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21023 Degree project 15 credits June 2021

Exploring the sustainable development of with Chinese characteristics

Mengxue Nie Programme name (eg Master's Programme in Molecular Biotec hnology Engineering)

Master's Programme in Sustainable Destination Development Sustainable Nature-Based Destinations Uppsala University logotype

Exploring the sustainable development of garden tourism with Chinese characteristics

Mengxue Nie

Abstract Both garden ontology and tourists influence garden tourism, and while many countries around the world have researched garden tourism, China's garden tourism market lacks development. This study aims to find a sustainable and distinctive development path for garden tourism development in complementary developed China. This study uses primarily qualitative research to interview visitors to tourism sites, using visitor experience factors and international case studies to explore the development of Chinese garden tourism. The study results show that Chinese are characterized by developing essential elements: discovering tourism values, increasing infrastructure development, innovative management, and creating a and connotation of sustainable development. The study project will fill the gap in the development of garden and provide a creative direction for the development of garden tourism in China.

Faculty of Science and Technology , Upps ala University. Place of publication eg Uppsala/Visby. Supervisor: Name Surname, Subject reader: Name Surname, Examiner: Name Surname

Faculty of Science and Technology Uppsala University, Place of publication :Visby

Subject reader: Carina Johansson Examiner: Ulrika Persson-Fischier Table of Contents

1 Introduction 2 1.1 Garden tourism 2 1.2 Garden tourism in China 3 1.3 Research purpose 7 1.4 Research structure 8 2 Literature review 9 2.1 Origin of garden tourism 9 2.2 The formation of garden tourism 11 2.3 The development of garden tourism 11 2.4 Garden tourism in the UK 12 2.5 The development of garden tourism in China 12 3 Research methodology 15 3.1 Case study theory 15 3.2 Tourism experience theory 16 3.3 theory 16 3.4 Types of research 17 3.4.1 Interview method 18 3.4.2 Sampling methods 19 3.4.3 Research ethics 19 3.4.4 Data collection 20 4 Case study 22 4.1 National Garden Scheme (NGS), the UK 22 4.2 Bogor Botanical Gardens (BBG), Indonesia 23 4.3 The Keukenhof Garden, Netherlands 24 4.4 Comprehensive analysis 25 5 Qualitative research analysis 26 5.1 Tourists' factors 29 5.2 Tourism resource factor 31 5.3 Visitor experience 33 5.4 Infrastructure factor 35 6 Chinese garden tourism enhancement strategy 37 6.1 Developing tourism value 38 6.2 Enhancement of infrastructure 38 6.3 Innovative management 39 6.4 Establishing a tourism brand 40 7 Research limitations 41 8 Future prospect 41 9 Conclusion 42 References 44

1 1 Introduction

1.1 Garden tourism

Garden tourism is an essential attraction for many tourism purposes and attracts many tourists worldwide. Studies have shown that one-third of tourists around the world visit gardens during their (Benfield 2013). The " activities and motivation survey" conducted in the United States in 2007 showed that 2.65 billion Americans visited botanical gardens in two years (Ontario, 2008). In 2009, visiting the gardens was one of the top ten activities undertaken by international visitors to New Zealand, with 519,405 visits recorded (Chang et al. 2008). With the rise in enthusiasm for garden tourism, the concept of garden tourism has gradually emerged in recent years, referring to tourism activities where people visit gardens, parks, and botanical gardens of historical and sightseeing significance (Shapoval et al. 2020). The WTO defines tourism as: "Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business or professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents), and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which involve tourism expenditure (Glossary of tourism terms | UNWTO, 2020) .” Garden tourism can be specified as a form of tourism, whose geographical or thematic destinations are gardens or parks in their various forms and the types of garden tourism include the following: Gardens and Historic Places, Garden Tours to , , Malls, and private and public homes and Gardens, Garden shows and festivals, Specialty Gard (Benfield 2013). Garden tourism mainly focuses on hundreds of millions of , and most of them promote the theme of caring for plants (Sharpley 2007). As a field that has gradually become known in recent years, garden tourism lacks specifically targeted research and global development. Only a few countries, such as the United Kingdom (Sharpley 2007), Austria (Payer 2013), and Sweden (Hultman and Hall

2 2012), have studied garden tourism as a tourism model, and all have some developed cases.

