Enlightenment of Successful Experience of Rural Tourism in South Korea to Rural Tourism in Tai’an City

Xiu LI, Xia WANG, Yuguo WANG

Taishan University, Tai’an 271000, China

Abstract To revitalize rural tourism and improve the quality of life of rural residents, the successful experience of rural tourism in South Korea is used for reference, with an important significance for promoting the development of rural tourism in Tai’an City. In this paper, three successful rural tourism cases of South Korea (Shuchuan, Hannong Village, Xinli Mupianwa Village) are analyzed first, and their successful experience is summarized. On the basis of accurately grasping current situation and problems of rural tourism development in Tai’an City, the countermeasures of promoting the development of rural tourism in Tai’an City are proposed: mobilizing the enthusiasm of villagers, multi-channel access to funds, diversified talent cultivation methods, product marketing system, and rural tourism management system.

Key words Rural tourism, Problems and current situation, South Korea’s successful experience

1 Introduction

In order to improve the quality of life of rural residents and solve the problems of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers", China has put forward policies and measures to realize the promotion of living standard of rural population through rural tourism, and the effect is remarkable. In recent years, relying on Mount Tai tourism, Tai’an City continuously improves the leisure agriculture and rural tourism industry system, the living standards of the rural population in Tai’an City, and the rural living environment. Although rural tourism in Tai’an has achieved good results, the shortage of funds and talents, lack of macro planning and backward marketing methods have seriously restricted the development of rural tourism in Tai’an. The development of rural tourism in South Korea is relatively mature and has experienced similar stages and problems with the development of rural tourism in China. In this paper, successful rural tourism cases in South Korea are analyzed, and the advanced theories and implementation methods of rural tourism development in South Korea are learned, to promote the development of rural tourism in Tai’an City.

2 Literature review

Since the 1970s, South Korea has carried out diversified and systematic research on rural tourism. It can be roughly divided into the following categories: first, taking consumer market as the center, to study psychology and action of rural tourists[1-2]; second, taking local residents as study object, to study how to improve residents’ support for rural tourism development[3-4]; third, studying macro policy of rural tourism[5-6]; fourth, studying product design and marketing of rural tourism[7-8]; fifth, analysis and research on successful cases of rural tourism[9-10].

In the domestic literature research, the research results of rural tourism are relatively rich, and many scholars have discussed the rural tourism in Tai’an area. In these studies, most of them analyze the resources, advantages and disadvantages and development status of rural tourism development in Tai’an City, but there are few studies drawing lessons from foreign advanced experience, especially successful cases of rural tourism development in South Korea which belongs to Asia.

Therefore, by analyzing successful cases of rural tourism in South Korea, the successful experience of rural tourism in South Korea is summarized from rural tourism policy, R & D and marketing of tourism products, access to funds, support of rural residents. On this basis, for current situation and problem of rural tourism in Tai’an region, targeted countermeasures are put forward, thereby providing the basis for government decision making and operation of related enterprises.

3 Analysis of successful cases in South Korea

3.1 Case 1: suitable Shuchuan

3.1.1Resource mining. Shuchuan Prefecture, located on Zhongqing South Road, is connected with the west coast and the Jinjiang River. Villages with mountain resources in the region are rich in agricultural, forestry and fishery resources. The total area of cultivated land is 13 000 km2, and rice and various crops are produced in the cultivated land. There are 13 cities in total, of which 6 are connected to the sea, with rich marine aquatic resources and diverse agricultural products. Therefore, the characteristic food culture in this area is more developed.

To develop regional economy, Shuchuan Prefecture first put forward the vision of "comfortable Shuchuan" in 2003. By creating "suitable Shuchuan", the history, culture, nature, ecology, agriculture and fishery resources of Shuchuan are connected with the quality of life of residents, and the target of "comfortable environment" and "developing regional economy" is set (Table 1).

Table 1 Historical and cultural resources (intangible cultural heritage) in Shuchuan Prefecture

The investigation and selection process of historical and cultural resources is divided into four stages. After the implementation of the four stages, the characteristics and management problems of the resources are described respectively, and the resources are photographed and recorded. During the evaluation process, the legends and glories recorded in the literature and observation are sorted out through interviews. Through experimental investigation, the pollution degree of air and water quality and negative oxygen ions in mountains and forests are measured scientifically, so as to ensure the scientific basis of "suitable resources" (Table 2).

