Rural Ecological Experience Tourism

Since the middle of the20th century, the increase in leisure time has been very popular inthe world. It is a strong market demand for tourism development that leisure time to occupy athird year time of citizens in China. Rural tourism is faced with how to combine the rurallandscape, rural society and industrialization of agriculture in the transformation andupgrading of multifunctional agriculture. The need for new types of rural tourism productshas been enhanced accordingly. Rural ecological experience tourism (E2T) is a new type ofrural tourism products, which could improve quality of tourism experience in rural tourismactivity. E2T is an experience economy for rural ecological economy in sustainabledevelopment, which contributes the development of multifunctional agriculture (MFA) in therural area. MFA is spatial carrier for ecological experience field (E2F), which constitutes ofecological experience landscape (ie. Eco-experiencescape) is in the rural scale.This dissertation is mainly divided into three parts. The first part is the base portionwhich inducts out the topic and framework of the dissertation, literature review and appraisesthe development of rural tourism research in the world and brings forward the theoreticbedrock. The second part is the primary content which discusses respectively the theory ofecological experience field (E2F), ecological experience landscape (ie. Eco-experiencescape)and E2T. They are multifunctional landscape constructed in the actor-network ofmultifunctional agriculture, which forms a new type of space for E2T in the rural area. Thenew type space is a geographical and a flow landscape for activity of experiential tourism inthe rural area, which is on the theories of landscape ecology, ecological economy, experienceeconomy and actor-network theory; the next step is to select strategy for E2T of the MFAactor-network, which forms a driving force to multifunctional landscape in the rural area. Thethird part is to develop products of E2T, which are on the structures of the E2T and standards.Ecological experiential marketing (E2M) is an integrated marketing, which contributes toecological image communication for rural area.E2F actor-network paradigm corresponds to the needs of the wider society andreconfigures rural resources in ways that lead to widening the potential of the ruralrecreational multifunctionality. Therefore, E2F actor-network paradigm focuses onperspectives of the stakeholders’(including tourists and local villagers) recreationalexperience to the multifunctionality, which combines the supply and demand aspects of theMFA. Actor-network theory (ANT) offers an approach focusing on the heterogeneousnetwork of interactions between human and non-human actors, such as land use, rivers, folkcustom, animals and plants. E2F actor-network paradigm also interprets the human-naturestructural relationship among all kinds of multifunctionality. Interpretations of thehuman-nature relationship usually have been opposed.E2F actor-network is a creative space based on the land use of the MFA, whicheffectively combines supply and demand aspects of the MFA. The difference of the MFA is abasis that can be used to design the creative space, which could improve the potential of the recreational experience. E2F actor-network should be used within the MFA planning processto ensure that creative space management is spatially targeted to achieve optimum gains forsocial, environmental and economic development.MFA has become the core of sustainable agriculture, owing to its integration of multiplefunctions of agricultural systems, which should reach a state of equilibrium for economicallyviable, environmentally safe and socially equitable development in rural areas, if managedwell. Studies of the MFA have mostly focused on the economic value of multiple functions,but research remains fragmented and has limitations in understanding the structuralrelationships of multifunctional agriculture. It is difficult to carry out adaptive comprehensiveevaluation and land-use planning for the MFA in the rural areas. To solve this problem, wepropose an actor-network as an analytical framework, to identify the structural relationships.Results show that farmers’ average annual income increased by20%in multifunctionalagriculture networks, and that the actor network reached a state of equilibrium between themultiple functions of sustainable agriculture. Based on in-depth interviews and participatoryobservations, we incorporate data from366tourists (constituting87.5%of those surveyed)and52local residents in Dalishu Village of Liaoning Province, China, to build a structuralequation model to evaluate the structural relationships of a multifunctional agriculture actornetwork.A number of measures contribute to development of the MFA networking, by adjustingthe relationship of ecological functions to tourism and societal, industrial, and benefitfunctions. Compared with conventional agriculture, these measures combine multiple goals ofsustainable agriculture, and pursue these with current or potential performance ofmultifunctional agriculture as a basis for developing strategies of sustainable agriculture.Networking methods improved the capacity of the MFA through strengthening the ecologicalactor effect on the tourism actor, and societal actor effect on the industrial actor, by adjustingthe synergistic effect of the land-use system.In order to evaluate multifunctionality by focusing on functions that MFA should provide.Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis with an AnalyticNetwork Process (ANP) method were used in this study. The integrated SWOT-ANPapproach is preferred because it enables the quantification of the intensities of strengths,weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, thus providing a more realistic and effectiveevaluation than standalone SWOT or ANP. Results indicate that the economic function wasstronger than the residential, environmental, and leisure functions in Dalishu village, LiaoningProvince, China. This analysis contributes to the discussion on the consequences ofagricultural environmental policies for the conservation of the MFA in rural areas.As a type of integrated rural tourism (IRT), E2T network includes multiple nodesconnected to the ecological industry chain that interacts with pre-existing MFA structures.Local productive capabilities must be strengthened for the LCTV network to benefit the entirerural ecological economy and thus contribute to the creation of a destination brand image forE2T marketing. As a multi-sectoral activity, E2T includes participation in agricultural production, visits to landscapes and natural environments, regional gastronomy, and overnightstay in rural spaces. The integrated LCTV–ANP approach is a preferred strategy because itquantifies the intensities of the factors in the LCTV framework, thus providing a morerealistic and effective evaluation than the stand-alone LCTV or ANP. The LCTV–ANPstrategy helps exhaust the potential of IRT and contributes to rural MFA. Decision-makersmust recognise the importance of all factors involved in the LCTV network, and focus mustbe directed to the multifunctionality of the rural landscape.Strategies of E2M are important for adding value to products of E2T in the rural area. Tosucceed and grow, it is necessary to evaluate products of ecological experience according tostandards. E2M strategies offerings that create experiential value and provide experiential gridas a tool to help small rural business operators assess and enhance their ecologicalexperiential offerings that generate meaningful value for consumers. Four examplesincorporating E2M strategies will be highlighted in this dissertation: Dalishu village,Qingshangou gully, Dalu Island and Hekou village in Dandong.