qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwerty uiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasd [Type the document title]
fghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzx [Pick the date]
cvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmq NAME
wertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg hjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxc vbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmq wertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg
Contents
Chapter 1 ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ............................................ ............................................. .......................5 Introduction .......................................... ................................................................ ............................................ ............................................. .......................................... ................... 5 1.1 Background ........................................... .................................................................. ............................................. ............................................ .............................. ........ 5 1.1.1 Role of Ecotourism Ecotour ism in community development d evelopment .............................................. ...................................................... ........ 6 1.2 Rationale for Study ............................................................. ................................................................................... ............................................. .......................6 1.3 Research Problem ............................................ ................................................................... ............................................. ......................................... ................... 7 1.4 Aim and objectives of the study........................... st udy................................................. ............................................ ...................................... ................ 8 1.5 Structure of Research ....................................... ............................................................. ............................................. .......................................... ................... 8 1.6 Sources of Information ............................................ .................................................................. ............................................ .................................. ............ 9 Chapter 2 ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ............................................ ........................................... .....................12 Theoretical Framework ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ........................................... ..................... 12 2.1 Introduction of Ecotourism ............................................. ................................................................... ............................................ ......................... ... 12 2.1.1 Objectives Objecti ves of ecotourism within a specific community .......................................... ..........................................14 2.1.2 Potential benefits of ecotourism to local community communit y ........................................ ............................................. ..... 14 Chapter three ............................................ .................................................................. ............................................ ............................................ .................................... ..............18 Research Methodology ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ........................................... .....................18 3.1 Introduction ........................................... .................................................................. ............................................. ............................................ ............................ ...... 18 3.2 Case Study Approach ......................... ............................................... ............................................ ............................................ ................................ .......... 18 3.3 Methodology ............................................. ................................................................... ............................................ ............................................ ......................... ... 19 1) Problem Statement & Research Objectives ............................................ ................................................................. .....................20 2) Literature Review .......................................... ................................................................. ............................................. ....................................... ................. 20 3) Selection of Study Sites .............................. .................................................... ............................................ ........................................... .....................20 4) Questionnaire Survey ............................................ .................................................................. ............................................ ................................ .......... 22 5) Follow- up interview ......................................... ............................................................... ............................................ .................................... .............. 23 6) Data Analysis and Evaluation.................................... Evaluation.......................................................... ............................................ ............................ ...... 23 7) Conclusion and Summary .......................................... ................................................................ ............................................ ............................ ...... 24 8) Feed Back ........................................... .................................................................. ............................................. ............................................ ............................ ...... 24 Chapter 4 ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ............................................ ........................................... .....................25 DATA ANALYSIS................................................. ....................................................................... ............................................ ........................................... .....................25 4.1 Back Ground of Respondents ......................................... ............................................................... ............................................ ......................... ... 26 4.2 Discussion of Results .................................... .......................................................... ............................................ ........................................... .....................29 4.3.1 Degree of understanding understandin g about abo ut Ecotourism ........................................... ............................................................ ................. 29
4.3.2 Involvement of Local Community in Development of Ecotourism and its Decision Making Process ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ............................................. ......................... .. 30 4.3.3 Government Govern ment Role to Increase Community Communit y Participation Participatio n ........................................ ........................................33 4.3.4 Social Impacts of Ecotourism Development.................................. Development........................................................ ......................... ... 35 Chapter 5 ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ............................................ ........................................... .....................40 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................. .................................................................. .....................40 5.1 Conclusion ............................................ ................................................................... ............................................. ............................................ ............................ ...... 40 5.2 Recommendations ............................................ ................................................................... ............................................. ....................................... ................. 42 References ............................................ .................................................................. ............................................ ............................................. ........................................ ................. 44 APPENDIX 1 ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ............................................ .................................... ..............48 Survey Questionnaire .......................................... ................................................................ ............................................ ............................................. ......................... .. 48
List of Tables
Table 1: Scale of Analysis ......................................... ............................................................... ............................................. ........................................ ................. 23 Table 2: Questionnaires Details ......................................... ............................................................... ............................................ ................................ .......... 27 Table 3: General Profile of Respondents .................................. ........................................................ ............................................. ......................... .. 28 Table 4:Degree 4 :Degree of Knowledge of Ecotourism ............................................. .................................................................... ............................ ..... 29 Table 5: Analysis of Involvement of o f Local Community in Decision Decisi on Making Process: Process : .......... 32 Table 6: Analysis of Government Role to Increase Community Participation ....................... 34 Table 7: Analysis of Social Impacts of Ecotourism Ecotou rism Development ................................. .......................................... ......... 37
List of Figures
Figure 1: Outline of Research ............................................ .................................................................. ............................................ .................................. ............ 9 Figure 2: Percentage of Questionnaire Returned ................................. ....................................................... .................................... .............. 26 Figure 3: Response Rate ............................................................... ..................................................................................... ........................................... .....................27 Figure 4: %age Level of Involvement Involve ment in Ecotourism Activities ............................................. .............................................30
Chapter 1 Introduction In this chapter, topic of research and main research questions will be introduced. The chapter also explains the significance of research problem in today’s world. Also the purpose of research and framework for the thesis will be elaborated.
1.1 Background Eco tourism is one of the fastest growing tourist markets in the world (Jackiewicz, 2008). But while there are many benefits there are a number of issues with such tourism including the degree of empowerment to the local community, probable conflicts amongst the indigenous hunting and ecotourism, social challenges, traffic congestion, soil erosion etc. Thus the need to minimize the negative impacts of this form of tourism upon the environment, humans and their relationship with each other is imperative. This dissertation takes as its theme the impacts and challenges of eco tourism. Tourism is considered as a global phenomenon (Dolnicar, 2008) and some even called it the largest industry of the world. According to World Tourism Organization (2011), estimated US$ 9 trillion revenue generated from 700 million international tourists in year 2010 (UNWTO, 2012). Predominantly developing countries has looked to tourism as a tool to increase employment rates, enhance GDP growth, raise national foreign exchange earnings and improve socioeconomic conditions in the peripheral regions (Slinger, 2000; Hall & Boyd, 2003). Whereas mostly in developed countries, ecotourism is mostly popular with travellers who are more knowledgeable, and wish to ease their carbon footprint while still enjoying leisure activities (Elston, 2007). In 2011, the three fastest developing tourism regions are the Middle East, East Asia/Pacific and South Asia (World Tourism Organization, 2011).
1.1.1 Role of Ecotourism in community development Though currently ecotourism is only a small portion of global tourism but it is also one of the fastest expanding markets in the world (Scheyvens, 2009). Ecotourism is the agent of change and is directly linked with protection of resources, conservation of protected areas, sustainable development initiatives and community development strategies. Due to its variety of impacts on community, it is advised to plan it considerately. Some consider ecotourism as a travel to natural environment whereas others associate some restrictive caveats with this travel like social and environment responsible travel, must improve the host communities welfare etc (Bjork, 2008). Ecotourism includes a variety of positive and negative cultural, economical, social and environmental impacts on destined community. If operated ideally, it could provide quality nature experience to its tourists as well as raise fund to support conservation effects having minimal impacts on environment and providing socio-cultural and economical benefits to the host community. There are evidences where benefits espoused by tourism can be realized (Mitchell & Reid, 2001; Slinger, 2000), with equally more or even large scenarios where this is not the case. Indeed the impacts of ecotourism have been highly variable.
1.2 Rationale for Study Internationally, ecotourism has been recognized as a tool for the alleviation of poverty from the most impoverished communities of a society. It is considered as a tool for increasing the economic growth as well as its potential to grow (Gray & Campbell, 2009). In China, Deng and Yun recognized the potential significant contribution of tourism towards economic development of the nation and started emphasizing on tourism development (Zhang et al., 2009), thus he broadened the pre-1978 tourism policy focus on diplomacy and political promotion to take in account acco unt the economic progress progres s (Zhang et al., 2009; Richter, 2008). 200 8). Over
the next decade, China experienced significant overall increases in tourist arrivals and earnings (Guangrui, 2009). At the same time, growth was outpacing China‟s capacity to
accommodate tourists and their ability to manage tourism (Zhang et al., 2009). This created disorder in the industry and resulted in a host of problems in the 1980s, including: rapid hotel construction leading to overcapacity and supply and demand imbalances; insufficient transportation infrastructure (Wearing, 2002). The concept of ecotourism is considered as a solution to this problem but it has its own advantages and disadvantages. This study will high lights the social impacts of the development of ecotourism in China particularly the Fujian region.
