Paper Example on Exploring China's Hidden Rural Treasures: A Homestay Adventure

Introduction

Rural tourism offers tourists the perfect opportunity to learn about the traditional culture of the people. It enriches the experience of the tourist with authentic sociocultural knowledge of their host communities. Besides being connected with extensive infrastructure, China boasts of rich cultural heritage and abundant tourist attractions in its rural parts, where homestays have become convenient and necessary products. Rural homestay is increasingly becoming an important draw for tourists in China. Data from homestay booking platforms in the country show that reservations for rural homestay rose by more than 5 percent during this year's May Day holiday (CGTN, 2020). In 2019, rural destinations in China received a total of 3.2 billion visitors, who earned the tourism sector over 800 billion yuan (CGTN, 2020). The success of rural homestay management in China will certainly have implications for the growth and sustainability of tourism as well as traditional cultural resources in rural China.

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In most rural parts of China, communities should be able to appreciate the potential and existing value of tourism as an agent of rural development (Crouch 2006). At the same time, the demand for rural tourism is expected to grow because of stakeholders' efforts to preserve, improve, and market traditional and cultural attractions (Yoel and Aliza 2006). Since China has the largest population of rural dwellers in the world, its government considers rural development an important part of national growth.

Research Questions

1. How does rural homestay management affect the protection of tourism resources in rural areas?
2. How does rural homestay management influence the diversification and refinement of the rural tourism market?
3. How does rural homestay management influence the development of leisure and experiential agriculture tourism?
4. How does rural homestay management influence the improvement and expansion of the tourism e-commerce System (RTECS)?

Research Objectives and Statement of Problems

Despite rural homestay program growing into a significant part of China’s tourism industry, the country’s homestay management and its implications have received little attention from scholars. The existing studies on homestay management focus primarily on its economic benefits for the rural communities in China. In another homestay management study conducted in Indonesia, a researcher argued that management is crucial to the success of rural homestay business, which would greatly influence the sustainable development of tourism in the rural areas (Rosyidi, 2018). But no previous study has comprehensively looked at homestay management and what it means for the development of rural tourism. Therefore, the current study seeks to determine the relationship between homestay management and the development of rural tourism with respect to traditional Chinese culture.

Literature Review

Homestay management in general has a common standard consisting of three aspects: human resources, safety and security, and management of administration. Management of human resource concerns enhancing the community’s capacity to sustainably manage homestay (Pusiran & Xiao, 2013). Safety and security management focuses on the efforts aimed at preventing and minimizing unprecedented circumstances. Lastly, management administration is about how the community treats the homestay guests (Sweeney & Lynch, 2007).

In October 2013, the government came up with a 112-article law meant to stimulate sustained growth in the tourism industry (Cripps, 2013). The legislation includes ways to address domestic industry issues such as unfair competition and tourist safety and forced shopping trips.

Managing homestay is not different from other tourist accommodation types, which include handling assets, workforce, and consumers (Sharpley, 2005). However, scholars hold a wide range of views on the management of homestay. Some claim that homestay management is basically about managing security, comfort, and cleanliness (Ibrahim & Rashid 2010). But it is also true that homestay management has to look at other things including crisis management, marketing, and tourism resources (Kunjuraman & Hussin, 2017). Besides, as part of the homestay management, managers also need to cooperate and share the benefits with rural dwellers (Zhou et al., 2019). The many views on homestay management imply that it consists of service management and physical management. Service management encompasses the organization and marketing of homestay whereas physical management focuses on residential buildings and facilities management.

Aside from the debate on the components of homestay management, its implications on cultural tourism in rural China are not in question. Kontogeorgopoulos et al. (2015) argue that the measures that the rural communities take to improve homestay management often result in an increased inflow of visitors. Hence, growth in tourism increases dependence on the sector, which consequently promotes greater community involvement in the protection of tourism resources in the areas of attraction (Gao & Wu, 2017). Also, good rural homestay management can promote the development of leisure and experiential agriculture tourism as well as tourism e-commerce System.

