Development of Rural Tourism in Liaoning Province from the Perspective of Types

Siyu WANG, Liang ZHAO, Na SAI, Yaning HUI

School of Business Administration, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan 114051, China

Abstract With the vigorous development of the tourism industry, the types of tourism become rich and diverse, and the development models have their own characteristics. At present, rural tourism has become a hot spot in the development of tourism, and it is also a driver of rural revitalization. However, its development type and development model are not mature yet, and there are still some fundamental problems in the process of development. Based on the development status of rural tourism in Liaoning Province, an in-depth survey was carried out on the types and development models of rural tourism in Liaoning Province, and its basic types and development models are clarified, to explore the deep-rooted problems existing in the development of rural tourism in Liaoning Province. Besides, the development models adopted in different regions of China were compared to find the universally applicable rules for the development of rural tourism. Finally, according to the distribution of rural tourism resources, the development direction was clearly defined, supporting policy recommendations were proposed, including adjusting and upgrading the existing types and development models, and implementing development strategies in a targeted manner to promote the sustainable development of rural tourism in Liaoning Province.

Key words Rural tourism, Tourism type, Development strategies

1 Background and significance

Rural tourism is a promoter of rural revitalization and an important way for farmers to rely on existing resources to get rid of poverty. Nowadays, rural tourism development types in Liaoning Province are rich and diverse, the models are complex, but there is no clear development plan and system construction. The present study is intended to increase the theoretical analysis data of rural tourism in Liaoning Province, clarify the distribution of existing rural tourism resources in Liaoning Province, the existing tourism development types and development models, and provide theoretical support for the transformation and upgrading of rural tourism development models. Besides, through the development model research from the perspective of types, we came up with effective recommendations to improve the adaptation of types and development models, promote the modernization of rural tourism in Liaoning Province, and enrich the research content of rural tourism. In addition, we analyzed the reasons for the existence and application of the development model and the future development direction, provide experience for future research on rural tourism in Liaoning Province, make effort to avoid the similar imitation development of rural tourism, and propose new solutions for rural tourism. In order to build a well-known rural tourism brand, promote the common development of a variety of excellent rural cultures, protect and inherit the cultural heritage, it is necessary to adopt a compatible and progressive development model for in-depth cultural promotion and improve the attraction of tourism.

2 Analysis on current development types and models of rural tourism in Liaoning Province

2.1 Current situation of rural tourism

In China, rural tourism refers to tourism activities taking rural settlements as the place of activities and providing tourists with a new tourism activity with its unique natural environment, rural landscape, folk customs and other resources, such as sightseeing, leisure, experience, entertainment, shopping and vacation. The characteristic of rural tourism resources lies in the folk social life culture created by the working people at the middle and lower levels, with lively and colorful content. In terms of the tourism type, the development of rural tourism is an important part of rural characteristic tourism. In recent years, taking advantage of tourism resources, the vast rural areas of Liaoning Province have successfully held large-scale activities such as Manchu style international tourism festival with national characteristics, jade culture exhibition and crop picking, which has opened the popularity of tourism in rural areas of Liaoning Province in China, and Liaoning Province has become a representative of rural tourism with rich perspectives, making it a beautiful business card for building a characteristic rural tourism area. With the rapid development of rural areas, there are also a series of problems, such as the relationship between villagers and tourists, the quality of rural ecological environment, the conflict and overlapping of tourist market among tourism types and so on.

2.2 Types and models of rural tourism development

Rural tourism focuses on integrating into rural life, participating in rural labor and feeling rural scenery. The types of rural tourism in Liaoning Province can be divided into farmhouse entertainment type, sightseeing type, leisure vacation type, returning to nature type, fitness and health preservation type, culture and education type, agricultural experience type, folk customs type and so on. The development model includes core edge, circle aggregation, global cluster,

etc.

Through the research on the development model from the perspective of types, it is found that the rural tourism areas in Liaoning Province have characteristics of distinct off and peak seasons, scattered resources and weak agglomeration. The three types of farmhouse entertainment, sightseeing and vacation are relatively rich, and the types of returning to nature, fitness and health preservation, culture and education, farming experience and folk customs are relatively rare. Core-edge development model is dominant, focusing on government-led and market-oriented aspects. There are problems such as rapid development of urban agglomerations, slow development of rural tourism, and difficulty of rural transformation and upgrading.

3 Problems in types and models of development of rural tourism in Liaoning Province

3.1 Weak rural tourism independent brand building awareness and brand communication capabilities

At present, the rural tourism resources of Liaoning Province are mainly displaying the tourism brand image in the way of customs and habits of local residents. They are not well integrated with the local tourism industry, and do not flexibly use various perspectives to integrate the development concept of rural tourism. They are rigid and have weak awareness of the tourism brand and the image of the tourism area. As a result, it is difficult to stimulate the tourism willingness of tourists and accordingly difficult to disseminate the novel rural tourism culture to all regions of the country.