1.3 Research Problem Tourism has played an important role in the growth of China. In 2011, the revenue generated from the tourism industry was around US $ 48.5 billion (Mintel, 2012). Furthermore, the expected number of tourist to China was almost 57.6 million in 2011 (UNWTO, 2012) and this number has expected to keep growing (Mintel, 2012; UNWTO, 2012). In spite of the rapid economic growth of China, there are increasing regional disparities, social inequality and environmental degradation amongst the rural/interior and urban/coastal areas of China. There is a drastic increase of this gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” after the implementation of concept of “free market” in China in 1978. By United Nations measures of
inequality from 1980 to 2008, the Gini Ratio (measuring the distribution of income within a country) has grown from less than 0.2 to higher than 0.45 where less than 0.2 is considered quite egalitarian while higher than 0.45 signifies increase social unrest and serious polarization (Wearing, (Wearin g, 2002; Cater , 2007; Trejos, 2008). Another important importan t issue relating to the ecotourism is the indigenous people of China to whom this is a threat to their culture and livelihoods. Thus, China has been advocating ecotourism as a means to improve the lives of
these communities, while not damaging their culture and living environments (He, et al., 2008). This study will focus on analyzing the ongoing tourism practices with reference to its impacts on community.
1.4 Aim and objectives of the study The aim of this study is to evaluate the social impacts of the development of ecotourism in the Fujian region of China. The paper will focus on the perceptions of the local community and the current practices in ecotourism industry to determine whether the ecotourism will play a role in the improvement improveme nt of the social live of local population p opulation or not. This research r esearch will attempt to address the following issues;
To determine the main socio-cultural impacts of ecotourism on a community of people
To understand the positive and negative impacts of ecotourism on a society
To find out whether the beneficial socio-cultural impacts of ecotourism outweigh the negative impacts in the community
To suggest the strategies to improve the management system of ecotourism to enhance its resulting impacts of social lives of community.
It is hoped that this study will be able to show if ecotourism can successfully support a community while reducing the negative social impacts on the people in the community.
1.5 Structure of Research There are three potions to this detailed research comprising of five main chapters and several subsections. In the first part, there are two chapters involved; chapter one of study is the project introduction, introductio n, importance, problem statement, stateme nt, objectives and limitations limita tions are elucidated in this part. The ecotourism contextual background, the benefits of ecotourism to a
community, the broad socio-cultural impacts of ecotourism, and the social acceptance of changes in a community when faced with lifestyle changes along with a brief description of case study area, the Fujian Province are outlined in the chapter two. Second part of the thesis comprises of survey work starting form chapter four. In chapter four, thesis methodology is given where as detailed analysis of the questionnaires finding using SPSS is presented in chapter 5. Chapter Six exemplifies the pronouncements, conclusions and recommendations of this research study.
Figure 1: Outline of Research
1.6 Sources of Information Hypothetic-deductive methodology has been used a study approach in this thesis. Using this approach, it‟ll be easy to establish a concept structure. This establishment will help in pre
arranging and modifying the direction of qualitative research. The main aim of the writer is to deal with literature exploitation; ecotourism‟s customs and traditions reconsideration in the designated areas through questionnaire and in other jurisdictions through th rough literature stud y. Moreover comprehensive investigation investi gation of the desired topic is done based on the electronic periodicals and journals.
Exploration of fundamental keywords is very important which can be achieved utilizing Google Scholar, Emerald Insight, Science Direct, and Cambridge journals. Study of ground realities will be done by investigating the developed ecotourism sites. These research documents are mentioned in the reference list at the end of thesis. The drawn conclusions are future verified by doing a detail questionnaire study and its deep analysis. Moreover, experts from the arena of ecotourism will also be consulted to develop a more through approach. This will help in understanding the trepidation of barriers and issues faced by both the government and local community of the selected sites. A few interviews will also be done face to face or telephonic for developing an in depth understanding of the practices being followed follo wed in these areas. It is hoped that t hat after detail literature survey and questionnaire study, it will be possible to separately analyze and substantiate the issues and impacts of these practices in Fujian region of China.
LIBRARY
Books. Journals.
GOOGLE
E-books. E-journals. E-photos. University website. Company’s organization website. Professional
Questionnaire.
Interviews
INTERNET
GOOGLE
Information
WIKIPE
gathering
(employees,
INTERVIEWS
officials, Managers etc).
SUPERVISOR
MEETIN
Discussion.
Instructions / guidelines
Figure: Sources of Information
Chapter 2 Theoretical Theoretical Framework This chapter will present the theoretical basis for our thesis. The chapter is divided in to two parts. In the first part, definition the term Ecotourism is explained, followed by by the objectives of Ecotourism within a particular society. Then the potential benefits of Ecotourism to a community are discussed in detail. In the second part, the case study area the Fujian region is explained in detail. The purpose is to have a quick overview of the social and physical environment of the study area as well as the history of Ecotourism in china and in particular for Fujian.
2.1 Introduction of Ecotourism Ecotourism The concept of ecotourism has emerged in mid 1980s as a subset of alternative tourism within Jafari‟s adaptancy platform (Weaver, 2001 2001; He, G. et al., 2008) and gained immediate attention of government, academics, communities and industries (Sofield, 2002). Hector Ceballors-Lascurain was the person who first advanced and supported the term ecotourism (Honey, 2009). The dramatic expansion of this notion is because of the increased awareness about environmental problems as well as the rising desire of rich Westerns to enjoy nature (Higham 2009; Scheyvens, 2002). Moreover, the growing impacts of unregulated tourism have also contributed an important role in the emergence of ecotourism as a success. Ecotourism has no universal definition and according to Fennell (2008), more than 85 definitions related to ecotourism are in circulation. Moreover, ecotourism has divided into different classes like passive versus active ,deep versus shallow (Cater, 2007), hard versus soft(Weaver, 2006), environmentally dependent ecotourism versus to environmentally
sensitive tourism (Tisdell, 2009) or nature based tourism. Nonetheless, there is a distinctive difference between ecotourism and nature based tourism based on the conservation promotion as well as educational purpose of ecotourism (He,et.al, 2008; Page and Dowling, 2001; and Weaver, 2005). Another differentiating feature of ecotourism lies in its striving
environmental problems (Jones, 2005). purposefully towards tow ards minimizing mini mizing the environmental
Low Human
High human Responsibility
Responsibility Pole
Pole
All Tourism is
Passive- Seek to minimize
Active- Contribution to
damage
Protect Resources
Ecotourism is Impossible
Ecotourism The Continuum of Ecotourism Paradigm
The contrasting facet of ecotourism is engraved in its implementation in accord with the traditions and cultures of each country (Linbderg & McKercher, 2010). For example, the economic perspectives of ecotourism are more focused by developing countries whereas the developed countries emphasize on the socio-cultural and environmental impacts of the ecotourism (Lindberg et al., 2007). It is further argued by Higgins (2009) that pacific islands can‟t work with the modernised view of ecotourism because of the relying of local
community on these natural resources for earning their livings and maintaining their cultural integrity. Ecotourism should be viewed more than just a product that emerges in nature based environment; it is a tool that can help in empowering destined populations by their active participat participation ion (Scheyvens, 2002). On the other hand, some authors like Wearing and Neil (2011) viewed it more as a philosophical notion to foster appropriate behavior and approach towards nature.
This new conceptualization of ecotourism brings more focus to the environment and tourism rather than nature based characteristics of tourism. Ecotourism is now realized as a concept to support the local community, preserve nature and ensure the safety of environment (Chen, 2007). Now the establishment of positive relationships between local
people and natural environment is also included in the prospective of ecotourism (Ross, 2009). Nowadays, ecotourism has established a close link with wi th the principles of sustainable development. Harris (2012) interpreted the definition of ecotourism so that it
can embrace cultural, environmental and socio-economic dimensions. This seems to be a
rather holistic viewpoint. It focuses on addressing the issues related to conservation of nature and development of local community.
2.1.1 Objectives of ecotourism within a specific community Many organizations and experts have given different definitions, aims, and principles for which ecotourism is purported to be geared towards (Bjork, 2008). However, most, if not all these definitions and objectives are broadly targeted towards ecotourism in the global setting, and not specified towards specific areas of the world (Bjork, 2008). Ultimately, ecotourism is essentially a „travel phenomenon that is rife ri fe with contractions and paradoxes‟ (Higham &
Luck, 2007). This poses a problem for specific communities in different areas of the world, as the cultural differences faced may ultimately dilute the core objectives of ecotourism, or even cause conflict within the communities (Honey, 2009).