Their appearance can usually distinguish gardens and parks. Gardens are usually private, with most being built in the back or of the homeowner, and are usually smaller in size; parks are essentially public, located primarily in public areas, intended for use by the general public, and are usually larger (Marcucci 2000).

Garden tourism is classified as which mainly includes sightseeing exhibitions in parks, historic gardens, and botanical gardens (Israel Petros and Firew 2020). The concept of ecotourism has existed since the 1980s as a form of tourism that integrates environmental conservation, community participation, and sustainable development, with outstanding contributions to both socio-economic and environmental benefits (Wearing & Neil, 2009). Ecotourism needs to meet four indicators: nature-based, sustainably-managed, conservation supporting, and environmentally educated (Buckley, 1994).

1.2 Garden tourism in China

The development of Chinese gardens can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty in the

21st century B.C. as a "You (囿)" for the emperor's hunting trips ( Lou Qingxi, 2003a).

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, around the 6th century, the development of Chinese gardens reached its heyday, and private gardens flourished, giving rise to different schools of thought, which gradually became Chinese classical gardens we see today ( Zhou Weiquan, 1999). Chinese gardens have a unique quality, and according to Sirén (1950), Chinese gardens are more imaginative and creative, or rather, more artistic than most gardens in the world, as they are not simple copies of nature, neither do they simply rely on existing natural scenery or landscape compositions nor do they transform them on a large scale simply and brutally (Sirén 3 1950). The Chinese people's deep feelings about nature implicitly influenced their artistic thinking and concepts, which were then expressed through gardens. Chinese gardens are influenced and conditioned by political, economic, geographical, and cultural factors and are humanized landscapes, physical landscapes, poetic landscapes, and even historical landscapes, to which world events, interpersonal encounters, honor and disgrace, and promotions are attached (Ren, Chao-Wang, 2004).

After the 1950s, many private gardens were handed over to the collective management of the state, and professional departments were established to manage them. Furthermore, some gardens also became tourist destinations, open to the public for tours. After the summer of Chengde in Hebei, the classical gardens of Suzhou and the in were approved by the World Heritage Committee for inclusion in the World Heritage List in December 1994, December 1997, and December 1998, respectively, Chinese gardens attracted an increasing number of tourists (Huang, Chuan-Ling & Cheng, Chun-Wang, 2006). Chinese gardens are of various styles, and there are four classifications according to the regions: northern gardens, Jiangnan gardens, Lingnan gardens, and . The northern gardens are mostly royal gardens and monastery gardens with a standard layout, showing the royal atmosphere, represented by the Summer Palace and the Chengde Summer Resort. The gardens in Jiangnan are mainly private gardens, with Suzhou as the representative city having such world-renowned classical gardens as the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Master of Nets Garden, whose gardens have unique and diverse architectural forms, artificial mountains, artificial water features, and carefully arranged flowers and plants, making the style here unique and garden tourism has become the city's calling card (Qin Su & Shuwei Qian, 2012). Suzhou received 2.487 million visitors during the Chinese New Year in 2021 (Suzhou City Receives 2.487 Million Visitors - Suzhou Municipal People's Government, n.d.). The Lingnan gardens are located in southern China's Guangdong

4 Province and are represented by the Qinghui Garden and the Keyuan, which have a more humid and warm climate and are designed in a combination of garden and architecture; the Sichuanese gardens amous for the Du Fu Cottage and most of them in a more natural and tranquil style (Lou Qingxi 2003).

Figure 1: The Water Heart Pavilion at Chengde Summer Resort, Hebei, China (Official

website of Chengde Summer Resort, Retrieved from:

https://www.bishushanzhuang.com.cn/index.php/Scenic/spot_view/id/193.html)

5 Figure 2: Taihu Stones in the Liuyuan Garden, Suzhou, China (Official website of Liuyuan,

Retrieved from: http://www.gardenly.com/index.php)

Figure 3: Panoramic view of Ke Yuan, Dongguan, China (Official website of Ke Yuan,

Retrieved from: https://www.dgkeyuan.org/)

6 Figure 4: Water view of Du Fu Cottage, , China ((Official website of Ke Yuan,

Retrieved from: http://www.cddfct.com/index.php)

1.3 Research purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore sustainable development paths for the Chinese garden tourism sector that are distinctly Chinese. This study investigates one main subject: garden; in this study, I choose to interpret the development of garden tourism from the perspective of the visitor experience. Furthermore, the following questions are the main ones that the authors want to address:

How to develop Chinese garden tourism with Chinese characteristics?

