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

Abstract

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 clearly 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.

Local responses to macro development policies and their effects on rural system in China’s mountainous regions: the case of Shuanghe Village in Sichuan Province

“…These webs shape the relative attractiveness and competitiveness of rural spaces economically, socially, culturally and environmentally (Murdoch 2000;Marsden 2010). Actors are essential and decisive factor in rural development (Lakshmanan 1982;Terluin 2003;Binns and Nel 2003;Phuthego and Chanda 2004;Zhou and Liu 2008), and thus it must be kept in mind that the perspectives of these (2009) and author's survey) Notes: Left, people of rural China and Shuanghe; right, out-migration and left-behind people of Shuanghe. The percentage of registered population that is of working age (customarily ages 15-64) in Shuanghe is 74.25%, a little higher than that in rural China (70.81%).…”

“…Binns and Nel 2003;Zhou and Liu 2008). However, Jiang's (2007) survey showed that most of the village cadres were incapable to promote village development.…”

Residents’ perceptions of the impact of tourism in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

“…Social impacts usually raise concerns for residents, and include negative impacts such as prostitution (Sharma and Dyer, 2009), security and crime (Brida et al, 2011), overcrowding and traffic congestion (Kim, 2002) and spending habits of tourists that cause residents to resent their conditions (Mason, 2016). Positive social impacts relate to tourism development, including improvements to residents' quality of life (Zhou and Liu, 2008), increasing entertainment variety (Kim, 2002;Kim et al, 2013) and improvements to a destination's image (Stylidis et al, 2014). Pappas (2008) suggests that social impacts are affected by gender; men are more favorable to positive social impacts, and women are more concerned with negative social impacts.…”

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