Table 2 "Suitable resources" of history and culture (material cultural heritage) in Shuchuan Prefecture

Shuchuan Prefecture makes use of local historical and cultural resources and agricultural resources to develop rural tourism. In the development process, the resources investigated in the early stage are divided into "rapid commercialization resources", "cultural and historical resources", "visual resources", "creative commodity resources", "regional image improvement resources" and "educational resources". Various departments holding resources carry out comprehensive integrated development, creating "eight scenes of Shuchuan": Maliangli winter cypress forest, migratory bird migration site of Jinjiang estuary embankment, South Korea ramie village, Xinchengli reed land, Chunchangtai bathing beach, Wenxian Academy, Xiyi Mountain natural cultivation forest, and Qianfang Mountain. The basic industry of Shuchuan Prefecture is agriculture. By integrating the existing resources such as marine resources and beaches on the west coast and the mother river of Zhongnan—the Jinjiang River, the added value of agriculture is increased in Shuchuan Prefecture. Combined with the branded characteristic products such as Hanshan Suqu liquor and Hanshan ramie, Shuchuan Prefecture has developed celebrations such asCamelliaandOctopusocellatusCelebration, Hongyuan PortKonosiruspunctatusandPortunuspelagicusCelebration, and Hanshan Ramie Culture Festival. These distinctive celebrations increased the number of visitors to Shuchuan from 2.1 million in 2002 to 6 million in 2003.

3.1.2Successful factors. The value creation of "suitable Shuchuan" through branding is a significant feature of the promotion of tourism industry in the prefecture. The successful factors of rural tourism in Shuchuan Prefecture can be summarized into three points. (i) The strategy of "suitable Shuchuan" is largely due to the determination and willpower of the sheriff in the prefecture. In addition, the exploration of resources, the development of projects, and the construction of professional organization system are completed through the cooperation of experts and civil servants. (ii) The "institutionalization" in the development process of "suitable Shuchuan" has played a great role in the tourism development of the prefecture, and the system has become a powerful weapon to ensure the sustainable development of "suitable Shuchuan". (iii) The clear strategy, detailed plan, the combination of experts, and the government’s preferential policies have laid a good and solid foundation for "suitable Shuchuan". The enterprises related to "suitable industries" in Shuchuan Prefecture have received strong assistance and support from the central government.

3.2 Case 2: Wangbili Hannong Village

3.2.1General situation of Hannong Village. Wanbili "Hannong Village" in the west of Yujin Prefecture, Gyeongbuk, South Korea is the earliest successful case of rural tourism in South Korea. Hannong Village belongs to ecological landscape type, takes "Wangbichuan" of 68 km long as the center, and is composed of 12 surrounding natural villages. In 1994, "Youth Association in North Countryside of South Korea" was established in Wangbili. Taking this as an opportunity, "Hannong Microbiology Laboratory of Natural Agricultural Crops" has been established since 1995. By 1996, an organic agricultural park composed of 10 domestic units had been established. In 2002, "Hannong Rehabilitation Association of Stone Kingdom" was established, and it was served as a record in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. In 2005, a "Wind Power, Solar Energy and New Renewable Energy Park" has been built. At this time, Weizhen Prefecture and Hannong Village were selected as "green rural experience village" by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Hannong Village, centered on Wangbichuan, now has more than 900 villagers. It adheres to the three no agriculture without pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers to produce organic agricultural products. In 1994, the Hannong Committee moved here. After the reclamation and farming, the population increased from a very small number of residents to more than 350.

3.2.2Setting clear goals. Specific development targets of Hannong Village are: (i) realizing the development of sustainable agriculture. The resources in the region should be recycled, and the diversity and integrity of organisms should be preserved, and the planting system suitable for the soil and climate of the region should be studied and developed. (ii) From traditional farming methods to modern BT technology and organic cultivation technology. (iii) Using organic fertilizers and organic pesticides that can replace chemical synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to deeply solve the practical problems of farmers.

3.2.3Collaborative management mode. The development of Hannong Village is managed by multiple departments, with high efficiency. The wide-area pro environment agricultural park supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has jointly developed the tourist experience and learning site with the integration center of livestock manure resource, becoming the largest organic agricultural production park in South Korea. It is ecological environment protection area designated and supported by the Ministry of Environment, as well as demonstration teaching base of organic agricultural park designated by Qingshang North Road and Weizhen Prefecture, green rural experience village, new renewable energy park, LOHAS park,etc.Multi sector cooperation promotes the development of Hannong Village, and is the power source for the development of rural tourism in Hannong Village.

