Ecotourism Development and the Egocentric Network of Female Residents: A Case Study in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

ABSTRACT

Community-based ecotourism is increasingly recognized as a form of sustainable development designed to promote local livelihood, environmental conservation and culture, and even new social relationships. We combine quantitative and qualitative data to establish a social network of female residents based on an egocentric network perspective for Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. The aims are to determine (1) the change of the scale and structure of the female social network in tourist destinations, (2) the causes of these changes and (3) the benefits of these changes for women in tourist destinations. However, this communication network is not functioning perfectly because actors experience a lack of interdependence.

摘要

社区生态旅游逐渐被认为是一种可持续发展的旅游形式，旨在促进当地的生态环境、资源保护和文化传承，甚至于新的社会关系的形成。本文将社区女性居民作为研究对象，采用自我中心社会网络分析范式、定量数据与定性分析相结合的研究方法，对张家界国家森林公园社区生态旅游进行深入调查发现：(1) 旅游目的地女性社交网络的规模和结构有着显着变化， (2) 这些变化的原因以及 (3) 这些变化对旅游目的地女性居民的影响。研究结果表明，社区生态旅游发展对于森林公园社区女性居民自我中心社会网络的影响正相关；但是，由于社会网络内的行动者缺乏相互依存的关系，社会网络结构还有进一步完善的空间。

KEYWORDS:

• Social network
• female residents
• community-based ecotourism
• the network scale
• the network centrality
• the networkdensity

关键词:

• 社会网络, 女性居民, 社区生态旅游, 网络规模, 网络中心度, 网络密度

Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by a grant received from the Administrative Office of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and the Government of Wulingyuan District.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fang Zeng

Fang Zeng is a postgraduate student of the College of Tourism at Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China (E-mail: [email protected]).

Congxin Zhou

Congxin Zhou is a postgraduate student of the College of Tourism at Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China (E-mail: [email protected]).

Yongde Zhong

Yongde Zhong is Professor in the College of Tourism at Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China (E-mail: [email protected]).