This question also includes the following two questions:

How to apply the advanced cases from around the world to the development of garden tourism in China?

How can the concept of sustainability be integrated into the development of garden tourism?

7 This study will focus on the lesser-known aspect of Chinese garden tourism, in which the motivations and behavioral patterns of Chinese tourists in their tourism practices are explored in-depth, and their views and ideas are analyzed. Such research will provide a new direction to solve problems for the development of China's tourism industry.

1.4 Research structure

The diagrams illustrate the thinking behind this study, and the logical framework of the study is divided into three parts: problem formulation, problem analysis, and problem-solving (Figure 5). The first part focuses on the creation of the problem and why I chose this research subject. The second part of the problem analysis section focuses on approaching the research subject using two research methods, each independent of the other, to analyze Chinese garden tourism from different dimensions. The final problem section will have three different interpretative aspects. Garden tourism in China has both landscape and cultural heritage values, two qualities that this study aims to preserve and emphasize, in addition to the concept of sustainability in the development of garden tourism in China.

8 Figure 5: Study structure

2 Literature review

2.1 Origin of garden tourism

The concept of garden tourism emerged relatively late, and the earliest relevant research appeared for the study of landscapes. As the earliest country where gardens

9 were developed, scholars in England conducted research on how to create attractive gardens as early as the 17th century, and although gardens at that time were only for the enjoyment of the wealthy, they also represented the enlightenment of people about garden tourism (Hunt and Willis 1988). The emergence of the study of garden visitors only signifies the origin of garden tourism research. In his 2003 study, Connell surveyed the characteristics, behaviors, and motivations of 546 visitors to 13 gardens in the United Kingdom. Based on the empirical findings, the discussion concluded that people's motivations for participating in garden tourism are leisure purposes, recreational purposes, and learning purposes; the way of visitation has changed with historical changes (Connell 2004). In Connell's 2005 study, private owners of the UK gardens were surveyed to examine the temporal and spatial changes they experienced in managing garden tourism projects. The findings show that the rise of garden tourism in contemporary Britain represents an evolution of a form of leisure tourism entrenched in the traditional tourism market, with more and more private gardens occupying the tourism market and tourists playing an essential role in the evolution as an important element (Connell 2005). However, Connell's study is limited to the UK, and it also provides a theoretical basis for the development of garden tourism. Another academic direction of garden tourism is the study of garden management. The book Public Garden Management, published in 2011, is one of the first garden management books to appear. However, it focuses mainly on management and planning with botanical gardens and other -based gardens and does not cover the research of tourists (Rakow and Lee 2011). Other scholars have compiled a list of garden types, citing the potential and unique characteristics of different types of gardens as tourism (Paiva et al. 2020). Understanding the origins and development of garden tourism can help me sort out a logical, intellectual framework for the theoretical knowledge covered in this study.

10 2.2 The formation of garden tourism

In the book "garden tourism" published in 2013, the authors present the limited previous research on the academic field of garden tourism. The book devotes ten chapters to an in-depth discussion of the elements of the development, definition, practice, limitations, management, and future trends of garden tourism worldwide, which provides an excellent theoretical basis for the study of garden tourism (Benfield 2013). My research will define and classify garden tourism with reference to Benfiled's theory.

