case study and considers tourism empowerment as a mediating variable between system construction and community participation, with participation ability serving as a moderating variable. Employing a structural equation model, this paper investigates the interactions among system construction, tourism empowerment, community participation, and participation ability in a rural destination context. The results indicate that system construction significantly benefits tourism empowerment and community participation. Tourism empowerment exerts a significant positive impact on community participation while also serving as a partial mediator between system construction and community participation. Additionally, participation ability positively moderates the impact of system construction on tourism empowerment. This study recommends the creation of an interest linkage mechanism grounded in the property rights of tourism attractions, the introduction of oversight mechanisms for rural tourism enterprises, and the fortification of community participation through educational and informational support as strategies to ensure the sustainable development of rural tourism destinations.