Experience Of Xi'an-based Heritage Of Ecology And Tourism, Heritage Tourism Development Model Study

Heritage tourism is theoretically a challenging and significant issue. Practically, heritage tourism is not only a field that contains a huge developmental potential in China, but also in urgent need for strict planning and orderliness for development.Based on the field study and visitor surveys at over 10 heritage attractions in Xi'an, including the World Cultural Heritage the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin Dynasty and his Terra-cotta Army and other typical cases of heritage tourism development in China, this study carried out a thorough study on the concept, core theories and development modes of the heritage tourism of Xi'an, and brought forward the unique development mode for heritage tourism, i.e., HELP mode.The HELP mode was developed to meet the particularity of heritage tourism development, specifically the overall protection of heritage and the genuine perception of the cultural significance of heritage. The mode is to develop landscape on the basis of studies on the heritage ecosystem and the experiences of heritage visitors and further to formulate the visitor attraction product, which should be dynamically adjusted in accordance with the changes of market and heritage ecosystem, so as to achieve a beneficial cycle and the sustainable development of heritage tourism and protection of heritage.The study made theoretical studies concerning the development mode of heritage tourism from three aspects:Firstly, based on the available researches both in China and abroad, the concept of heritage and the practices of heritage protection were studied and found that they tend to take the perspectives of integrity and systematization. The study further put forward the concept of'heritage ecology', which implies the significance of harmony in the protection, management and utilization of heritage.Secondly, the complete concept of 'heritage tourism' was formulated and a systematic study was given to its core 'tourist experience'. And the experience modes of heritage tourism were thus developed from three perspectives of individual's psychological and aesthetic activities, participation and the dynamic process of the experience.Thirdly, in terms of the conflict and problems in development of heritage tourism, particularly the integral protection of heritage and the exhibition of its cultural values, the HELP mode with the landscape development as its core was worked out. The HELP mode, namely, heritage ecology (H) -tourist experience(E) - landscape development (L) - product development (P), takes the integral protection of heritage ecology and experience of heritage tourism in the development of heritage landscape development and thereby the heritage tourism product should be formulated. The impacts of the consuming process of heritage tourism product on the protection of heritage ecology and visitor's experience at the heritage should be monitored. Feedbacks will be taken into considerations in the adjustment of landscape development and further the tourism product mix so as to achieve a dynamic development cycle mode in which development as well as protection, heritage as well as tourism, are equally important.With this new development mode, the study took Xi'an, the historical and cultural ancient capital as an example, to prove its feasibility. New ideas and suggestions are also given to the heritage tourism development in Xi'an.The innovative aspects concerning the case of Xi'an in this study are as follows:First, a thorough sorting-out was done to the heritage resources of Xi'an and analysis was given to the protective management of different types of heritages. The paper further came up with protective measures during heritage tourism development including rotate maintaining, ecological boundary separation and dynamic monitoring and adjustment of visitor impacts.Second, by statistic analysis of questionnaire survey, the heritage visitor experiences were studied and the characteristics and features summarized. The innovations for heritage visitor experiences in Xi'an were discussed.Third, with a detailed analysis given to the historical ecology and spatial pattern of the heritage tourism landscape in Xi'an, an innovative development framework of heritage tourism landscape of Xi'an was developed.Fourth, on the basis of large-scale landscape development and through the meso- and microscope innovative landscape design, brands of high-quality heritage tourism products with outstanding features, and with the different types of heritages at the core, should be developed.Finally, on the basis of the typical cases of the heritage tourism development in Xi'an, the features and applicability of the HELP mode were discussed and conclusions were given.