Benefit Analysis Of Ecotourism Based On Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation And FsQCA

Since its proposal in the 1980s,ecotourism has become an important component of the world tourism industry and a hot topic in the development of the world tourism industry today.The perception and attitude of residents can reflect the development of local ecotourism,which is the key to evaluating whether ecotourism destinations can be sustainable.Hunan Province is rich in ecotourism resources.This article selects six ecotourism destinations in Hunan Province(Shennonggu National Forest Park,Zhangjiajie National Forest Park,Nanshan National Park,Mangshan National Forest Park,Dongdongting National Nature Reserve,and Shuifumiao National Wetland Park)as the research area,and conducts empirical research from the perspective of residents’ perception.The aim is to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the perceived benefits of ecotourism in Hunan Province and analyze the combination of conditions that produce high benefits.This article uses Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP)and entropy weight method to calculate the comprehensive weights of each criterion layer and indicator layer,and then uses fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to further evaluate and analyze each target layer,criterion layer,and indicator layer.On this basis,based on the basic principles of QCA,economic benefits,social benefits,cultural benefits,and environmental benefits are set as the antecedent variables.From the perspective of configuration,the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis(fsQCA)is used to explore the different configurations that generate high benefits of ecotourism for the people.The main findings are as follows:(1)The perceived benefits of the residents of ecotourism sites in Hunan Province are at the same level as average.The environmental and social benefits are at the excellent level,while the economic and cultural benefits are at the average level,with the comprehensive evaluation value of environmental benefits being the first and the comprehensive evaluation value of economic benefits being the fourth.(2)Ecotourism has a certain role in promoting regional economic growth,but its role in narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor is not obvious.The development of ecotourism has a certain pulling effect on attracting more tourists,boosting regional economic growth,driving industrial development,increasing residents’ income,and promoting the sale of local agricultural products,but the effect on narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor is not obvious.(3)Ecotourism has a significant role in improving the quality of residents,but has a weak role in increasing employment opportunities.The development of ecotourism has a significant effect on improving the quality of residents and expanding the local popularity,while the improvement of infrastructure construction is at an average level,and the infrastructure construction of ecotourism destinations needs to be further improved.(4)Ecotourism has greatly promoted the protection of cultural heritage,but its role in improving the education level of residents still needs to be improved.The development of ecotourism has led to an influx of foreign tourists,which has led to a greater emphasis on the protection and dissemination of local cultural heritage and enhanced the exchange of information and culture between residents and the outside world,but the leisure and fitness conditions and educational level of residents still need to be improved.(5)Ecotourism has a strong effect on raising residents’ awareness of environmental protection,but there is still room for improvement in ecological protection and restoration.The development of ecotourism has a significant strengthening of the awareness of residents to protect the ecological environment,and also has a better effect on improving the living environment of residents,better air quality and more green areas.However,ecological protection and restoration still need to be enhanced.(6)Environmental and social benefits play an important role in influencing the perceived benefits of the residents of ecotourism destinations,while cultural and economic benefits play a smaller role.A single variable does not satisfy the necessary conditions for generating the high efficiency benefits of ecotourism,which have to appear in the form of a combination of conditions.The fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis leads to four condition groups that can trigger ecotourism high efficiency benefits.Among these four condition groups,two condition variables,environmental benefits and social benefits,have always appeared as core conditions in generating ecotourism high efficiency benefits,while economic benefits and cultural benefits appear as marginal conditions in condition group 2 and condition group 4.It shows that environmental and social benefits play an important role in influencing the perceived benefits of ecotourism site residents,while cultural and economic benefits play a smaller role in the perceived benefits of ecotourism site residents in Hunan Province.This also coincides with the results of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation above:environmental benefits>social benefits>cultural benefits>economic benefits.This likewise indicates that the development of ecotourism in Hunan Province,environmental and social benefits have been achieved to some extent,but economic and cultural benefits still need to be improved.