Ethnic Villagers’ Sense of Benefit in Pro-poor Tourism: A Case of Taoping Qiang Village in Sichuan, China

ABSTRACT

Studies empirically examining the sense of benefit in the tourism field were limited. Based on questionnaires and in-depth interviews, this study investigated the ethnics’ sense of pro-poor tourism benefit of Taoping Qiang Village in Sichuan province in China. Results indicate that the ethnics’ sense of benefit in aspects of living standards, social development, community atmosphere, and traditional culture have maintained a good state. In contrast, the personal growth and ethnics’ equal right elements need to be further enhanced. Also, the specific factors affecting the sense of benefit were identified, including the level of per capita household income, the perfection of village infrastructure, the changes of villagers’ employment opportunities, the popularity of villagers to tourists, villagers’ sense of identity with traditional culture and the transparency in the use of poverty alleviation funds. This study introduces the political concept of ‘sense of benefit’ into the field of tourism. It fills a literature gap in the pro-poor tourism academic research that relates to Chinese ethnic villages and residents.

摘要

获得感在旅游领域的实证研究是不足的。本研究采用问卷调查和深度访谈相结合的方法, 对中国四川省桃坪羌寨居民对旅游扶贫效应的获得感进行了调查。结果表明, 村寨居民在生活水平, 社会发展, 社区氛围, 传统文化方面的获得感保持着良好的状态。相比之下, 个人发展和居民公平权利方面的获得感有待进一步提升。同时, 本研究确定了影响村寨居民获得感的具体因素, 包括家庭人均年收入的高低, 村落基础设施的完善程度, 村民就业机会的变化, 村民对游客的欢迎度, 村民对传统文化的认同感和扶贫资金使用的透明性。本研究的意义在于将‘获得感’的政治概念引入旅游领域, 填补了我国民族村寨和居民扶贫旅游学术研究的文献空白, 对中国旅游扶贫领域做出了有益补充。

KEYWORDS:

• Pro-poor tourism
• sense of benefit
• poverty alleviation effect of tourism
• ethnic village
• sustainability

关键词:

• 旅游扶贫获得感旅游扶贫效应民族村寨可持续性

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the the National Social Science Foundation of China (to LI Zhiyong) [No. 17XGL012]; Youth Fund Project of the Ministry of Education for the Study of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Western and Frontier Regions (to Huang Guoqing) [No.15XJC840002]; National Social Science Foundation of China (to Huang Guoqing) [No.16BSH028]; a grant from the Sichuan Province Science and Technology Plan Project (to LI Zhiyong) [No. 2019YFS0078].

Notes on contributors

Honglin Chen

Honglin Chen is Postgraduate Student in School of Tourism at Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. Her research interests include tourist behavior and content analysis (E-mail: [email protected]).

Guoqing Huang

Guoqing Huang is Professor in School of Economics and Management at Southwest University, Chongqing, China. Her research interests include rural tourism and pro-poor tourism (E-mail: [email protected]).

Zhiyong Li

Zhiyong Li is Professor as well as Dean of School of Tourism at Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. His research interests center on tourism marketing, hotel management, and tourist behavior (E-mail: [email protected]).