Com parative Research of Residents'Effect Perception and Participation Capacity and Willingness on Pro-poor Tourism

Guoqing HUANG，Hong SHU

1．College of Economics and Management，Southwest University，Chongqing 400715，China；2．College of Economics and Business Administration，Yangtze Normal University，Chongqing 408100，China

1 Introduction

As a special form of poverty alleviation，Pro-poor Tourism（PPT）has been given great attention by scholars in various fields．In economics，the research results of most scholars demonstrate that tourism can provide local people employment opportunity and open market for traditional handicrafts and native agricultural and sideline products and promote the optimization of industrial structure and economic development in poor areas（Zhou Xinhong，2002；Feng Xuegang，1999）．But，meanwhile，some scholars propose that economic risks exist in PPT，which can probably cause revenue leakage（Ding Huanfeng，1999）．In sociology，the majority of scholars deem that in poor area the development of tourism provides the local residents the opportunity to access to and enhance the communication with the outside world，which promotes the concept change and at the same time strengthens the local culture identity that promotes the rapid development of cultural preservation and education（Feng Canfei，2006）．However，the social and cultural risk of PPT，such as the disappearance or assimilation of national culture，the rise of crime rate and the loss of original virtues of local residents，etc．can not be ignored（Zhang Wei，2005）．In environmental studies，researchers found that the development of tourism could reduce residents' reliance on natural resource and enhance their environmental awareness，but excessive tourism development could easily lead to the destroy of tourism resources and attractions and causes a series of environmental problems，such as air pollution，water pollution，noise pollution，solid waste pollution and visual pollution etc．（Chen Qiao＆Zhou Yanfang and Zhang Chuantong，2006）．In this article，we shall firstly provide a brief background of Three Gorge rs Area and the reasons why Wulong County and Fengjie County are chosen as case study．Next the situation of questionnaire implement and methodology of data analysis will be described．The results of investigation will be followed and strategies will be given based on the results．

2 Situation analysis and the reasons of choosing case area

In this section the background and Three Gorges Area will be firstly introduced and then the reasons why Wulong County and Fengjie County are chosen as our case study are given．

2．1 Background of Three Gorges AreaChongqing Three Gorges Area str etc hes from east Wushan County to west Jiangjin County and is south from Wulong County to north Kaixian County，encompassing latitude 28°28′－31°44′and longitude 105°49′－110°12′．The total land area is of 56 000 km2，including 15 districts and counties such as Wanzhou District，F(xiàn)ulin District，Wushang County，Wuxi County，F(xiàn)engjie County，Yunyang County，F(xiàn)engdu County，Wulong County，etc．Until the end of 2008，the population of the poor in this area reached 846 400，which accounted for 59．48%of Chongqing total population of the poor．And in this area，there are 9 poorest counties supported by the state．But at the same the fact that rich tourism resource，such as world-famous Three Gorges etc．exist in this area can not be ignored．In 2012，Chongqing hosted 290303400 tourists，demonstrating a 30．73%year-on-year increase，among which，inbound tourists reached 2242800，demonstrating a 20．32%year-on-year increase（Chongqing Tourism Bureau，2012）．

2．2 Reasons of choosing case areaIn this article，Wulong County and Fengjie County are chosen as our case study．Next the reasons will be discussed．

2．2．1Different life cycle．Fengjie is one of the most attractive destinations in Three Gorges Area．Its unique tourism resources and sophisticated facilities make it become the top among the counties in this area．Now its tourism development is in the mature stage．

On the 27th of July，2007，Wulong success fully won the title of＂World Natural Heritage＂under the government's efforts．Since that the number of tourists has increased year by year．The tourism development of Wulong came into the growth stage from introductory stage．

2．2．2Different tourism resource．Fengjie has unique tourism resource with world-famous Qutang Gorge，which is one of the Three Gorges that is at the top of＂China Best 40 Sights and Interest＂and Baidi Templewith the title of＂National AAAA scenic Spot＂．

Wulong has unique Karst landform and rich tourism resource including Xiannvshang National Forest Park with the title of＂National AAAA Scenic Spot＂，F(xiàn)urong Cave，Wulong Born Bridges etc．

2．2．3Different management model．To upgrade Chongqing tourism，Chongqing Communication Travel Group，a state-owned investment corporation under directly Chongqing municipal government，integrated many tourism resources including Wushan Little Three Gorges，F(xiàn)engjie Baidi Temple etc．Thus Fengjie's tourism resource is now under wholly state-funded management model．While Wulong established Chongqing Karst Tourism Investment Co．，Ltd．，to manage its own tourism resource，which is a government-leading management model of concentrating the government power and meanwhile considering private enterprises．

2．2．4Different location．To implement＂Some Advice for Promoting Chongqing Coordinating Urban-Rural Reform and Development Proposed by State Council＂，Chongqing municipal government proposed the development strategy，namely＂one-hour economic circle＂，＂Yu northeast Wing＂and＂Southeast Wing．In this article，Wulong as a case study is located in southeast Chongqing while Fengjie as another case study is located in northeast．Moreover，wing area is the low economic development in Chongqing area，the experience of the case to promote poverty alleviation in the both wings and a representative demonstration effect．

