Touristic Behavior And Cultural Response In Ethnic Area

This dissertation takes the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture as a study area, and takes touristic behavior theory as theoretical framework to explore the touristic behavior and cultural response in the Prefecture systematically by the methodology of societal survey, quantitative and qualitative analysis.There are unique conditions for developing tourism in the Prefecture due to its numerous nationalities and colorful ethnic culture in the west of China. A great deal of type ethnic tourism resources and profound, different ethnic culture provide a splendid foundation of developing characteristical tourism products for Gansu Province which is a multi-nationalities province in the north-west of China. However, tourism development in ethnic area is not so good because it do not transform the resources superiority to product and economic superiority. On the other hand, the tourism research of ethnic area achieved fruitful results. There is great progress to get in recent years. Tourism resources development and preservation, tourism development in ethnic area and tourism impact on ethnic culture and its response draw a lot of attentions of researchers. But still there are several questions need to be explored. The research of touristic behavior in ethnic area is a weak point.Theory of touristic behavior penetrates all travel process and includes three stages:pre-travel, travel and post-travel. So it is a large and complex theory. Research focuses on motivation, tourism destination image, touristic destination-choice, touristic experience and satisfaction. In China, host-guest interaction is the focal point of the research of touristic behavior in ethnic area. The research of host-guest interaction focuses on tourism cultural impact and response, the local residence’s perception of tourism phenomenon and activities in ethnic area. Tourism cultural impact and response in ethnic area do not traditionally considered as touristic behavior, so here the rule is followed. In this dissertation, the research of touristic behavior in ethnic area will be divided into two parts:general studies and special studies.In general part, during pre-travel stage, recommendation or word of mouth is the most important information source. The most important motivation is for leisure and vocation. The most attractive tourism resource is the Muslim amorous feelings.During travel stage, the most method of tourist going travel is with family members. Transportation which tourist takes most is the bus. The regular stay duration is one day. The top three costs are cuisine, hotel, and shopping.During post-travel, higher ratio of tourists likes to travel to Linxia again and recommend Linxia to others. Tourism flow shows Linxia is a transiting and terminal destination. Tourist from Linxia has a higher ratio among all tourists.In special part, Linxia’ image exploration shows Linxia is a holiday destination which has a vivid amorous feeling. Here, local people are warm and friendly, cuisine is delicious, architecture style is unique, and has a feeling of safety. Otherwise, the price of souvenir and service is higher and urban landscape is not so attractive.Factors tourist considers in the destination-choice process are culture, landscape, and distance in order. In culture aspect, tourist inclines to seeking similar cultural destination. This has a relation to their religion and faith. In landscape aspect, influencing factors are, in order, historical and cultural landscape, natural landscape, and urban landscape. This shows tourist also has a preference of seeking novel culture. In distance aspect, tourist destination choices in evoke set and consideration set is dominated by distance decay.Tourist satisfaction in ethnic area is high totally. In the type’s evaluation, price of tourist attractions show lower, shopping cost also is in low level. Service of transportation and communication appear better. Safety and social order is good. Sightseeing and photographing also get a high evaluation. Tourist attractions’ mean score is high, but consistency is low. Tourist activities’ mean score is high, but consistency is high. Evaluation of the service of tour guide and tourist attractions, friendship, hygiene, and environment protection are low.In Linxia area, the tourism development promotes the self-consciousness, reconstruction, succession, and development of ethnic culture. The core of ethnic culture is maintained. Ethnic culture responds it positively. It draws a conclusion from the case study of Songmingyan Hua’er representative successor, Ma Jinshan, that tourism promotes the succession and development of intangible cultural heritage and plays an important and positive role in developing Hua’er art. It concludes that ethnic people still like Hua’er, and the living atmosphere of Hua’er is not deteriorated from the case study of Songmingyan Hua’er Fair. Ethnic people hope sincerely that Hua’er could be succeeded and develop to a high level. They also support the tourism exploitation of Hua’er strongly and would like to contribute to the succession and enhancement of Hua’er. It implies that ethnic social culture could positively respond a series change in cuisine, religion, housing, and language which tourism development generates from the case study of Ma’s Nongjiale. However, the values that Hui people hold and core culture is succeeded and enhanced.