3.2.4Product development and marketing. Organic agricultural products, processed products and pro environmental industrial products can be sold through e-commerce. At the "World Pro Environment Agriculture Exhibition" held in 2005, the demonstration grape of organic agriculture was directly operated by the technical team of Hannong Village, and Hannong Village developed a sightseeing route of pro environment agriculture site in Weizhen Prefecture to publicize and market characteristic products. Hannong education hall and Hannong advertising hall can understand the history and current situation of organic agriculture, and experience Hannong’s dishes made of organic agricultural products without chemical fertilizer and additives. There are also large-scale fertilizer fermentation sites, earthworm manure production sites and organic chicken farms in Yangdi Village for tourists to learn and experience. Animal husbandry parkin Juye Village has the earliest organic Korean cattle demonstration garden in South Korea. Each village has a plastic shed to ensure the output all year round. Renguangdao Village opened a natural agricultural university in order to train successors of organic agriculture. In order to practice rice bran agriculture, the experience elements such as organic rice cultivation and pro environmental domestic sewage purification facilities in Benbu Village have become the elements to attract consumers and producers from all over the country.

3.2.5Successful factors. The core success factors of Wangbili rural tourism are systematic operation and adjusting measures to local conditions.

(i) In the operation of rural tourism, the community characteristics of agricultural culture are very obvious. The residents of the village carry out joint farming, and the harvested crops are jointly distributed to avoid disputes during benefit distribution. The idle land near the farmers can be used as a place for packaging and selling products and become part of the personal harvest source.

(ii) Celebration activities have become the core concept of rural tourism development. Wangbili’s organic ecological agriculture pays attention to food safety, and it is a three no agriculture that produces healthy food based on safety. Through diversified operation means, taking the large-scale celebration activities of organic agriculture as the platform, and the purpose of urban-rural exchanges is achieved through a variety of entertainment projects. It not only publicizes the local history and culture, but also publicizes and markets the characteristic products of rural tourism in Hannong Village.

(iii) Hannong Village values sustainable development. Villagers have a strong common understanding of implementing pro environment agriculture and protecting the local ecological environment. Wangbili actively introduced the traditional farming methods of pro environment and three no agriculture, and created the soil suitable for pro environment crops. It not only enjoyed a good natural environment, but also created a sustainable agricultural system and a business idea of transforming organic agricultural products into tourism products.

3.3 Case 3: Xinli Mupianwa Village

3.3.1Cultivation of rural tourism talents. The most important human capital of the village is 56 farmers who began to participate in the rural experience tourism industry in 2003, with a total of 120 people, but most of them are elderly people over 67 years old. Today, the leader of the village is the precinct head elected three years ago, and he once lived in the city for 11 years and returned to the countryside. The people in charge of information rural management came to this village five years ago, and the chief of affairs came here with his parents a few months ago.

The middle-aged and the elderly account for a large proportion of the population in this village. Therefore, prior education should be given to the residents before rural tourism development. The education expenses for the second year are designated at the annual final meeting. Additionally, to develop pro environmental industries suitable for mountain village areas, it encourages local residents to enter universities to study relevant majors, implements "ideological education" for local villagers, and visits the villages with advanced experience industries every year.

3.3.2Source of financial capital. In order to develop rural tourism experience industry, investment can be divided into individual investment and joint investment at early stage. Farmers’ personal investment is mainly for the construction of houses and crop related facilities for experience; joint investment is mainly the fund mobilization of the government or local autonomous groups, mainly including support funds, bonuses, goods,etc.However, the local villagers believe that capital is not the most important factor in the development of rural experience tourism, and the villagers’ view on the investment of financial capital remains neutral.

3.3.3Characteristic tourism products and marketing. The local capital of the village includes 2 slate and tile houses, waterwheel, pedal pestle, magic fairy cave, sea temple park, the mountains and well preserved animal and plant ecosystem around the village, as well as rich resources such as local famous mountain grape, Radix Polygonati Officinalis and mountain grape wine. In order to meet the experience of tourists, different rural tourism experience projects are specially formulated according to the season (Table 3).

