Influencing mechanisms and improvement path for amenity in rural tourism destinations

Enhancing amenity is a key pathway for rural tourism destinations to transform "lucid waters and lush mountains" into "invaluable assets", and an important component in promoting the construction of beautiful, livable, and prosperous villages. Based on the rural regional system theory, experience economy theory, and supply-demand theory, this paper constructs a theoretical framework of "natural resource endowment—amenity perception—rural sustainable development". Through empirical research on three typical case sites of different types in Jiangxi province, and by comprehensively applying exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the paper reveals the influencing mechanisms of amenity in rural tourism destinations and proposes improvement pathways accordingly. Key findings include: (1) Rural tourism destinations amenity is shaped by both objective factors (natural environment, facilities, local development, and culture) and subjective factors (personal perception, technology application), with the natural environment playing a core supporting role. (2) The formation of rural tourism destinations amenity is a dynamic process where three factors—foundational support, endogenous momentum, and exogenous momentum—interact to achieve a equilibrium through supply-demand interactions, reflecting the complexity and systemic nature of human-land relationships. (3) Enhancing rural tourism destinations amenity requires following the path of "element flow—structural optimization—functional manifestation". Through coordinated resource allocation, supply-demand optimization, and value realization, this approach drives rural areas toward high-quality living and tourism spaces. The study provides theoretical foundations and practical guidance for the sustainable development of rural tourism destinations.