3.2 Chaotic environment in the development types of rural tourism

Rural tourism areas in Liaoning Province have distinct off and peak seasons, scattered resources and weak agglomeration. The three types of farmhouse entertainment, sightseeing and vacation are relatively rich, and the types of returning to nature, fitness and health preservation, culture and education, farming experience and folk customs are relatively rare. There is unbalanced development of various tourism types. To compete for tourist markets, there appears to malicious competition among tourism operators, resulting in the chaos of rural tourism development environment in Liaoning Province.

3.3 Lack of overall planning when integrating unique tourism resources with rural tourism

In Liaoning Province, there are unique tourism resources. However, due to the lack of overall planning and design, lack of innovative awareness, and excessive dependence on the government, it ultimately failed to integrate well with rural tourism for development. In consequence, in the process of development, the problem of imbalance and insufficiency arises. Tourists do not understand the historical context of the scenic spots or various festivals, which greatly reduces their sense of travel experience.

3.4 Imperfect construction of rural tourism infrastructure and lack of professional scenic management talents

The imperfect tourism facilities in the scenic spot will make tourists have poor food and accommodation, encounter problems such as no parking lot, uneven distribution and small number of garbage cans, which will reduce the status of the whole rural tourism scenic spot in Liaoning Province in the minds of tourists, accordingly tourists will not take the destination as their first choice to go. The corresponding local tourism needs vegetarian food, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping and entertainment. There is no complete tourism system, resulting in the lack of guarantee of the reception capacity and service quality of the scenic spot, which restricts the development of rural tourism in Liaoning Province.

4 Recommendations for sustainable development of rural tourism in Liaoning Province from the perspective of types

4.1 Innovating types of rural tourism products and cooperating with new media to develop "Internet + characteristic rural tourism"

In order to better attract tourists, it is recommended to strengthen the education of tourism products, convey traditional culture and historical knowledge to tourists on the basis of traditional tourism products, so as to achieve the purpose of cultural inheritance. With the development of e-commerce, the development of rural tourism resources also needs to combine with the current social development situation and add functions such as online e-payment, online reservation and live selling, so as to enhance the local popularity as a means of publicity and enable local distinctive agricultural products to "go global". In addition, it is recommended to organize and build a creative concept team, establish a corresponding publicity platform for the product types of rural tourism, display all local tourism products in detail, make a detailed introduction and reflect the product characteristics, so as to make tourists have better choice and clarify the tourism direction.

4.2 Stressing the rural tourism experience and focusing on brand image recognition

Experience economy requires us to pay attention not only to the interaction between scenic spots and tourists, but also to the sense of product participation. Thus, it is recommended to establish the spirit of innovation, expand business scope, and pay attention to the development of some small scenic spots in the scenic spot while creating hot scenic spots, so as to meet the "new sense" of tourists and reasonably develop new attractive elements, accordingly realize the organic unity and harmonious development of various tourism types.

4.3 Promoting the rural tourism development with "resource type characteristics"

Compared with rural leisure and sightseeing scenic spots in other provinces, Liaoning Province has cultural characteristics, profound cultural history and unique advantages of tourism resources. In view of these, it is recommended to combine rural resources with rural tourism to expand more tourism functions and enrich tourism formats. Rural tourism in Liaoning Province should take a diversified type perspective as the theme, orient towards the main image of local style and simple nature, combine traditional ethnic customs with traditional village cultural landscape and pastoral scenery, develop into a unique rural tourism brand, promote the transformation and upgrading of tourism, and accordingly form a diversified and integrated characteristic rural tourism area.

4.4 Establishing and improving tourism infrastructure and allocating professional scenic spot management talents

Establishing and improving tourism infrastructure and making reasonable scenic spot planning are necessary conditions for the sustainable development of a scenic spot. This requires that local government departments should issue a series of relevant laws and regulations, and make plans for tourism transportation, make planning for safe, efficient and convenient urban and rural transportation lines, realize the full coverage of road signs and street lights, and provide sufficient safety protection for tourists. In addition, it is necessary to regulate the words and deeds of the operators and staff in the scenic spot, and regulate the behaviors of the operators and managers of the scenic spot and related personnel. At the same time, it is necessary to actively guide tourists to conduct civilized tourism, respect the rights of tourists in the scenic spot, and improve their quality, so as to achieve the long-term sustainable development of various types of scenic spots.