2.1.2 Potential benefits of ecotourism to local community A wide number of ecotourism writings have addressed the potential benefits of ecotourism to the local society from three major dimensions of sustainability (economic, environmental, and socio-cultural respectively) (Taylor, 2004; Weaver, 2001; Honey, 2009).
Economical and Environmental Benefits: It is a common believe that ecotourism have the potential to contribute towards the economic development of local community through a substantive channel. Particularly it can help in job creation and development of industries related to ecotourism like hotels, pubs, bars etc e tc (Lindberg, 2000). Moreover, up gradation of basic infrastructure can be
facilitated utilizing the economic earnings from ecotourism (Morton, 2008). Ecotourism can provide a variety of jobs to the local people like food producers, craft manufacturers,
tour
guides
etc.
This
is
proved
to
be
true
by
Uganda
Community Tourism Association program Williams which increases the employment opportunities and benefits as well for the locals (Labuschagne, 2007). Similarly, Lindberg, Enriquez and Sproule (2006) presented the case studies done in Belize to prove that almost seventy percent of the jobs not directly related to tourism are dependent on ecotourism. Costa Rica is another famous example which demonstrates that increase in jobs, better service infrastructure and improvement in living standards is due to the ecotourism (Morton, 2008). It is comprehensible that these benefits are the lure for local communities and make them welcome and support ecotourism in their areas regardless of its disadvantages. Thus, the substantial increase in economic revenues led to the improvement in life style of local population and amplifies amp lifies their support s upport for conservation conse rvation (Lindberg et al.,
2010). A substantive amount of case studies and literature exists that discuss the positive positiv e impacts on local communit c ommunity y generated generat ed by ecotouris ec otourism. m. Economic Econo mic benefits bene fits along with the environmental advantages are the most outstanding feature of ecotourism. Weaver (2006) argument that ecotourism provides a direct financial incentive for the preservation of comparatively uninterrupted natural habitats that would otherwise be exposed to more exploitative and profitable activities.
In fact, ecotourism is a beneficial industry which establish positive relationships amongst local community and makes the conservation process more attractive ( Lindberg, 2000).
Moreover, financing of establishment and maintenance of protected areas can be done b y utilizing ecotourism properly. Look at the example of natural reserves in western Sichuan, China, where ecotourism is perceived as a successful tool for protection p rotection of natural environment resulting in 7.6 million hectares increase in the forested areas (Graymore, Sipeb and Ricksonb, 2008). Another major significance of ecotourism is its potential of increasing consciousness about environment, fostering healthy behaviours and approaches amongst tourists as well
(Weave ver, r, 2001). Ecotourism can help in mobil ising eco tourists as as local residents (Wea volunteers and encourage donations (Weaver, 2006). There is a case in Botswana that will enhance the connotation of this argument where visitors have happily donated four percent of their total t otal property propert y for the Botswana conservation conservation fund (Weaver, (Weaver, 2001). Socio-Cultural Advantages:
Tourism, as an industry, has always generated much concern over the economic, environmental and social impacts upon countries which rely heavily on the industry for their economic growth (Sofield, 2000). Ecotourism itself has been linked to many positive impacts upon countries and communities, such as positive economic growth, preservation of key environmental areas, and improved standards of living especially in rural areas (Stone, 2002). At the same time, it cannot be forgotten that both mass tourism and ecotourism has been linked to the destruction of the natural culture, and exploitation of local labour in many places (Cater, 2007). There is a close relation between social and cultural advantages with the economic and environmental benefits, mostly in terms of improvement in social welfare projects and up gradation of public infrastructure. Moreover, ecotourism can help in empowering people in social,
political, political, economical economical,, and psychologic psychological al characteristic characteristicss (Scheyvens, (Scheyvens, 2009). Most of the writers suggest that ecotourism plays an important role in building the confidence level of locals, establishing self respect, pride, and supporting their ownership ( Weaver, 2008).
Furthermore, it is a promising tool for encouraging intercultural communication, admiration, and perception between cultures of visitors and local ( Ross, 2009; Weaver,
2008).
Chapter three Research Methodology In this chapter, research methodology will be elaborated in de tail. Different research methods and their usage are covered in this chapter.
3.1 Introduction Introduction The literature review that is conducted in previous chapter was very thorough and informative but the ground realties can only be found by studying an ecotourism site. There are very few sites in Fuijian that have already implemented this. Therefore, the best approach to acquire knowledge regarding the existing level of understanding and social impacts of ecotourism in famous ecotourism sites in Fujian by conducting a survey through approved questionnaire from the supervisor and then by the follow up interviews. Also through this survey, a factor that hinders and encourages the application of this methodology was also found out. This type of information is classified as Primary Data. The secondary source of information includes the data gathering done by the literature review of previous cases and through writings and research of other writers. This source includes information that can be achieved from journals, conference papers, articles, reference books, other published research papers and internet web site etc. All this information helps in the development of a clear cut frame work for further research.
3.2 Case Study Approach For evaluation purposes, case study approach is normally sited and widely recommended. Case studies helps in explaining the link between the respective outcomes and intervention of policies in real life. Same goes to the th e implementation of project. pro ject. Thus adapting this logic, lo gic, the
present study is carried carri ed out; analyzing the th e social impacts of ecotourism ecotouri sm helps in identifying identif ying whether the actual outcome of phenomena corresponds to the desired objectives. The key objective of this study is the measure of ecotourism social impacts recognizing the own objectives of ecotourism implied by its definition. The methodological framework for the present study is the Case study. Pearce Pearce (2009) found out while meta-analysis this approach that it is unjustifiably stereotyped as conceptually and analytically weak among social science methods and is a widely used approach in the research for tourism. Many other authors confirm this view point expanding the use of approach from its applicability to exploratory studies solely to confirming the results of several new policies and actions. It is written by Yin (2003: 13, 14) about case study research that it “investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context” and “relies on
multiple sources of evidence”. Furthermore, it is noted that almost all the encompassing methods are utilized while using case study as a research strategy: cover the design logic, techniques for collecting data and data analysis approaches. All this makes the case study approach neither a design feature nor a tactic for data collection but an approach that insinuates research design. This study includes different ventures of ecotourism that operates in varying contexts. Though, The Fujian is the institutional milieu for all of them but they differ in physical features greatly like temperature, climate etc. But in the socio-cultural perspective, substantial differences can‟t be found amongst most of them. That is why; direct comparison can be made between the cases.
3.3 Methodology There are total seven phases of this research. These are as follows: 1) Identification of problem statement 2) Literature review
3) Selection of study sties 4) Questionnaire survey 5) Follow up interview 6) Data analysis and evaluation 7) Conclusions and recommendations 8) Supervisor‟s feedback These are explained in detail below:
1) Problem Statement & Research Objectives The basis of a good research stands on the exact identification of problem statement which needs to fulfill the research objectives. After the identification of problem, second step entails the study objective and scope. The selected problem statement is: “to study the social impacts of ecotourism in Fujian‟. This whole section is explained in detail in the first chapter
of the dissertation.
2) Literature Review Two types of data is available that can be utilized in a research namely primary research data and secondary data. Secondary research data includes the elaborated literature review which is a very crucial and important phase in any research because at this step, research grounds are established together with the development of primary knowledge.
3) Selection of Study Sites The selection of study sites is clearly restricted to their ecotourism activities and subjected to the availability of helpers for the questionnaire survey. Though Fujian is a very large province with nine prefecture prefe cture level divisions division s eighty five counties in i n all divisions but ecotourism is restricted to a very few counties. Three ecotourism ventures are chosen to be analyzed within the case study area Fujian.
Pingnan
The successful transformation of Pingnan County to an ecotourism site from agricultural county has occurred in recent years. Almost 1.14 million tourists are received by the county in 2011 which is 37 times more than in 2005. 16% of its GDP growth depends on the tourism. The County introduced new reforms and policies to upgrade the existing industrial structure and promote ecotourism in March 2011. The announcement of these reforms has attracted private capital that helps hel ps in the socio-economic socio-economi c development of ecotourism. ecotou rism. More than 30 million yuan investment is done by Pingnan government to promote ecotourism in the last two years. Moreover, refurbishment of ancient villages and recovering of folk customs and cultural habitats is being done to boost the ecotourism activities. Taining
Dajin Lake is located on the upper reaches of the Jinxi River in Taining County, Sanming City of Fujian. The lake has high content of alluvial gold that is why it is known as Danjin. The total area of this scenic zone is 138 square kilometers. Almost 96 percent ecosystem of this place is preserved along with a primordial minor forest with the help of national AAAA scenic zone and the local population of this area. Rare species of plants and animals in conjunction with green peaks, crimson cliffs and emerald water makes this place a delightful contrast. Wuyishan
It is a county level city located in the northwest of Fujian province. This is the most famous ecotourism site with local subsection of Wuyi mountains range, divided amongst the provinces of Fujian and Jiangxi simply referred to as Wuyi Mountains. These mountains are located in the southwest of Wuyishan City and are listed on both World Cultural Heritage and World Natural Heritage. This place looks exactly like a long scroll of landscape paintings of China.