3 Implementation of questionnaire and methodology of data analysis

In this section，after the description of the implement of questionnaire，the methodology of data analysis will be given．

3．1 Implementation of questionnaireDuring July and August2012，we send out altogether 400 questionnaires to the residents in Wulong Xinanvshang Area and Fengjie Baidi Temple Area，each 200，and got back 378，among which there are 200 from Fengjie Baidi Temple Area and 178 from Wulong Xiannvshang Area．The ratio of callback of valid questionnaire is94．5%．

Random sample is applied in the study．Considering the target people's different understanding about the questions，we tried to communicate with our target respondents face to face and according to the talks to correct and supplement the questionnaires．

The two surveys were carried out almost at the same time．The survey in Fenjie was completed by the end of July，2012 and in Wulong was in the middle of August2012．22 questions about effect perception of PPT，4 questions about participation capacity of PPT，7 questions about participation willingness of PPT and 10 basic background questions about our respondents are involved in the questionnaire．

3．2 Methodology of data analysisIn this study，SPSS 13．0 is applied to analyze the data．Frequency statistics is adopted to analyze the respondents' demographic characteristics．ANOVA and T-test are for the comparison on the residents' effect perception，participation capacity and willingness on PPT．Meanwhile multiple regression analysis is applied to identify the key factors of the respondents' participation willingness．

4 Results of investigation

After the survey，we use some technology to analyze the data and get the following conclusions．

4．1 Different demographic characteristics of the respondents in both countiesFrequency analysis is applied to analyze the respondents' demographic characteristics．The results show that there are no significant differences in the respondents' gender and the number of year's set for residence，but there are some differences exist in other demographic characteristics of the residents in the two counties，such as age，education level，income etc．

Young and middle aged people are in large proportion in 178 Wulong samples，among which 74．8%are under 40-year-old．The distribution of age in Fengjie samples is balanced．Compared with the education level of the samples in both counties，it's higher in Wulong than that in Fengjie．For example，34．3%of Wulong samples are in college level or above，which is13．8%higher than that in Fengjie．And the income in both counties is different too．In the two counties，there are different tourism operation model．The tourism operation in Wulong is mainly in Joyous Farmer's House industry，which account for 19．1%of Wulong tourism industry，and scenic area，which is 14．6%of Wulong tourism industry．While in Fengjie the tourism projects involved by Fengjie residents is scattered in various tourism projects．The different involvement degree can lead to different income level．To take monthly incomes as an example，23．6%of Wulong residents have monthly income of1500－2000 yuan．While only 16%of Fengjie residents have the same level monthly income．

4．2 Comparison of the effect perception，participation capacity and willingness of the residents on PPT in both countiesIn this comparative study，Liker Scale is applied to measure 33 questions．We take numbers from one to five to score．1 is for＂strongly disagree＂．2 is for＂tend to disagree＂．3 is for＂neither agree nor disagree＂．4 is for＂tend to agree＂．5 is for＂strongly agree＂．Finally，we get the results using average value．As a result，we found the effect perception，participation capacity and willingness on PPT in both counties was different．

4．2．1Comparison of the respondents' economic effect perception on PPT．In this section positive and negative effect perception are discussed．According to our investigation，Wulong residents' effect perception on PPT is stronger than that of Fengjie residents，which means Wulong residents absolutely realize that tourism can promote their economy development and improve their employment and their income increase with the development of tourism as well as．While Fengjie residents don't realize this，which accord with the demographic characteristics of the sample．

However，admittedly positive effect perception on PPT exists．Wulong residents apperceive that the life cost increase with the development of tourism more strongly than Fengjie residents did as well as．The difference value of samples in both counties is respectively 0．61 and 0．54．It might be related with too rapid development of tourism in recent years and tourists and residents share the same resources，which cause the life cost increase．

4．2．2Comparison of the respondents' cultural effect perception on PPT．In this section positive and negative cultural effect perception on PPT are discussed．The results show that Fengjie residents' cultural effect perception is stronger than that of Wulong residents．The difference value of total average value between the two counties is 0．27．Fengjie residents perceive more strongly than Wulong residents that traditional culture should be protected and meanwhile the coming culture should be learned．However，Wulong residents feel obvious positive effect perception on such items as changing folk customs，crime increase etc．

4．2．3Comparison of the respondents' environmental effect perception on PPT．In this section positive and negative environmental effect perception on PPT are discussed．The results show that Wulong residents' environmental effect perception is stronger than that of Fengjie residents．The total difference value is 0．22．As far as positive environmental effect perception is concerned，F(xiàn)engjie residents' effect perception on increasing environment awareness，decreasing crime rate etc．The difference value is respectively 0．06 and 0．16．But the perception on improving public facilities is weaker than that of Fengjie residents．In regard to negative environmental effect perception，Wulong residents' perception on local traffic congestion，the destruction of local ecological environment and increasing environmental pollution are stronger than that of Fengjie residents．The difference value is respectively 0．4 and 0．8．

