Exploring Community Tourism in China: The Case of Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone

As a sustainable development approach, community tourism can be implemented in a modernized civil society when individuals confront the opportunities and responsibilities of citizenship. China seems to present a series of problems to community tourism. It is in the midst of 'modernising' its norms and values, but has no civil society to counterbalance the power of the state. It enjoys the benefits of a growing economy, but is far from being regulated by the invisible hand of the market. There is intense social opposition, but there are no social movements that might lead towards building a democratic system crucial to implementing community tourism. This paper presents a case study of Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone in Sanya, Hainan Province, China, in order to explore the applicability of community tourism. The findings indicate that tremendous barriers exist to such a democratic approach in the development of the Zone despite glimmers of hope. The paper concludes that various preconditions must be established for implementing community tourism in the specific situation of the Zone. The paper also contributes to the much needed discussion of community tourism in developing countries. © 2004 Y. Li.