Table 3 Experience project

As part of the public industry, mountain grape was designated as a local characteristic crop in 2003. It started planting mountain grape seedlings and cultivated mountain grape forest in 2004. In 2008, the national tax office and the regional evaluation committee presented awards to the village. In 2009, it won the gold medal of the wine tasting meeting and became a resounding gold lettered signboard of Gangwon-do. After the start of the experience industry, the daily income of rural residents engaged in joint operation is 70 000 won for men and 35 000 won for women. Villagers engaged in catering industry usually earn 40 000 won a day, which can reach 50 000 won in peak season, and the family income continues to grow.

3.3.4Management system. (i) Team consciousness. First, a strong sense of team has been formed in the process of village house reconstruction. In 2003, Xinli Mupianwa Village received 500 million won from the government for the development of rural economy and the transformation of village houses. In this process, young people advocated building houses into traditional wooden tile houses, while the elderly in the village advocated building brick and stone houses. Different opinions once heated the dispute. After that, the village head persuaded them to unify their opinions and build traditional wooden tile houses. In the process of construction, without the guidance of experts, the villagers discussed with each other. After one year of practice, the first wooden tile house was completed and became a model for the later transformation of village houses, and the villagers’ team consciousness also reached the peak.

Second, the system of "villagers’ reconciliation day" to maintain and promote team awareness is implemented. After the wooden tile house was established, it began to carry out publicity throughout the country. More and more tourists came from the village, so the village accumulated a lot of funds. From then on, some villagers began to have the idea of sharing these funds equally. In 2005 and 2006, four precinct heads were changed in two years. At this time, the disputes within the countryside have begun to become white hot. In November 2006, in order to promote the team spirit of the village, the then precinct head implemented a series of measures, such as the implementation of Lantern Festival celebrations lasting for 3 days and 2 nights, and regularly held "villagers’ reconciliation day". On that day, the villagers held a banquet together. As a result, the team spirit in the village began to recover slowly.

(ii) Cultivation of intelligent talents. After being selected as an information village in November 2002, an information center was set up in the village. During February-September of 2003, the design and production of the village home page have been completed. Today, there are more than 5 000 visitors a day. There are 56 families in the village, of which 36 have computers. The villagers were given information education on windows, word and Internet.

(iii) Building a social network. The social network of Mupianwa Village includes two aspects: social network among rural residents. Residents help each other through the Internet and grasp the latest situation. Additionally, it is social networking between villagers and urban residents. Urban residents book characteristic agricultural products through direct contact with villagers, and villagers directly distribute commodities for urban residents to make profits.

3.3.5Sustainable development measures. There are two aspects of investment income in rural areas: one is the income from jointly operated experience facilities, such as accommodation and catering; second, the income from operating home stay by villagers. Since the visitors are all from around Seoul and are far away, the proportion of re visits is about 20%. Therefore, the villagers in Muwapian Village tend to attract new customers.

Xinli Mupianwa Village obtains reinvestment through planning public income. First, the income from the operation of jointly operated restaurants and guest rooms in the countryside; second, 10% of the income from home stay and other experiential projects operated by farmers is reinvested; third, funds given by the government and other organizations are used as supplementary capital for reinvestment.

Reinvestment is mainly used in the following aspects. (i) Talent training in rural areas is the main application field of reinvestment capital. At the collective meeting at the end of the year, this part of the education cost for talent training is first determined. (ii) If the establishment and maintenance of public facilities in the village need to be reinvested, the decisions of the operation committee and the executive committee should be adopted to ensure the collective interests of rural residents. (iii) A mutual fund is established.

4 Enlightenment on the development of rural tourism in Tai’an City

4.1 Strengthening publicity and target sharing to mobilize villagers to actively participateThe purpose of developing rural tourism is to improve the living standards and quality of life of local people, and local residents are the ultimate beneficiaries of developing rural tourism. Therefore, it should mobilize the enthusiasm of villagers to participate and improve the degree of villagers’ participation. First, publicity methods should be diversified. Not only through the meetings of the two village committees, village group leaders and villagers’ representatives held by district and town governments, but also in combination with the actual situation of rural tourism construction, various channels such as billboards, brochures, radio and Wechat public platform should be effectively and fully utilized. Second, it should share the information and intelligence related to rural tourism development planning to villagers, such as rural tourism planning and scheduled objectives, to the villagers through publicity, so as to reduce the villagers’ risk perception of rural tourism development and enhance the villagers’ confidence in rural tourism. It should let the villagers understand the purpose, significance and specific measures of developing rural tourism, so as to enable the villagers to actively participate in the development of rural tourism. Third, via ways of raising funds and labor, it should broaden and deepen the participation of villagers, mobilize farmers’ enthusiasm for participation, and achieve the purpose of mutual benefit.