4) Questionnaire Survey Since it is known that the implementation of this form of tourism is still in progress in China especially Fujian, therefore, only literature review was not sufficient to understand the depth of this project and to obtain its objectives. Structured questionnaires allow for simpler data collection and analysing (Saunders, et al., 1997), which is prudent in the case of this study, as the findings will have to be translated from Chinese to English. The initial questionnaire will also be created first in English, before being verified, then translated to Chinese. It is proposed that the questionnaires will be distributed via face-to-face surveys with willing research participants, in a period of one week, tentatively the period of 23rd March 2013 to 29th March 2013. Research participants will be selected from a community pool of people living within the research location, and permissions regarding the questionnaires and this research paper will be sought before the questionnaires are applied. Pilot questionnaires will be tested first in early March 2013, on a small control group, to ensure clarity of the questions, as well as to test the effectiveness of data collected, and clear any errors on the questionnaire. The questionnaire compromises of four portions containing a total of 22 questions. The very first portion is general and about the respondent‟s duties and nature of the job. The last
portion of the study stud y is very general and includes personal p ersonal questions like lik e nature of job, salary, salar y, age etc. It is very important for analysing the comprehension of respondents in that particular field based on their experience and involvement whereas other three portions are particular to the ecotourism in Fujian region. The very first portion consists of 8 questions related to the involvement of local community in development of ecotourism and its decision making process. In the second portion, po rtion, there are five statements stat ements for rating explaining expla ining different aspects of government role to increase community participation. The third portion has 20 questions
related to the social impacts of ecotourism development. Most of the questions need to be answered using Likert scale of 1-5 Each scale point represents the following rating;
Table 1: Scale of Analysis
Ordinal Scale
Agreement level/degree
5
Strongly agree
4
Agree
3
Average/ neutral
2
Disagree
1
Strongly disagree
5) Follow- up interview The short structured interviews are intended to cover other questions found during the course of the study, which could not be covered by the questionnaires. These interviews will be conducted via email and phone conversations. As per the structured questionnaires, interview questions will first be phrased in English, verified, and then translated into Chinese. Interview questions will be framed tentatively in mid-March, after the pilot questionnaire has been tested. This is to ensure ensu re that any issues which the th e questionnaire may not cover co ver will be addressed within the interview, thus allowing for comprehensive data collection.
6) Data Analysis and Evaluation In the thesis, SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) is used for storing and examining the collected data with the help of questionnaire. In SPSS, storage of data is done analysing each question separately. There are several analysis functions available in this package but we have used average index for this purpose because of its simplicity and accuracy of results.
Average Index (AI)
The analysis of the data gathered from the questionnaires is done by means of the Average Index (AI). The formula used for Average Index calculations is given by Hammad and Sadi Assaf in 1996. This is as follows: Data collected from questionnaire is analysed using Average Index (AI). In 1996, Sadi Assaf and Hammad devised a formula to calculate average index as
In the above equation; stands for the weight constraints assigned to each response. j
x represent the frequency constraints of each response where as j = 1,2,3,4,5 . j
7) Conclusion and Summary In the final step, deduced conclusions from the questionnaire study and detailed literature survey will be explained. Final results to the study question are drawn at this step.
8) Feed Back Feedback from panel members including (lecturers, supervisors etc) holds a very important place for me, because they will enable enabl e me to overcome my mistakes and perform p erform better in the upcoming life.
Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS Majority of the research data is gathered by studying questionnaires questionnaires and some by interviews. The questionnaire was formulated by keeping in mind the awareness, development and experiences of the respondents about development of ecotourism projects in their areas. The questionnaire was distributed to different ecotourism sites in China named Pingnan, Taining and Wuyishan. In the thesis, data storage and analysis is done by SPSS (Statistics package for social sciences).Results are analyzed and represented using multiple charts type like pie chart, bar chart, line chart, or descriptive statistics like the frequency analysis, average index, and chi chi square methods. Consequently empirical findings are explained explained in the chapter chapter following the theoretical framework and questionnaire questionnaire study in order to profoundly analyze the research questions.
There were 360 sets of questionnaire distributed equally amongst the three ecotourism ventures named Pingnan, Tain Tain in g and and Wuyishan. Some of them were handover personally and some were sent by mail. However, the response rate was low. Only 120 of them responded. Moreover around 14 of the respondents from the received questionnaires answered No in the first question and 7 of them were incomplete. Thus these are also removed from the analysis section and all the analysis was made on the basis of these hundred collected questionnaires. This means that the ratio of the collected questionnaire was 33.333% which is less than expected. Nevertheless, social impacts of ecotourism activities in these areas and as a whole throughout the Chine can be deduced and formulated from these responses.. Though due to this low response, it is crystal clears that this situation demands a need of developing urgent awareness about the concept of ecotourism and its true objectives
amongst the people. Following pie graph shown in fig: 6 represent the return rate of the sent questionnaires from the respondents.
33%
Returned 67%
Not retruned
Figure 2: Percentage of Questionnaire Returned
4.1 Back Ground of Respondents Respondents In order to analyze that the impacts of ecotourism in the selected areas of Fujian region, it is necessary to know that the how much is the awareness ratio of this concept has been developed in the communities of that areas and how much they are trying to implement and improve the current ecotourism policies and methods in their areas. For this purpose, following two graphs shows the distribution of sets of questionnaires that were mailed and responded from the three selected areas of Fujian region. The maximum response rate of 70 questionnaires was observed from Wuyishan from where the ecotourism activities are more as compared to others, after that Pingnan from which 30 responses were received. The minimum response rate was from Taining.
Response Rates 70 60 50 40
Received Response Rate
30
Usable response rate
20 10 0 Wuyishan
Pingnan
Taining
Figure 3: Response Rate
Generally, it is a common perception that it is the responsibility of a government only to initiate, monitor and improve the ecotourism programs and activities that should be beneficial to the community too. But in reality it is also the job of the tourists as well as the population of those areas to take active part in these plans and processes. Therefore, in order to truly analyze the social impacts of ecotourism in Fujian region, it is imperative to monitor the background of the respondents, respo ndents, so that only onl y required questionnaires questionnai res can be included in the t he analysis section. Following table represents the general profile of respondents; Table 2: Questionnaires Details
Areas
Amount Sent
Amount Received
% of received amount
Wuyishan
120
70
70
Pingnan
120
20
20
Taining
120
30
30
Total
360
120
33.33
Table 3: General Profile of Respondents
Variable
Category
<20 24 - 30 30 - 44 45 - 59 60 + Male Sex Female Married Marital Status Single Graduation Level of education Post Graduation Doctorate >RMB15, 000 Annual Income RMB15, 000 – RMB24, 000 RMB25, 000 – RMB34, 000 < RMB35, 000 Refused Time Period in the Community <5 5-10 10-15 15-20 >20 Student Occupation Teacher Public Servant Self Employed Retired Age
Total
%age
8 32 41 18 1 47 52 59 40 55 32 12 22 34
8% 32% 41% 18% 1% 47% 53% 60% 40% 56% 32% 12% 22% 34%
30
30%
12 2 5 11 24 12 48 21 7 4 44 24
12% 2% 5% 11% 24% 12% 48% 21% 7% 4% 44% 24%
The data indicated the age group of most of the residential lies in the range of 33-40 years who have responded to the questionnaire as this is the most influential and active group of the area, this shows the interest of residents in the development of ecotourism activities in the area. Moreover, most of the people residing in this area are self employed which reveals the fact that job o pportunities in this area is very less that‟s why development in ecotourism will increase the jobs, thus help in improving the quality of life in these areas.
4.2 Discussion of Results In this section, results will be drawn and discussed in details from the response analysis from collected data. Data has been collected on four key attributes of the study that includes Awareness of strategies related to ecotourism, local community involvement in developmental activities and their role in decision making process, governmental role in improving community participation and social impacts of ecotourism on the selected communities. communities.