2.3 The development of garden tourism

According to Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), there are more than 3,712 botanic gardens worldwide, not including a large number of private gardens (EPIC n.d.). Due to social and geographical conditions, the distribution of gardens globally is unequal, with the majority of gardens in North America, East Asia, and Europe, and garden tourism with a historical background flourishing in even weeks and East Asia; in Europe, there are 424 botanic gardens in the European Union, the majority in mainland Europe(Benfield 2013). The Netherlands has a well-developed garden tourism industry, with garden plant cultivation techniques that serve garden tourism. The country is home to the oldest tulip gardens in the world, as well as garden plants that are exported all over the world (Gothein 2014). There are 156 public gardens in Germany and a large number of private gardens(Anon n.d.). The Baroque court gardens of the 18th and late 19th centuries are representative of the design style (Gothein 2014). Italy has the most significant number of gardens per capita in Europe, and many of them are major attractions for international visitors (Hunt 1996). Europe has a history of garden tourism and some of the best examples will be used as case studies for this research. Garden tourism worldwide has its

11 unique development model due to its geographical and cultural environment, and some successful development experiences are worth learning.

2.4 Garden tourism in the UK

In the United Kingdom, one of the earliest countries to develop the garden tourism industry, the garden tourism industry has developed most extensively. In the twentieth century, the National Garden Scheme (NGS) created a more regulated development policy for the development of the garden tourism wild in the UK (Strategic Plan 2021-2025, 2020). The development of garden tourism in the UK towards detail and privatization has been most sophisticated in the study of small private gardens in the UK, which discusses the characteristics and motivations of garden owners and tourists in search of new directions for developing private garden tourism (Lipovská 2013). This research suggests that visiting small private gardens can satisfy both interests in gardens and family outings, enriching the destination options for locals and tourists (Čakovská 2018). Garden tourism in the UK also plays a positive role in community building and the community charity sector (Shapoval et al. 2020). In heritage conservation, garden tourism can contribute to urban development by targeting and positioning gardens for new planning and management, as well as to local cultural and natural heritage conservation and raising awareness of the value of gardens (Czyńska-Podolska, 2014). The UK gardens, which have a more mature experience of developing garden tourism, will be studied in detail as a case study for this research.

2.5 The development of garden tourism in China

China is home to 55 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the highest number in the world alongside Italy, two of which are garden sites: the Classical Gardens of Suzhou and (Centre n.d.). The Classical Gardens of Suzhou include eight famous private gardens in Suzhou: Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering

12 Garden, Master of the Nets Garden, and the Garden of the Nets. Garden, Master of the Nets Garden, Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty, Couple's Retreat Garden, Garden of Cultivation, Great, Suzhou now has over 60 historic gardens and 19 gardens open to the public, all of which are protected by the state (Henderson 2012). Suzhou is genuinely the 'capital of Chinese gardens' because of its location in the River delta, which has been prosperous since ancient times due to its flat terrain, dense water network, and warm climate. Suzhou gardens began to take shape in the Song Dynasty (11th century) and reached their heyday in the Qing Dynasty (19th century) (Zhou Weiquan 2003). The Chengde Summer Resort is located 225 kilometers northeast of Beijing in Chengde, which was once the summer residence of the Qing dynasty royal family (Centre n.d.). To showcase the vast size and political centrality of the Qing dynasty, The Chengde Summer Resort is a collection of gardens from all regions of China, as well as temples in the Tibetan, Xinjiang, and Mongolian styles, making it a masterpiece of Chinese and architecture (Zhou Weiquan 2003). Due to the hot summer weather in Beijing, the emperor stayed here for a long time, and many important political, military, national and diplomatic affairs of state were dealt with here, even becoming the second political center of China in the mid and late Qing dynasty (Xiaowei 2011)

.

13 Figure 5: Humble Administrator's Garden, Suzhou, China (Official website of the Humble

Administrator's Garden, Retrieved from: http://www.szzzy.cn/En)

Figure 6: The water view at Chengde Summer Resort, Hebei, China (Official website of

Chengde Summer Resort, Retrieved from:

https://www.bishushanzhuang.com.cn/index.php/Scenic/spot_view/id/193.html)

Although China has many garden tourism resources and a long history, there are still significant problems such as lack of brand characteristics of tourism products and tourism projects, weak conditions of garden tourism supporting facilities, similar forms of artificial landscapes, and insufficient local humanistic and cultural heritage in the development of the garden tourism model in China; this country needs to explore the innovative development model of garden tourism (Xia, 2016). In China, the most representative classical gardens are characterized by a focus on natural and cultural features and regional characteristics. However, the lack of innovative ideas and the lack of integration with urban planning development, China's garden tourism development in this area also has much room for research (Jiang et al. 2009). These studies indicate that garden tourism research has great potential in this developing