4.2 Obtaining funds from multiple channels to realize the sustainable development of rural tourism constructionThe survey results show that in the process of rural tourism development, it relies too much on government funds and has a mentality of exclusion from other sources of funds. Because rural tourism in Tai’an area is in the initial construction and development stage, it needs a lot of capital investment. It can not only rely on government capital support, but should integrate a variety of capital sources in a reasonable and effective way to provide a strong driving force for the development of rural tourism. First, bank led credit support. Due to the late start of rural tourism development, most rural tourism in Tai’an City is still in the stage of infrastructure construction, and there is a large demand for funds. With the rapid development of tourism industry in rural areas, banks have shown preferential treatment for rural tourism in terms of funds and policies. Second, capital investment of some large tourism companies. With the gradual development of rural tourism, it has attracted more and more attention from large tourism companies, and their capital investment is bound to further enhance the development of rural tourism. Third, it should attract villagers to invest, and let villagers join in the development of rural tourism. Villagers’ investment can not only improve villagers’ participation, but also solve financial difficulties to a certain extent. Fourth, expanding rural tourism revenue. Via case analysis, it could be seen that when Korean rural tourism is reinvested, the government’s financial support accounts for only a part of it. The public income obtained through reasonable management can be reinvested in the development of rural tourism. Through jointly operated restaurants, experience projects and home stay, part of the income can be used for talent training of rural tourism, construction and maintenance of public facilities and other purposes.

4.3 Improving software supporting facilities to improve residents’ quality of life

4.3.1Perfecting and improving the management system of rural tourism. After the initial completion of rural tourism infrastructure, due to the imperfect management system, many infrastructure have been abandoned or even damaged. By enhancing management, it could ensure the normal operation, use, maintenance and repair of the built infrastructure. The enthusiasm of villagers to participate in the development of rural tourism is largely related to the imperfection of the management system. By improving the democratic and open system and in accordance with democratic procedures, important matters must be deliberated through meetings before being decided, and the opinions of villagers shall be fully respected.

4.3.2Promoting the further improvement of public services such as medical and health care, culture and education, social security, and entertainment. From the survey results, the construction of rural tourism in Tai’an City pays more attention to the construction of tourism related facilities, but does not pay attention to public welfare supporting services, such as education, medical treatment, entertainment and other public services. The ultimate purpose of rural tourism is to improve the quality of life of villagers. Villages not only need to develop the infrastructure required for tourism, but also promote supporting service facilities to improve the quality of life of ordinary people.

4.4 Formulating diversified learning and training methods to attract and retain rural tourism professionals

4.4.1Increasing capital investment in talent training. Rural tourism in Tai’an City attaches importance to infrastructure construction and ignores talent training. Therefore, although Tai’an rural tourism has a certain scale of infrastructure, it is very difficult for revenue and sustainable development due to improper management and operation. Rural economy is difficult to grow, and people’s quality of life is difficult to improve. Talents are essential in the development of rural tourism. Without talents, the development of rural tourism will inevitably take many detours, with low development efficiency. South Korea’s successful rural tourism attaches great importance to the capital investment in talents. In the re investment of funds, the largest one is the cultivation of talents. Therefore, in the process of rural tourism development in Tai’an City, it should increase the capital investment in talent training.

4.4.2Carrying out professional learning and training to improve the professional ability of rural tourism talents. Rural tourism in Tai’an City mainly relies on visits and studies organized by the government to absorb the experience of others. This way is easy to cause the consequences of "following suit". Rural tourism is a systematic project. The resources, current situation and constraints of each village are different, and it needs to deeply study the systematic and professional relevant theoretical knowledge. In the area where rural tourism is developed in South Korea, it mobilizes and guides villagers to go to universities for further study, and learn systematic theories related to tourism. Through training courses, villagers’ ability to operate computers is improved to ensure the realization of rural tourism informatization.

4.4.3Building a reasonable talent system to supplement rural tourism think tanks. At this stage, the problem of rural population loss in Tai’an area is serious. The farmers are often the elderly and women, and the young people and high-level talents flow to the cities. In rural tourism areas, it should establish a system to attract talents as soon as possible, improve the preferential policies on the cultivation, use, support and service of talents, promote talents to serve the countryside and take root in the countryside, and provide intellectual support for the development of rural tourism.

