The Impacts Of Rangeland Management Institutions On Community-based Tourism Development

Community-based Tourism(CBT)refers to community residents engaging in tourism business activities and gaining benefits from it.With the increasing poverty in pastoral areas,CBT is increasingly regarded as the key to the development of rangeland tourism.Previous studies have shown that the degree of community participation in tourism is not only affected by resource endowment,human capital and material capital,but also by social relations and networks.Rangeland resources are important resources for tourism development in pastoral areas.Over the past half century,various rangeland management institutions have emerged in pastoral areas,including the household responsibility system,village-wide sharing system and joint household management system.These different rangeland management institutions have led to differences in social relations and networks such as trust and reciprocity,community cohesion and bargaining power of village collective organizations among residents of different communities in pastoral areas,which has highlighted the status and role of rangeland management institutions in CBT.Based on the theory of rural social relationship change and social network,this paper constructs an analytical framework,and conducts a case study of pastoral areas in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,focusing on the differences of community social network under different rangeland management institutions and its impact on CBT.In order to carry out such an investigation,this paper selected three case villages in Zoige County,Sichuan Province.The three case villages have implemented the household responsibility system,village-wide sharing system and joint household management system.The content of this paper ismainly around these two research issues: "Does rangeland management institutions affect community participation in tourism?" and "What is the mechanism behind the impact of rangeland management institutions on community participation in tourism?".In the main part of this paper,on the basis of summarizing the basic situation of three case villages,rangeland management institutions and community participation in tourism,the following empirical analysis is carried out in this study.First,with the help of one-way ANOVA,we can judge whether there are significant differences in social networks among three case villages under different rangeland management institutions.Second,we construct a Heckman sample selection model to identify the impact of social networks on community participation in tourism.Finally,we can sort out the causal chain between rangeland management institutions and community participation in tourism in pastoral areas,and explain the mechanism behind the impact of grassland utilization institutions on CBT in pastoral areas.Through the above steps,the following conclusions are drawn in turn.(1)Under different rangeland management institutions,there are significant differences in the social network of each community,which is reflected in the strong tie.Community that has implemented village-wide sharing system has the highest bonding social capital,the one that has implemented the household responsibility system has the lowest bonding social capital,and the other that has implemented joint household management system has a middle level of bonding social capital.(2)The next part is the factors that influence community participation in tourism.Besides human and material capital,community participation in tourism is closely related to social network.Strong tie has a direct positive impact on whether herdsmen families participate or not and to what extent they can benefit from CBT.(3)Different rangeland management institutions would affect CBT by affecting social networks.With the gradual implementation of "householdresponsibility system" required by the government,the spontaneous implementation of village-wide sharing system and joint household management system by herdsmen in many areas will help to enhance trust and reciprocity among community residents,enhance community cohesion,promote community participation in tourism,and make the level of community participation in tourism far higher than that of household responsibility system.Finally,based on the results of the above empirical analysis,considering the current situation of tourism development and CBT in Zoige County,this paper puts forward the following suggestions: the rangeland management departments should approve various institutional arrangements in the actual rangeland management;promote the cultural construction of mutually beneficial cooperation,cultivate community social networks;provide financial services and tourism technology,cultivate material capital and human capital;find a tourism development pattern that meets the current development requirements.