4．2．4In this section participation capacity will be discussed from 4 aspects of perception，time，capital and knowledge．Results demonstrate that Wulong residents' participation capacity is stronger than that of Fengjie residents．The total difference value of the two counties is 0．25．Wulong residents' knowledge and technology，perception，time of participation is higher than that of Fengjie residents．The difference values of average value of the two counties are respectively 0．18，0．46 and 0．47．

As to the comparison of participation willingness，we mainly discuss the theme from 6 aspects：participation in environment protection，tourism strategy decision，tourism planning，independently operated tourism etc．Results demonstrate that Wulong residents' participation attitude is more positive than Fengjie residents．The total average value reaches4．15 and 0．16 higher than Fengjie'．The interesting fact is that Wulong residents prefer to independently operated tourism projects，which is in conformity with their higher participation perception．It is4．05．So they can gain high income from tourism．While Fengjie residents prefer to get tourism knowledge and technology through training，which means Fengjie residents has negative participation willingness．

4．3 Residents with different demographic characteristics has different perception behaviorIn this section comparison on effect perception，participation capacity and willingness of residents with different demographic characteristic，such as gender，age，and occupation education levels，is given．Results are as the followings．

4．3．1Comparison of residents with different education level．In this sector，single factor variance analysis showed that there was a significant difference in participation willingness（F＝2．673**），participation capacity（first second factor）and participation decision（second order factor 2．200**）．After further study we found that the participation willingness and capacity of residents with higher education level was much higher than those with low education level．

4．3．2Comparison on residents with different occupation related with tourism or not．In this sector，T-test is used to test the effect perception，participation capacity and willingness of residents with different occupation（tourism-related occupation or not）．The results are as follows．

Table 1 T-test results of residents' participation capacity and willingness

Theoretically，those who have tourism-related jobs have stronger perception on the economic effect from tourism and positive attitude to participate tourism．From Table3，we can find the theory is verified through the test．

4．3．3Comparison on residents with different monthly income．In this sector，single factor variance analysis showed that there was a significant difference in first second factors，such as participation willingness（F＝6．153**），positive economic effect perception（F＝8．355**），positive environmental effect perception（F＝3．097*），participation capacity（F＝4．671*），and second order factors such as positive perception（F＝6．397**），participation decision（F＝7．259**）．After further study we found that the participation willingness and capacity of residents with higher monthly income is much higher than those with low monthly income．To compare those with monthly income under 500 yuan and those with monthly income above 500 yuan RMB，the former is more positive than the latter in participation willingness，economic perception and environmental perception and participation capacity etc．

4．3．4Comparison on residents with different distance from home to scenic spots．In this sector，single factor variance analysis showed that there is a different perception on PPT of those with different distance from their homes to scenic spots．After further study，we found those residents whose home is 10 kilometers far from scenic spot shave weaker perception than those whose home is 2－5 kilometers far from scenic spots．

Table 2 Analysis results on residents' negative perception on economy and environment

4．4 Main factors influencing residents' effect perception，participation willingness and capacityIn this section a regression model is established to analyze the main factors influencing residents' effect perception，participation willingness and capacity．The results show that positive economic effect perception（F3），positive social and cultural effect perception（F4）and participation capacity（F6） are three main factors influencing residents' perception behavior．

Table 3 Relationship on residents' effect perception behavior on PPT

From table5，we can find positive economic effect perception most greatly influences participation willingness，accounting for 24．7%and next is the participation capacity， account for 24．7%．The integration of the above three factors can explain the residents' participation behavior well．So we think positive economic effect perception，positive social and cultural effect perception and participation capacity are three main factors influencing residents' perception behavior．

5 Recommendations

Based on the above research results，we try to give some recommendations．

Firstly，at the beginning of tourism planning，the government should have full consultation with local residents' views and attitudes on tourism development and through policies and regulations promulgated to ensure that poor people in the tourism business in priority and try to provide employment opportunities to local residents by providing tourism projects，such as selling souvenirs and food，folk performances，attraction transportation，family hotels etc．to establish a harmonious relationship with outside investors．

Secondly，the training on comprehensive tourism skills should be enhanced．Through training，the residents can have a stronger participation capacity，resulting in an active and high level community participation in tourism development．It's better for every resident to have professional skills in accommodation，catering，transportation，and other comprehensive skills．

Thirdly，demonstration effect of community elite can bring the residents real understanding of the relationship between tourism development and personal development and reorganization that the development of tourism can promote local economic development and improve living standards，which will attract more people to participate in tourism．

Finally，local government should guide and develop residents' identity and pride on the traditional cultural and strengthen the protection of traditional folk culture and lifestyle．Meanwhile，the government should correctly handle the conflict between local culture and foreign culture，and create an atmosphere of rich folk to prevent the local folk alienation．

6 Conclusions

In this report，we find positive economic effect perception，positive social and cultural effect perception and participation capacity should are three main factors influencing residents' perception behavior through investigation on residents of Wulong County and Fengjie County and analysis of the data using T-test，single factor variance analysis and regression model etc．Based on the results，the government should make some strategies，such as training，helpful policies to enhance residents' participation capacity and willingness to develop the tourism．

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