Moreover, the question of whether rural people should restore or preserve traditional features in their villages remains a dilemma. Notably, in order to meet the growing demands of the market and improve their own living standards, rural communities tend to diversify and refine their tourist resources (Dai et al., 2016). The problem is that diversifying and refining resources diminishes their authenticity. According to Novelli and Tisch-Rottensteiner (2012), some members of the rural communities argue that it is necessary to preserve the traditional features of the villages to protect both cultural and historical heritage. But others fear that prioritizing the preservation of tourist features will downplay their desire to have improved standards of living.

Significance of the Study

This study will be conducted to fill the knowledge gap on the impact of homestay management on the sustainability and growth of tourism in rural China. The findings of this study will either affirm or disapprove the widely-held beliefs on the components of homestay management and identify the ways in which it affects healthy and sustainable development in the market. Since it ventures into a relatively new area of research, this study will hopefully create interest for further research on the subject.

Research Methodology

The research will use qualitative methods to obtain both primary and secondary data for the study. The study population comprises of all people living in rural parts of China where homestay has been encouraged and is being practiced. For the primary data, the researcher will distribute questionnaires to a selected sample of respondents from selected villages situated within or near renowned tourist attractions. Upon identifying the villages, the researcher will use purposive sampling technique to recruit study participants capable of offering detailed and in-depth information about the subject of the research. The researcher will develop a specific criterion that each potential participant must meet to qualify to take part in the research. For secondary data, the researcher will analyze facts and figures published in the websites and reports of key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, and homestay tourism platforms.

References

CGTN. (2020, May 21). China to list more key villages to promote rural tourism. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-21/China-to-list-more-key-villages-to-promote-rural-tourism-QFRQyksPvi/index.html

Cripps, K. (2013, October 4). China's first tourism law comes into effect, tourists issued manners guides. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/new-china-tourism-law/index.html

Crouch, D. (2006) Tourism, consumption, and rurality. pp 255- 264 in Cloke P, Marsden T and Mooney PH eds, Handbook of rural studies (London: Sage)

Dai, L., Wan, L., Xu, B., & Wu, B. (2016). How to improve rural tourism development in Chinese suburban villages? Empirical findings from a quantitative analysis of eight rural tourism destinations in Beijing. Area, 49(2), 156-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12308

Gao, J., & Wu, B. (2017). Revitalizing traditional villages through rural tourism: A case study of Yuanjia village, Shaanxi province, China. Tourism Management, 63, 223-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.04.003

Ibrahim, Y., & Rashid, A. (2010) ‘Homestay Program and Rural Community Development in Malaysia’. Journal of Ritsumeikan Social Science and Humanities 1(2), 7–24

Kontogeorgopoulos, N., Churyen, A., & Duangsaeng, V. (2015). Homestay tourism and the commercialization of the rural home in Thailand. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 20(1), 29-50. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2013.852119

Kunjuraman, V., & Hussin, R. (2017) ‘Challenges of community-based homestay programme in Sabah, Malaysia: Hopeful or hopeless?’ Tourism Management Perspectives 21:1–9.

Novelli, M., & Tisch-Rottensteiner, A. (2012). Authenticity versus development: Tourism to the hill tribes of Thailand. In O. Moufakkir & P. Burns (Eds.), Controversies in tourism (pp. 54–72). Wallingford: CABI.

Pusiran, A. K., & Xiao, H. (2013). Challenges and community development: A case study of homestay in Malaysia. Asian Social Science, 9(5), 1–17.

Rosyidi, M. I. (2018). Comparative Study of Homestay Management in Gubugklakah and Ngadisari. In The 2nd Bali International Tourism Conference: Millenial Tourism, At Bali (pp. 388-396). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329086302_Comparative_Study_of_Homestay_Management_in_Gubugklakah_and_Ngadisari

Sharpley, R. (2005) ‘The Accommodation sector : Managing for Quality. In: Pender L, Sharpley R, editors’. The Management of Tourism. Sage Publications

Sweeney, M., & Lynch, P. (2007). Explorations of the host’s relationship with the commercial home. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 7(2), 100–108.

Yoel, M., & Aliza, J. (2006) Evaluating the socio-cultural carrying capacity of rural tourism communities: A ‘Value Stretch’ Approach, Tijdschrift voor Economists en Social Geografie 97(5):583-601

Zhou, M., Chu, S., & Du, X. (2019). Safeguarding traditional villages in China: The role and challenges of rural heritage preservation. Built Heritage, 3(2), 81-93. https://doi.org/10.1186/bf03545729