4.3.1 Degree of understanding about Ecotourism There are two direct questions included in the questionnaire about the ecotourism. The results of that question are represented in the form of tables below: The average index of level of knowledge and understanding about ecotourism is also calculated and shown in table. According to these results, the extent of understanding about the ecotourism amongst the respondents was almost average. It was expected that an excellent degree of comprehension about the ecotourism techniques and objectives were observed but that didn‟t happen. It can
also be presumed that this index can be more less than these results because most of the respondents targeted for the questionnaire never responded. So one of the most expected reasons was that they have never heard of this terminology before and they don‟t favor the
implementation of any new tourist activities in their areas.
Table 4:Degree of Knowledge of Ecotourism
Total number of respondents Ecotourism
120
Maximum Minimum Average score score Index
5
1
3.1
Result
Average
4.3.2 Involvement of Local Community in Development of Ecotourism and its Decision Making Process It is important to determine the level of involvement of local community in the development activities of ecotourism. This is an indicator of their concerns for such programs and effectiveness of these activities. Therefore, there is a particular section to judge the commitment level of locals in these plans. More than 85% respondents have direct or indirect involvement in these programs as shown in the graph below;
%Level of Involvement in Ecotourism Activities Indirect Involvement 29%
Direct Involvement 71%
Figure 4%age Level of Involvement in Ecoto urism Activities
This involvement is in various forms and shape as 2% were involved in management activities, 15% belonged to the transportation business started because of these tourist activities, around 22% have souvenir, and food shops in these areas. Furthermore, 48% have a deep relation with the tourist accommodation business in one way or the other. On the other hand, there are several others as well who are indirectly involved in functions like suppliers, bank managers etc.
More than 62% respondents commented that they have no or very little say in the decision making process regarding ecosystem projects. Community meetings are more focused on other issues like promotion and marketing, ecotourism product improvement and satisfying the needs of tourists as indicated by chapter 2. These are all important issues on their own but they have no participation in the issues more relevant to solving their problems. 33% agreed that cultural concerns and issues related to traditions are discussed a bit. More of the decisions are made by committee chairman, secretary and treasurer who rarely attend these meetings. According to Tosun (2009), there should be an organized agreement between local communities and respective department of ecotourism. Rather this process has become a profitable situation situatio n for local elites and transitional transit ional companies. The key ke y areas that require local community to focus their efforts on are the problems related to cultural and social issues, involvement in decision making processes and issues related to the conservation of plants and other species as indicated by table 4.
Table 5: Analysis of Involvement of Local Community in Decision Making Process:
F requency requency An alysis alysis Chi Square Square Anal ysis ysis
Level of importance
Sr.no
Issues Very
Casual
low
Chi-Square Value
df
P value
Significant/Not Significant
a.
Decision making issues of community
43
20
37
15.668
12
0.257
Not significant
b.
Promotions and Marketing
68
32
-
18.932
12
0.090
Significant
c.
Ecotourism product improvement
11
35
58
47.578
9
0.378
Significant
d.
Tourist needs and satisfaction satisfa ction
77
22
1
79.156
12
0.000
Significant
e.
Social and cultural issues
48
25
31
16.704
6
0.006
Significant
f.
Issues related to conservation
29
11
60
50.454
15
0.000
Not significant
g.
Others
40
33
27
37.217
15
0.000
Significant
4.3.3 Government Role to Increase Community Participation
The results of the questionnaire indicates that government wants to improve their lives by enhancing ecotourism but it seems that they are not spending enough funds to do that as indicated in table 5. It is clear from the literature given in chapter 2 that there are not enough resources with the government to manage or run these planned projects (Weaver, 2006). According to a governmental official, they are very interested in enhancing the community support and participation in these activities but in reality it‟s the same. 39% of the results
show that government action shows that cooperation amongst the local community and management doesn‟t needs to be strong . Additionally the study of Cater (2011) reveals that if
a government wants to fully implement the ecotourism practices, it should fully involve local management as the first responsible enterprise in this development planning should belong to
4.3.3 Government Role to Increase Community Participation
The results of the questionnaire indicates that government wants to improve their lives by enhancing ecotourism but it seems that they are not spending enough funds to do that as indicated in table 5. It is clear from the literature given in chapter 2 that there are not enough resources with the government to manage or run these planned projects (Weaver, 2006). According to a governmental official, they are very interested in enhancing the community support and participation in these activities but in reality it‟s the same. 39% of the results
show that government action shows that cooperation amongst the local community and management doesn‟t needs to be strong . Additionally the study of Cater (2011) reveals that if
a government wants to fully implement the ecotourism practices, it should fully involve local management as the first responsible enterprise in this development planning should belong to the areas. But in the areas included in survey, the results are drastically changing. Several points were included in the t he survey to determine the government gov ernment role for increasing increasin g local community participation. The results of table 5 indicate that the best way to achieve this is to include the local community in the development activities physically. It‟ll promote the sense
of responsibility amongst the community, thus helps in achieving the desired purpose.
Table 6: Analysis of Government Role to Increase Community Participation
Frequency Analysis Sr no
1
2
3
4
Alternatives
It is important that participation participation and opinions of the local community should be included in the development programs Cooperation amongst the local community and management should be strong The first responsible enterprise in this development planning is local management Natural values values must be unique
Chi Square Analysis
Fully Partially Slightly None
ChiSquare Value
df
P value
Significant/Not Significant
40
31
41
48
64.146
12
0.000
Significant
61
34
51
40
1.0853
12
0.581
Not Significant
34
35
45
52
1.568
12
0.720
Not Significant
57
49
34
56
68.173
12
0.000
Significant
4.3.4 Social Impacts of Ecotourism Development The survey indicates a positive impact of ecotourism in the society. Since the start of ecotourism projects, recreational facilities, medical services, educational institutions as well as other services have improved with drastic results on the quality of life and emotional well being of the population populatio n as shown by the literature literatur e survey done in chapter chapte r 2. Below is the frequency and chi square analysis of the social impacts of ecotourism development. Seemingly improved up gradation of relevant communities has been taken place in all the three districts. Housing, revitalization of economy, social inclusion, improvement and protection of environment environ ment are the most improved areas. Almost 60% 6 0% of the respondents agreed that with the initiation of ecotourism projects, job opportunities has increased while around 12% disagree and the rest chose no effect at all. According to the results, it is specified that before the advent of ecotourism projects, there were many houses of high
4.3.4 Social Impacts of Ecotourism Development The survey indicates a positive impact of ecotourism in the society. Since the start of ecotourism projects, recreational facilities, medical services, educational institutions as well as other services have improved with drastic results on the quality of life and emotional well being of the population populatio n as shown by the literature literatur e survey done in chapter chapte r 2. Below is the frequency and chi square analysis of the social impacts of ecotourism development. Seemingly improved up gradation of relevant communities has been taken place in all the three districts. Housing, revitalization of economy, social inclusion, improvement and protection of environment environ ment are the most improved areas. Almost 60% 6 0% of the respondents agreed that with the initiation of ecotourism projects, job opportunities has increased while around 12% disagree and the rest chose no effect at all. According to the results, it is specified that before the advent of ecotourism projects, there were many houses of high historic value which lack basic facilities of life like proper ventilation, sunlight, poor sanitary conditions etc but since the promotion of ecotourism, living conditions of these areas have progressed. Moreover, Moreover , poor transport facilities facilit ies were available before the onset o nset of this phenomena but now this condition con dition has improved too. too . Research observations observation s confirmed that promotion of these activities activi ties is mainly done by the residents resid ents of this area. This conclusion concl usion is further reinforced by the fact that there is absolutely zero relocation of residents of this community which owes it to the improved life quality. Both the literature survey and questionnaire study supported this observation (Bjork, 2008). Besides if relocation was observed, it‟ll contradict all the study because it can only happen when the community is
uncomfortable and the resulting impacts of ecotourism are painful and disgusting, thus worsening the life quality (Weaver, 2006). One of the respondents has commented in the study that I am living in this community my whole life with the hope of getting out of here
one day for better life but now I am perfectly happy since the ecotourism activities started as it has improved the hospitals, roads, sanitary conditions and most of all transport facilities. According to the below analysis (table 6), around 77% of the respondents agreed that with the initiation of ecotourism projects, some problems and social issues has taken its tool along with the improvements while around 8% disagree and the rest chose no effect at all. By and large people are annoyed with the lack of privacy in the area as well as overcrowded parks and recreational recreatio nal activities are creating problems (Lindberg (Lindberg et et al., 2010). 2010). The most critical cr itical issue is the increase in crime rate which indicate the failure of government to deal with the increasing amount of tourism. These problems are creating unrest amongst the community but these are not the issues that can‟t be eliminated (Cater, 2011). Government needs to focus
on this issue before it goes out of hand and the current reputation of the area is affected which will lead to the ultimate disaster d isaster (Alexander & Whitehous Whitehouse, e, 2004). 2004). Finally when it is asked that the current income is enough to support their lives and family, 44% gives satisfactory results while 41% disagreed as indicated in table 6. This means that current ecotourism activities are not enough for the community improvement and they should be increased because there th ere are certain opportunities oppo rtunities for this. The key ke y points from table 6 that will help in increasing the social impacts of ecotourism development are the increased focus on facilities like hospitals, schools, parks, etc; planned carnivals and festivals, enhanced job opportunities and control of criminal activities.
