Cooperation or confrontation? Exploring stakeholder relationships in rural tourism land expropriation

Abstract

The current study explored the triadic relationship between the government, local residents and developers as stakeholders in rural tourism land expropriation. Unstructured interviews and non-participant observation were conducted to obtain relevant data. Social action theory was applied to delineate the complex interaction and relationships between the various stakeholders. Growth machine theory was also used to reveal the internal mechanisms of these relationships. The results showed that in land expropriation for rural tourism development in the case setting, stakeholders’ relationships were not merely cooperative or antagonistic; rather, their interests were interwoven and showed a process-based evolution with the progress of land expropriation. Finally, the local government (political elite) and the developer (economic elite) formed a growth coalition and jointly led the process of land expropriation. However, local residents failed to form an anti-growth coalition, which indicates the potential vulnerability of tourism coalition formation. These insights have implications for developing sustainable tourism, including government involvement and resident participation, particularly in the context of developing countries.

Keywords:

• Tourism stakeholders
• social action
• growth machine
• land expropriation
• rural tourism

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Professor Qiu and Professor Jenkins for their great assistance in the writing progress of the paper. We are also grateful to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (to Ma Xiaolong) (No. 41471131), the Hundred Young Subjects Leader at Nankai University and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.63192810).

Notes on contributors

Xiao Long Ma

Dr. Xiao Long Ma is a Professor in the College of Tourism and Service Management at Nankai University. He has rich experience in scientific research, teaching and tourism industry practice. His teaching and research interests focus on rural tourism and tourism planning. His recent publications have appeared in the highly prestigious international academic journals.

Mei Ling Dai

Mei Ling Dai is a doctoral student in the College of Tourism and Service Management at Nankai University. Her research interests focus on rural tourism.

Daisy X. F. Fan

Dr. Daisy X.F. Fan, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of People & Organisations, Faculty of Management at Bournemouth University, UK. Her research interests include tourist-host social contact, ageing and wellbeing, tourists' ethnocentrism, cultural distance and cruise travel.