Tourism Imaginary and Landscape at Heritage Site: A Case in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China
The relationship between tourism and landscape has been extensively studied, but a conceptual framework to study cultural relationships between tourism and landscape is not specified in the literature. On the basis of the theory of social imaginary, this article takes China’s Honghe Hani Terraces as...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Land |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/4/439 |
| _version_ | 1827694669366034432 |
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| author | Zhe Wang Lawal Marafa |
| author_facet | Zhe Wang Lawal Marafa |
| author_sort | Zhe Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The relationship between tourism and landscape has been extensively studied, but a conceptual framework to study cultural relationships between tourism and landscape is not specified in the literature. On the basis of the theory of social imaginary, this article takes China’s Honghe Hani Terraces as an example to study how the landscape is imagined in tourism and the potential cultural conflicts. Content analysis on tourist discourses and images in social media was conducted in order to identify tourist imaginaries about the landscape. A gap between tourism imaginaries and the Hani landscape was found: the latter was imagined as an overlooking view of stereotyped terraced imagery, a schema separated and independent from other landscape components. In-depth interviews on stakeholders and participant observations were used to study the production process of tourism imaginaries. Findings show that the viewing platforms and roads provided an enclave space from local contexts, wherein the Hani landscape was staged for gazing. The tourism company’s strategies dominated the process, leading to local communities’ marginalization and threats to the landscape. We suggest that tourism planning and marketing should maintain the integrity of landscape in tourism imaginaries and empower the local communities, thereby reducing cultural tensions between tourism and the landscape. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:10:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eab64decdb0e48c6a44e35995ff561f2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:10:06Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj.art-eab64decdb0e48c6a44e35995ff561f22023-11-21T16:20:20ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2021-04-0110443910.3390/land10040439Tourism Imaginary and Landscape at Heritage Site: A Case in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, ChinaZhe Wang0Lawal Marafa1Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Central Ave, Hong Kong, ChinaDepartment of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Central Ave, Hong Kong, ChinaThe relationship between tourism and landscape has been extensively studied, but a conceptual framework to study cultural relationships between tourism and landscape is not specified in the literature. On the basis of the theory of social imaginary, this article takes China’s Honghe Hani Terraces as an example to study how the landscape is imagined in tourism and the potential cultural conflicts. Content analysis on tourist discourses and images in social media was conducted in order to identify tourist imaginaries about the landscape. A gap between tourism imaginaries and the Hani landscape was found: the latter was imagined as an overlooking view of stereotyped terraced imagery, a schema separated and independent from other landscape components. In-depth interviews on stakeholders and participant observations were used to study the production process of tourism imaginaries. Findings show that the viewing platforms and roads provided an enclave space from local contexts, wherein the Hani landscape was staged for gazing. The tourism company’s strategies dominated the process, leading to local communities’ marginalization and threats to the landscape. We suggest that tourism planning and marketing should maintain the integrity of landscape in tourism imaginaries and empower the local communities, thereby reducing cultural tensions between tourism and the landscape.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/4/439tourismlandscapeimaginarycultural heritage sitecultural conflictlocal communities |
| spellingShingle | Zhe Wang Lawal Marafa Tourism Imaginary and Landscape at Heritage Site: A Case in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China Land tourism landscape imaginary cultural heritage site cultural conflict local communities |
| title | Tourism Imaginary and Landscape at Heritage Site: A Case in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China |
| title_full | Tourism Imaginary and Landscape at Heritage Site: A Case in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China |
| title_fullStr | Tourism Imaginary and Landscape at Heritage Site: A Case in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tourism Imaginary and Landscape at Heritage Site: A Case in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China |
| title_short | Tourism Imaginary and Landscape at Heritage Site: A Case in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China |
| title_sort | tourism imaginary and landscape at heritage site a case in honghe hani rice terraces china |
| topic | tourism landscape imaginary cultural heritage site cultural conflict local communities |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/4/439 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zhewang tourismimaginaryandlandscapeatheritagesiteacaseinhonghehaniriceterraceschina AT lawalmarafa tourismimaginaryandlandscapeatheritagesiteacaseinhonghehaniriceterraceschina |