Table 7: Analysis of Social Impacts of Ecotourism Development
Frequency Analysis Sr no
Alternatives
5
Community has started migrating because of ecotourism Ecotourism in effecting on the conventions and traditions of area which are important factor for the region Facilities like schools, hospitals etc are more properly monitors after the ecotourism development Festivals, Carnivals etc are planned on quarterly basis because of ecotourism There is a pronounced increase in the recreational and entertainment entertainment facilities after the development of ecotourism
6
The community is unpleasantly overcrowded as a result of ecotourism
1
2
3
4
7
8
9 10
11
12
There is continuous increase of crime rates in the community since ecotourism projects has started Income gap has widened as a result of ecotourism Daily life has been disturbed because of large number of tourists Privacy of life is being violated badly Community relationships has been effected drastically as now people don’t have time for each other Advent of ecotourism has improved the life quality in the area
Chi Square Analysis
Agree Disagree Strongly Strongly Neutral Agree Disagree
ChiSquare Value
df
P value
Significant/Not Significant
74
32
76
13
5
50.65
12
0
Significant
67
28
12
81
12
1.679
3
0.656
Not Significant
71
28
77
18
6
19.84
12
0.057
Significant
87
35
55
21
2
59.332
12
0
Significant
42
21
67
61
9
38.278
12
0
Significant
63
18
71
26
22
0.134
9
0.788
Not Significant
56
37
69
28
10
41.125
12
0
Significant
45
22
89
32
12
56.255
12
0.356
Significant
48
18
77
53
4
0.1342
12
0
Significant
67
43
77
12
1
58.964
12
0
Significant
34
45
56
57
8
0.8093
12
0.0677
Not Significant
34
47
45
67
7
85.388
12
0
Significant
6
7
8
9 10
11
12
The community is unpleasantly overcrowded as a result of ecotourism There is continuous increase of crime rates in the community since ecotourism projects has started Income gap has widened as a result of ecotourism Daily life has been disturbed because of large number of tourists Privacy of life is being violated badly Community relationships has been effected drastically as now people don’t have time for each other Advent of ecotourism has improved the life quality in the area
63
18
71
26
22
0.134
9
0.788
Not Significant
56
37
69
28
10
41.125
12
0
Significant
45
22
89
32
12
56.255
12
0.356
Significant
48
18
77
53
4
0.1342
12
0
Significant
67
43
77
12
1
58.964
12
0
Significant
34
45
56
57
8
0.8093
12
0.0677
Not Significant
34
47
45
67
7
85.388
12
0
Significant
In this chapter, the questionnaire study results from three major ecotourism sites of Fuijain province namely Pingnan, Pingnan , Taining and Wuyishan have been discussed. The literature survery and questionire results indicate that the successful transformation of Pingnan
County to an ecotourism site from agricultural county has occurred in recent years. The County government has introduced several new reforms and policies to upgrade the existing industrial structure and promote ecotourism in March 2011. The announcement of these reforms has attracted private capital that helps in the socio-economic development of ecotourism. More than 30 million yuan investment is done by Pingnan government to promote ecotourism in the last la st two years. Moreover, refurbishment refurbishm ent of ancient villages and recovering of folk customs and cultural habitats is being done to boost the ecotourism activities. Moreover in Tainings, Dajin Lake is the most famous and well developed ecotourism site which has high content of alluvial gold that is why it is known as Danjin. The Almost 96 percent ecosystem of this place is preserved along with a primordial minor
In this chapter, the questionnaire study results from three major ecotourism sites of Fuijain province namely Pingnan, Pingnan , Taining and Wuyishan have been discussed. The literature survery and questionire results indicate that the successful transformation of Pingnan
County to an ecotourism site from agricultural county has occurred in recent years. The County government has introduced several new reforms and policies to upgrade the existing industrial structure and promote ecotourism in March 2011. The announcement of these reforms has attracted private capital that helps in the socio-economic development of ecotourism. More than 30 million yuan investment is done by Pingnan government to promote ecotourism in the last la st two years. Moreover, refurbishment refurbishm ent of ancient villages and recovering of folk customs and cultural habitats is being done to boost the ecotourism activities. Moreover in Tainings, Dajin Lake is the most famous and well developed ecotourism site which has high content of alluvial gold that is why it is known as Danjin. The Almost 96 percent ecosystem of this place is preserved along with a primordial minor forest with the help of national AAAA scenic zone and the local population of this area. The results indicate that there is still a great need of improvement in ecotourism development structure and involvement of local community in this process as indicated by the results of table 4, and 6. Similarly, the results indicate that though Wuyishan is considered one of the most famous ecotourism site with local subsection of Wuyi mountains range, divided amongst the provinces of Fujian and Jiangxi simply referred to as Wuyi Mountains but it needs special attention as the migration rate of local community form this area is greatest as shown in table 5. Thus it can be concluded that overall there are lot of areas which shouldn‟t be neglected while promoting promo ting ecotourism. The most important importan t is the increased involvement involvemen t of local community in these activities which is beneficial for the development of area as well as the tourist‟s satisfaction with the area.
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In this chapter of the thesis, conclusions to our main research question question “An exploratory study on the social impacts of the development of ecotourism ecotourism in the Fujian region” will be drawn on the basis of findings of empirical study. This chapter has two sections. The first section will elaborate the conclusions drawn from the detailed analysis analysis whereas in the next section, recommendations are given.
5.1 Conclusion The study done on the specific attributes and trends of ecotourism in Fujian region of China with the help of Pingnan, Taining and Wuyishan case studies utilizing detailed literature survey and questionnaire conclusion shows that; It seems that a lot of effort is required for the true implementation of ecotourism concepts and ideas as currently it is just the name being used. Neither the practices nor the planning seems to be capture the essence of the idea if ecotourism. The extent of understanding about the ecotourism amongst the respondents was almost average. It was expected that an excellent degree of comprehension about the ecotourism techniques and objectives were observed but that didn‟t happen. It can also be presumed that this index value calculat ed in
table 3 of chapter 4 can be more less than these results because most of the respondents targeted for the questionnaire never responded. So one of the most expected reasons was that they have never heard of this terminology before and they don‟t favo ur the
implementation of any new tourist activities in their areas. More than 85% of the community is involved in the ecotourism activities but some of them don‟t know the term
40
“ecotourism” and those who knew, they don‟t understand what it entails. Figure 2 of chapter
4 is the true indicator of the results. The survey and interview results indicates that local community have no or very little say in the decision making process regarding ecosystem projects. Community meetings are more focused on other issues like promotion and marketing, ecotourism product improvement and satisfying the needs of tourists. These are all important issues on their own but they have no participation in the issues is sues more relevant to solving solv ing their problems. Sometimes, cultural cult ural concerns and issues related to traditions are discussed a bit. More of the decisions are made by committee chairman, secretary secretar y and treasurer who rarely attend these th ese meetings. The results of the questionnaire indicates that government wants to improve their lives by enhancing ecotourism but it seems that they are not spending enough funds to do that. According to a governmental official, they are very interested in enhancing the community support and participation in these activities but in reality it‟s the same. Additionally during
short interviews, one of the government official stated that government wants to fully implement the ecotourism practices with the full involvement and cooperation between management and local residents as the first responsible enterprise in this development planning should belong belo ng to the areas. But the results result s of the survey contradict contradic t the statement drastically. It is clear from the survey results that ecotourism helps in the improving the quality of life of local residents up to a certain extent. Some of the new job opportunities are created by the start of ecotourism but they can be multiplied to the ten folds if planned and implemented properly. Public infrastructure infrastru cture such as waste water treatment s ystem, construction and maintenance of public toilets, up gradation of sanitary system etc needs to be improve than before because very ver y little is spent for its improvement as compare c ompare to the number of tourists touri sts visiting the area. Several interviews indicate that there are a number of renovated gardens
41
that are being transformed in to five star hotels where locals are not allowed. Thus lack of proper planning, community commun ity participation and government go vernment efforts are the major majo r factors hindering the true capacities and benefits of the concept of ecotourism which needs to be taken care of immediately.
