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| THE CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-LOCAL OWNERS' PLACE ATTACHMENT IN TOURISM COMMUNITY:A CASE STUDY OF WEST YANGSHUO STREET |
| YANG Yun1,2, BAO Ji-gang1 |
1. Center for Tourism Planning and Research, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China;
2. Wuxi City College of Vocational Technology, Wuxi 214063, China |
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Abstract As an important sub-concept of place theory, a number of recent studies have been focused on place attachment, defined as the extent to which a person values or identifies with a particular setting. The non-local owners' attachment to tourism community is a special phenomenon of man-land relationship, which hasn't been taken into consideration by the academic circles. Literature across diverse disciplines is examined and synthesized to demonstrate that attachments to local community settings are a critical foundation for cooperation action and positive community change. On the basis of a great deal of firsthand fieldwork data, the paper figures out the causes, changing processes and influences of non-local owners' place attachment. Major findings include: (1)Instead of simple utilitarian connection, non-local owners do develop diverse degrees of emotional attachment to West Yangshuo Street, while "the lifestyle enjoyment model" posses high degree of affective identification to Yangshuo. (2)The changing of place attachment has been closely related to the development of tourism commercialization in West Yangshuo Street, while economic dependence and emotional identity not only inhibit but also promote each other. The timely interventions of the government are critically necessary to restrain the venture behaviors in the tourism market. (3)High degree of place attachment can standardize non-local owners' commercial behaviors, especially the "emotional identity" brings much more positive impact on enriching the local cultural prosperity and boosting the economy of Yangshuo.
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Received: 20 April 2012
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2012, Vol. 27 