4.5 Strengthening macro management to build a high-quality rural tourism destinationTai’an municipal government should take the overall situation into account from a macro point of view, and formulate a distinctive beautiful rural construction plan with high starting point, high standard and high quality. First, strengthening top-level design. It should carry out a comprehensive survey on the actual situation of rural tourism in all villages of the region. On the basis of the survey, it should make statistics, integration and analysis of the survey results. It should cooperate with scientific research institutions or universities, make a complete planning and design for rural tourism, plan rural tourism in Tai’an area from the municipal level, and issue guiding documents. Second, strengthening the management and connection of township planning. All townships are required to do a good job in the preparation, approval, revision, supervision and management of the beautiful rural construction plan of the town, to guide various construction activities in strict accordance with the plan, and maintain the seriousness and continuity of the plan. It should coordinate the planning of beautiful rural construction with the planning of economic and social development, land use and environmental protection, and do a good job in the organic connection with the planning of Tai’an area. Third, guiding and preparing village-level plans by category. All townships are required to further clarify the central village and general village, to formulate corresponding implementation plans of village-level planning, and ensure that the construction follows the planning. Fourth, striving to achieve balanced sharing of urban and rural public resources. When arranging the construction of infrastructure and public service facilities, the government should focus on tilting to rural areas, promote the landing of schools, hospitals, shopping malls, hotels and other facilities in rural areas, to realize the effective connection between urban and rural public resources. All kinds of infrastructure and public service facilities can fully serve the urban and rural residents of the whole region. Fifth, avoiding repeated development and single theme. Tai’an has rich and representative rural tourism resources, such as Dongping Lake and Water Margin culture in Dongping, Dawenhe and Dawenkou culture in Tai’an, 666.67 ha of peach forest and peach wood carving folk custom in Feicheng,etc.However, the actual situation of rural tourism development is that tourism products are similar, and the product form is single, without attraction to tourists. The government should make macro planning and positioning for the development of tourism products in combination with the local characteristic culture, so as to promote the development of rural tourism with distinctive theme and characteristics.

4.6 Establishing supervision institutions to formulate norms and restrict villagers’ misconductFirst, establishment of supervisory bodies. The openness of village affairs and democratic management are the basis of rural grass-roots democratic political construction. Through the establishment of the village committee team, it could give play to the role of villagers’ representatives to promote the openness of village affairs, maintain rural social stability and standardize the behavior of managers. Second, giving play to the guiding role of the government and formulating norms to restrict villagers’ behavior. In the development of rural tourism, disputes often arise due to the distribution of interests, which has become an obstacle to the development of rural tourism. In view of this phenomenon, the municipal government and the village committee should formulate relevant norms in line with the actual development to restrict the misconduct of villagers. Villages and towns should take the governance mechanism of the combination of rule of law, rule of virtue and autonomy as the grip, focus on the village community governance, and promote the revision and improvement of village rules and regulations in the village. Villagers participate in the formulation and revision, and cadres take the lead in implementation, so as to initially realize villagers’ autonomy and self-management, and promote the effective solution of practical problems.

4.7 Establishment of marketing systemThrough the investigation, it is found that the rural tourism development areas in Tai’an City generally lack marketing awareness, often passive marketing, and expand their popularity through government publicity. Rural areas should establish the awareness of active marketing, expand their popularity and attract larger markets to consume. Marketing should pay attention to the following points: (i) to understand the target market. Most of the target markets of rural tourism are urban residents. It should understand the needs of urban residents to come to the countryside and their expectations for rural tourism, and improve their hardware and software facilities on this basis. (ii) The development of rural tourism should have characteristic themes different from other villages. The characteristic theme is equal to positioning the countryside. The rural resources are limited, and it is impossible to meet all markets indefinitely. Doing a good job in characteristic positioning and market positioning is conducive to the rational distribution of limited resources. (iii) Publicity methods should be diversified. Through the investigation of rural tourism in South Korea, it is found that most rural marketing methods are a combination of online and offline. In addition to the publicity of mainstream media supported by the government, most of them have their own official websites. Potential consumers can learn about rural tourism information, make reservations and interact with other tourists through the official websites. Rural tourism in Tai’an City should also be combined online and offline. In particular, it should make full use of the low-cost Internet and mobile Internet to create online marketing, such as official website, application APP, and cooperation with OTA,etc.