5.2 Recommendations Recommendations With all the efforts done on the study, they are still very less to capture the true essence of ecotourism. Government should implement such strategies to increase the awareness of ecotourism in the community. Emphasize on the investment of non-tourism facilities for the promotion of heritage tourism to urism is imperative. Since the research res earch findings indicate that t hat local community is not receiving the enough planned benefits of ecotourism development even neither the enough creation of new job opportunities nor the expected economical profits to improve the households. These recommended improvements will help in creating a more favorable atmosphere for the development of tourism together with enhancing the life quality of local residents. Involvement of local community in the development of ecotourism and its decision making process is necessary necessar y for the improvement of ecotourism. ecoto urism. It is imperative for the government gov ernment to plan on starting a new eco tourism project, the most important aspects like preservation of heritage resources should be given the priority because the residents of the area wants tourists to experience the aesthetic, architectural and natural beauty of the place without being overly commoditize. commoditiz e. It is suggested that it is easy eas y to get more understanding and support from the local community by the adoption of process oriented approach rather than a result based approach. Adoption of a better communication and participation strategy which will help in reducing or changing the resident‟s negative perceptions is highly recommended. The results of survey reveal that government encouragement to the
42
community plays an important role for motivating the society which will improve the perception of residents residen ts and their participation participati on in the ecotourism activities. activ ities. A bottom-up approach is recommended for better understanding the issues and reservations of community. Community participation in the ecotourism projects aims at the empowerment and resolution of emerging conflicts.
43
References .
Bjork, P., 2008. Definition Paradoxes: From concept to definition. In: J. Higham, ed. Critical Issues in Ecotourism: Understanding a complex tourism phenomenon. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp. 27-30. Chen, J. S., 2000, " An Investigation of Urban Residents' Loyalty to Tourism ", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, vol. 24, no. pp. 5-19 Chen, J. S., 2001, " Assessing and Visualizing Tourism Impacts from Urban Residents' Perspectives", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 235-250 Chen, Y., 2007, Research on the Residents' Perception to Tourism Impact in Urban Community, Master Thesis, East China Normal University, Shanghai Chhabra, D., Healy, R. and Sills, E., 2003, "Staged authenticity and heritage tourism ", Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 702-719 Campbell, L. M., 1999. Ecotourism in rural developing countries. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(3), pp. 531 553. Cater, E., 2007, Ecotourism as a Western Construct . J. Higham In: Critical Issues in Ecotourism: Understanding a Complext Tourism Phenomenon. ed., Elsvier, Oxford C. B. Alan and C. Labuschagne, (2007), “An Appraisal of Social Aspects in Project and Technology Life Cycle Manage-ment in the Process Industry,” Management Industry,” Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal , Vol. 18, No. 4, 2007, pp. 413-426.
Dolnicar, S., Crouch, G., & Long, P. (2008). Environmental-friendly tourists: What do we really know about them? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Tourism, 16 (2) , 197-210. Elston, J., 2007. Tourism goes true green. West Australian Newspaper , 27 October, p. 14. Gray, N. J., & Campbell, L. M. (2007). A decommodified experience? Exploring aesthetic, economic and ethical values for volunteer ecotourism in Costa Rica. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 15 (5), 463-482. Goeldner, C. R., & Ritchie, J.R. (2009). Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies. (11th ed). New Jersey: Wiley and Sons. He, G., Chen, X., Liu, W., Bearer, S., Zhou, S., Cheng, Y., Zhang, H., Ouyang, Z., & Liu, J. (2008). Distribution of Economic Benefits from Ecotourism: A Case Study of Wolong Nature Reserve Res erve for Giant Gian t Pandas in China. Environmental Management , 42, 1017-1025.
44
Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2009). Indigenous Ecotourism‟s Role in Transforming Ecological Consciousness. Journal of Ecotourism, 8(2), 144-160. Hall, C. & Boyd, S., 2003. Ecotourism in peripheral areas. Clevedon, UK: Channel View Publications. He, G. et al., 2008. Distribution of economic benefits from Ecotourism: A case study of Wolong Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas in China. Environment Management, Volume 42, pp. 1017-1025. Higham, J. & Luck, M., 2007. Ecotourism: Pondering the paradoxes. In: J. Higham, ed. Critical Issues in i n Ecotourism: Understanding a Complex Tourism Phenomenon. Oxford, London: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp. 118-135. Honey, M., 2009. Community conservation and early ecotourism: Experiments in Kenya. The Journal of Environmental Education, 51(1), pp. 46-55. Jones S (2005) Community – based ecotourism: the th e significance of social socia l capital. Annals 24. of Tourism Research 32 (2), 303 – 24. Jackiewicz EL (2008) Community – centred centred globalization: modernization under control in Rrural Costa Rica. Latin American Perspectives 33 (6), 136 – 46. 46. O'Leary, J. T., 1976, " Land Use Redifinition and the Rural Community: Distribution of Community Leisure Space ", Journal of Leisure Research vol. 8, no. pp. 263-274 OECD, 2001, Citizens as Partners: OECD Handbook on Information, Consultation and Public Participation in Policy-making , OECD, Paris Oppenheim, A. N., 1992, Questionnaire Measurement , Printer Publishers, London
Design,
Interviewing
and
Attitude
Osbasli, A., 2000, Tourists in Historic Towns: Urban Conservation and Heritage Management , E&FN Spon, London and New York Page, S., 1995, Urban Tourism , Routledge, London Pearce, P. L., Moscardo, G. and Ross, G. F., 1996, Tourism Community Relationships , Pergmon, U.K Perdue, R., Long, P. and Kang, Y., 1999, " Boomtown Tourism and Resident Quality of Life: The Marketing of Gaming to Host Community Residents ", Journal of Business Research, vol. 44, no. 165-177, pp. Perdue, R. R., Long, P. T. and Allen, L., 1987, " Rural resident tourism perceptions and attitudes", Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 420-429 Perdue, R. R., Long, P. T. and Allen, L., 1990, " Resident support for tourism ", Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 586-599 development ", 45
Perdue, R. R., Long, P. T. and Gustke, L. D., 1991, Tourism: Building Credibility for a Credible Industry, The Effect of Tourism Development on Objective Indicators of Local Quality of Life, Travel and Tourism Research Association, Salt Lake City Philliber, S. G., Schwab, M. R. and Samsloss, G., 1980, Social Research: Guides to a Decision-making process, Peacock, Itasca Pizam, A., 1978, "Tourism Impacts: The Social Costs to the Destination Community as Perceived by Its Residents", Journal of Travel Research, vol. 16, no. pp. 8-12 Poria, Y., Butler, R. and Airey, Aire y, D., 2003, "The core of heritage tourism ", Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 238-254 Pearce, P. L., Moscardo, G. and Ross, Ros s, G. F., 2009, Tourism Community Relationships , Pergmon, U.K R. Harris, T. Griffin and P. Williams, “Sustainable Tour-ism: A Global Perspective,” Perspective,” Butterworth Heinemann, Ox-ford, 2012.