14 country. Based on the recognition of the unique cultural connotations of classical Chinese gardens, some Chinese scholars are now proposing the concepts of fully exploring their historical and cultural connotations in garden tourism development, advocating , establishing tourism interpretation systems, creating landscapes, and improving the artistic quality of tour guides, as well as promoting sustainable destination development (Huang & Cheng 2006; Cheng et al. 2013). Some scholars have also applied the concept of sustainable tourism destinations to the development of garden tourism. For example, the sustainable perspective is applied to determine the sustainable development status of classical gardens, and sustainable development strategies are proposed for the tourism development of the famous UNESCO heritage site of Suzhou, one of the representatives of Chinese gardens. These attempts and studies prove the great potential of Chinese garden tourism development (Su & Qian, 2012). However, they also neglect the study of tourists as tourism, and there is very little literature in Chinese sources that focuses on tourists' behavior as Connell did. Chinese gardens are the vehicle for the development of Chinese garden tourism and are precisely the critical element in exploring distinctive paths. Understanding the development of Chinese gardens and their stylistic characteristics is a prerequisite for this study.

3 Research methodology

3.1 Case study theory

According to Bhattacherjee（2012), a case study is a type of empirical research that examines a current ongoing phenomenon without detaching it from the context in which it is being shown and where the boundaries between the phenomenon to be studied and its environmental context are not very clear. There are three uses of case studies: descriptive or causal case studies, descriptive case studies, and exploratory 15 case studies, which do not formulate hypotheses and are used in contexts when causality is not apparent enough and causality is complex and variable, aiming to maximize understanding of the social or psychological sphere of life. In this study, the process of seeking new directions for the development of already existing Chinese garden tourism and discovering its new tourism value is exploratory and is an exploratory case study.

3.2 Tourism experience theory

Tourism experience research first began in the 1960s and has developed several perspectives. in this study, I favor the B Joseph Pine and Gilmore‘s view (1998) that as an experience in which the good feelings that arise in one's consciousness when one reaches a particular level of emotional, physical, intellectual, or even spirituality are engaged in a personalized way. According to my research, the tourism experience is an attitude and feeling of the individual in the course of the journey, based on which an emotional experience is formed. This "feeling" includes the cognition, attitude, and experience of the tour through the interaction between the tourist's own internal factors and the objective factors in the process of tourism, in contact with all the factors in the journey. In my study, tourism experience is defined as the sum of various relationships arising from the active participation of tourists in various activities or events.

3.3 Sustainable tourism theory

Achieving sustainable development in tourism destinations is one of the objectives that this study aims to contribute to. The definition of sustainable tourism development can be summarized in three ways: firstly, it is the idea that sustainable tourism development can meet the needs of current visitors and destination residents

16 while maintaining and enhancing future development opportunities; secondly, it is the definition given by the World Tourism Organization, which refers to meeting economic, social and aesthetic needs while maintaining cultural and ecological integrity, and which provides livelihoods for today's hosts and visitors, while protecting and enhancing the interests of future generations and providing them with the same opportunities (Swarbrooke 1999). It also protects and enhances the interests of, and provides opportunities for, future generations to do the same. The main objective of sustainable tourism development in Chinese gardens is to maintain a balance between heritage conservation, communities, tourists, and the environment.

3.4 Types of research

In the case study section, a SWOT analysis is used. The three cases will be put together for a comprehensive comparison. The various internal strengths, weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats that are closely related to the subject of the study are listed and arranged in a matrix and then analyzed systematically, matching the various factors with each other to draw a series of conclusions (Gürel and Tat 2017). This approach allows for a comprehensive, systematic, and accurate study of the scenario in which the research is conducted, and the results of the study can be used as a reference for the development of a Chinese garden tourism strategy.

This study also adopts a qualitative research method in which the interviewer interacts with the interviewee to ask in-depth questions about the interview subject concerning the purpose of the research. The advantage of this research method is that the information obtained is more authentic. This study applies the in-depth interview method to some of the visitors who have visited the Chinese gardens to find out the actual state of their tourism experience in the gardens, to find out the factors that affect their tourism experience, and to understand their insights on the development of Chinese garden tourism.

