Integration and sustainability of tourism and traditional livelihood: A rhythmanalysis

Abstract

This study presents a theory of rhythmanalysis to illustrate how tourism livelihoods integrate with traditional livelihood in rhythm to achieve sustainability. Considering the case of the homes of herders in West Ujumqin Banner, China, this research involved participants’ observations, in-depth interviews during off- and peak seasons in 2018, and a visual methodology. First, this study identifies the annual rhythm of tourism and pastoralist livelihoods and the daily polyrhythms, which are the basis for synergizing livelihoods, during the peak tourism season. Second, the integration process of the two livelihoods is considered a process of arrhythmia–recuperation–eurhythmia supported by a series of time strategies to achieve rhythmic harmony. The theory of rhythmanalysis is helpful in explaining the embedding process of tourism livelihood from the household perspective; as a supplementary livelihood, tourism operation is affected by individuals’ cultural time habits, which are shaped by the traditional pastoralist livelihood. This article contributes to the theoretical concept of temporal rhythm in the tourism context and offers new avenues for time management.

Keywords:

• Homes of the herders
• pastoralism
• rhythmanalysis
• sustainable livelihood
• tourism

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, and Xie Jia, Yang Xihao at the School of the tourism management of Sun-yat Sen University for their kind suggestion.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This work was supported by National Social Science Foundation of China under Grant [No. 15ZDB118], National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant [No. 41961022] and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project under Grant [2016NDC106].

Notes

1 During the daytime, the horses need to be milked every 2–3 h five to six times a day. If the horses are not milked, the horse milk naturally flows or the milking time of the mares is disrupted. In addition, the mare is more aware of birth and produces milk only for a person familiar with milking. Otherwise, there is a great impact on milk production. The work of milking horses is often performed only by the women in the family.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

A. Rongna

A. Rongna, is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China. She is also a lecturer at the School of Tourism Management, Inner Mongolia Normal University. Her research focuses on tourism impacts, social time issues in tourism.

Jiuxia Sun

Jiuxia Sun, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Tourism Management and Center for Tourism Planning and Research at Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China. Her research covers tourism and community development, tourism impacts and tourism planning.