Russo, A., 2002, The Sustainable Development of Heritage Cities and Their Regions: Analysis, Policy and Governance, Ph.D Thesis, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam Russo, A. P., 2002, "The "vicious circle" of tourism development in heritage cities ", Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 165-182 Mitchell RE, Reid DG (2001) Community integration: island tourism in Peru. Annals of 39. Tourism Research 28 (1), 113 – 39. Mintel, 2012. Travel and Tourism- China- November 2012. [Online] Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen/print/id=646018 [Accessed 22 March 2013]. Morton,j., Katherine,M,. (2008). "Transnational Advocacy and the Grassroots - Benefits and Risks of International Cooperation." In China's Embedded Activism: Opportunities and Constraints of A Social Movement , edited by Peter Ho and Richard L. Edmonds, xviii, 258 p. London: Routledge. M. L. M. Graymore, N. G. Sipeb and R. E. Ricksonb, (2008) “Regional Sustai nability: How Useful Are Current Tools of Sustainability Assessment at the Regional Scale?” Eco-logical Economics Vol. 67, No. 3, 2008, pp. 362-372. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.06.002
Scheyvens R (2003) Local involvement in managing tourism. In Singh S, Timothy DJ, Dowling R (eds) Tourism in Destination Communities , 229 – 52. 52. CAB International, Wallingford. 46
Sofield, T. H., 2000. Re-thinking and re-conceptualising social and cultural issues of tourism development in South and Southeast Asia, s.l.: Murdoch University. Stone, M. J., 2002. Ecotourism & Community Community Development: Case Studies From Hainan, China, Ontario, Canada: s.n. Taylor, John G., and Janelle P,. (2004). Community Participation in China: Issues and Processes for Capacity Building . London: Earthscan UNWTO, 2012. Tourism Highlights, s.l.: World Tourism Organisation. Wearing, S. & Neil, J., 2000. Ecotourism: Impacts, Potentials and Possibilities. 2nd ed. Oxford, London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Wearing S, McDonald M (2002) The development of community – based tourism: rethinking the relationship between operators and development agents as intermediaries in rural and isolated area communities. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 206 Tourism 10 (3), 191 – 206
47
APPENDIX 1 Survey Questionnaire
Dear Participant: I am a graduate student seeking my Master‟s degree in the (FILL IT). The purpose of my thesis is to study the social impacts of development of ecotourism in Fujian region, China. Several ecotourism locations, parks and hotels in Fujian are selected for this survey. Please your participation is requested and it‟ll help in id entifying your perceptions of the impacts impact s of ecotourism development developmen t activities on the social and a nd cultural lives of local community. Total time required for the survey is only 15-20 minutes and it will be ensured to keep all the responses confidential. Only those who are directly involved in the survey have access to the survey. The questionnaire should be returned to the respective personals on or before 15-03-2013. Completion of the questionnaire will be taken to indicate consent. therefore feel free to choose/write any answer. There are no right or wrong answers — therefore
1. Have you ever heard of Ecotourism? a. Yes b. No I f you have h ave chosen chosen yes, yes, pr ece ecede to th e next qu esti ons other wi se ple pl ease ase stop answeri ng the t he r est of ques questi ons. ons. Th ank you so much f or your co-ope co-operr ation.
2. Encircle what are the possible objectives of ecotourism? (Multiple responses are allowed) a. Triangle of preservation, sustainable travel and communities. b. Build awareness and respect related to environment, culture and nature preservation c. Minimize the possible negative impacts of the chosen destinations d. Increase of financial benefits for the community e. Empowerment of local people.
I nvolve nvolveme ment nt of L oca ocall Commun ity i n D eve velopme lopment nt of E co cotour tour i sm and its Dec Decision ision M akin g Process
3. Are you having any current or previous involvement with ecotourism activities in your community? a. Yes b. No A) If yes, then chose what type of involvement it is otherwise go to Question 07. 48
a. Direct involvement b. Indirect Involvement If you have chosen direct involvement in ecotourism, answer the following part b. Otherwise go to the part c;
B) Circle which type of work is you directly involved in; a. Ecotourism management (ecotourism planners, committee members etc) b. Transport (bus, coach, taxi, boat) c. Food and beverage (cafes, restaurants, bars etc) d. Souvenir shops (art and craft shops) e. Accommodation (hotels, motels, guest houses, home stays) f. Tourist attractions (parks, conservatory, reserves, lakes etc) g. Travel operations (tour guides/operators, travel agents, information centres etc) C) Chose your type of indirect involvement in ecotourism; a. Suppliers b. bank managers c. Others :_________________________ 4. How long have you been involved in ecotourism? Years months days
5. Are there any committee meetings for planning the development activities of ecotourism projects in your area? a. Yes b. No 6. Encircle the issues discussed in the meetings that were related to ecotourism? a. Decision making issues of community b. Promotions and Marketing c. Ecotourism product improvement d. Tourist needs and satisfaction e. Social and cultural issues f. Issues related to conservation g. Others, please specify:_______________ 7. What is the level of importance of above issues in the meeting? Tick in the appropriate box;
Level of importance Sr.no
Issues Very a.
Decision making issues of community
b.
Promotions and Marketing
Casual
low
49
c.
Ecotourism product improvement
d.
Tourist needs and satisfaction
e.
Social and cultural issues
f.
Issues related to conservation
g.
Other, please specify
Gove Gov er nment Rol e to In crea creas se Commun Commun it y Parti cipation
Mark the extent on a four point scale up to which you consider the follow statements to be true with respect to the government perspective for increasing the community participation in ecotourism projects 1- Fully, 2-Partially, 3- Slightly, 4-None 1 2 3 4 8.
It is important that participation and opinions of the local
[][][][ ]
community should be included in the development programmes 9.
Cooperation amongst the local community and management
[][][][ ]
should be strong 10. The first responsible enterprise in this development planning is
[][][][ ]
local management uniqu e 11. Natural values must be unique
[][][][]
Soc ocii al I mpac mpacts ts of of Ecotour ism D eve velopme lopment nt
For the statements 6-10, you are requested to choose either one from 1 to 5 whether you agree with each of the statements, where: 1-Agree, 2-Disagree, 3- Strongly Agree, 4- Strongly disagree, 5-Neutral 1 2 3 4 5 12. Community has started migrating because of ecotourism
[][][][][]
13. Ecotourism in effecting on the conventions and traditions
[][][][][]
50
of area which are important factor for the region 14. Facilities like schools, hospitals etc are more properly
[][][][][]
monitors after the ecotourism development
15. Festivals, Carnivals etc are planned on quarterly basis
[][][][][]
because of ecotourism ecotouri sm [][][][][] 16. There is a pronounced increase in the recreational and entertainment facilities after the development of ecotourism
17. The community is unpleasantly overcrowded as a result of ecotourism
[][][][][]
18. There is continuous increase of crime rates in the community since ecotourism projects has started
[][][][][]
19. Income gap has widened as a result of ecotourism
[][][][][]
20. Daily life has been disturbed because of large number of tourists
[][][][][]
21. Privacy of life is being violated badly
[][][][][]
22. Community relationships has been effected drastically as now people don‟t have time for each other
[][][][][]
23. Advent of ecotourism has improved the life quality in the area
[][][][][]
24. Is your earnings are sufficient for your livings? a. No b. Yes
51
25. What is the level of development in the following sectors since the start of ecotourism projects? 1- Huge, 2-Medium, 3-Little, 4-None 1 2 3 4 Education Sector [][][][] Medical Facilities
[][][][ ]
Transportation systems
[][][][ ]
Roads
[][][][ ]
Telecommunication
[][][][ ]
Jobs
[][][][ ]
Tick the statement if you agree. I am satisfied with the current social development 26. activities. 27. I support the current cultural advancement in my areas. 28. I support the current ecotourism development. 29. I would like to be more involved in ecotourism. 30. I would like the authorities to make strict measure regarding preservation of the area. I would like the management to start more projects for the benefit of local 31. people.
32. State your opinion on how these ecotourism activities has affected your lives?
33. Are there any community representatives/organizations that are looking after the welfare of local population?
34. What social developments have been done so far in the community?
35. Compare the pre and post epoch of ecotourism in terms of money?
52
36. Please make any other comments comments about ecotourism impacts.
Personal Information
Following are just a few personal questions for classification purposes. Please be assured that your information will remain confidential. Circle one of the following where you find appropriate and please feel free to leave the blanks. 1.
Age:
2. Sex:
24 - 30 □
30 - 44 □
Male □
3. Marital Status:
45 - 59 □
60 + □
Female □ Married □
Single □
4. Choose your level of education:
Graduation □
Post Graduation □
Doctorate □
5. Your Annual Income
>RMB15, 000 □ < RMB35, 000 □
RMB15, 000 – RMB24, – RMB24, 000 □ Refused □
RMB25, 000 – RMB34, 000
6. Birthplace: 7.
Do you like living in your community? Its fine □
Very much □
Not at all □
8. How long have you been living in this community;
5-10 □
<5 □
10-15 □
15-20 □
>20□
9. Occupation
Student □ Enterprise Employee □
Teacher □ Self Employed □
Public Servant □ Retired □
10. Would you consider participating in further research regarding the ecotourism
development? Yes □
No □
53
If yes, please fill the data below so that we can contact you in case of further research: Please fill in contact details ONLY if you would like to participate in further research . Name: _________________________ _____________ ________________________ ____________ Telephone: _______________________________________ E-mail: ___________________________________ Address: _________________________________________ Th ank you ver ver y much i ndee ndeed for your your help
54