17 3.4.1 Interview method

The interview is a process of data collection in the space of listening and discussion, a research conversation that seeks to understand the world from the subject's point of view as much as possible and make sense of their experiences through the exchange of verbal perspectives (Crabtree and Miller 1999). The current study was not able to conduct fieldwork and field interviews in the field due to geographical constraints, and conversations with the participants were conducted almost exclusively based on memories and past experiences; therefore, the interview format was a semi-structured interview. A semi-structured interview is an interview with a rough outline of questions based on a few key subjects and keywords (Schmidt 2004) (Table 1). The interviewer has the flexibility to make the necessary adjustments according to the actual situation at the time of the interview. There are no specific requirements as to the way and order of questions, the way the interviewee answers, how the interview is recorded and the time and place of the interview, etc.(Whiting 2008). The interviewer is flexible according to the situation. This mode of interviewing allows the interview to be divided into more relaxed and to obtain the most intuitive feelings of the respondents.

Table 1. Outline of the semi-structured interview

Feature Variables Key words

Travel Locations Countries, regions

Travel Dates Seasons, holidays

Demographic Elements Place of residence, language, cultural backgrounds

Travel Preferences Mode of travel, travel time, mode of arrival, accommodation, travel companions, experiences, preferred travel resources, access to destination

18 information

Travel Motivations Personalities, needs

Tourism Advice Bad experience, the unadaptable parts

3.4.2 Sampling methods

Sampling is the method of including subjects or research units of the target population in a research project, and a reasonable sample will better demonstrate the credibility of my findings (Bhattacherjee 2012). When the case study and qualitative research methods have been identified for this study and the primary data source is in-depth interviews, the next step is selecting suitable interviewees for the sample. The criteria for selecting the subjects were that their interpretation would help us understand the link between the individual tourist experience and the direction of garden tourism in China. The sample for this study was not selected based on the sociological, statistical significance of the general population but because of their representative experience and knowledge. The selection of the sample to participate in this interview was carried out by purposive sampling. Firstly, I posted information about the volunteers for the interviews via social media such as Instagram and Facebook and marked the requirements that the volunteers should have: previous experience of visiting gardens for tourism purposes; knowledge of Chinese gardens; and willingness to be interviewed privately on a one-to-one basis. There were no restrictions on the nationality, gender, age, or residence of the sample.

3.4.3 Research ethics

There are two fundamental ethical principles for social science data collection: voluntary participation in research and the other is avoiding harm to participants (Babbie 2010). The ethical issues faced by this study focused on three main aspects: first, when approaching potential respondents, it is essential to inform them of the

19 purpose of the interview and the possible existence of information collection involving personal privacy, and therefore, to obtain their consent before conducting a formal interview. Second, during the data collection process, the interview process should be informed that the entire interview needs to be recorded, and the interviewee's consent should be obtained before using the recording device. When recording, the recording device also needs to be placed in a conspicuous place, while the interview can be ended immediately if the interviewee refuses to answer questions or wants to withdraw from the interview. Finally, for privacy reasons, personal information such as the names of interviewees was withheld, and pseudonyms were used to present the research process and findings for privacy reasons.

3.4.4 Data collection

The interview data was collected in April 2021, and for the criteria of the number of participants, Dukes (1984) stated that the number of interviewees should include 3, 5, and 10 subjects. Subsequently, scholars have expanded this number, with Kvale (1996) suggesting that the number of interviewees should be in the range of 5-25. Based on this criterion, I limited the number of respondents to 10. After a week of sample selection and a two-week interview process, I obtained a total of eight valid sample interviews (Table 2). Three of them were permanent residents of China within five years, three were from European countries outside Sweden, and two respondents were from Sweden. Not all of the respondents had been to China, but all had experience of visiting Chinese gardens.

Table 2. respondent profile

Respondent Resident Interview Interview Visited Visited Length Location Chinese other forms gardens of gardens

20 Joyce Suzhou ， 35 mins Online Yes Yes China interview

Leon Ghuangzhou, 28 mins Online Yes Yes interview China

Sally Birmingham, 42 mins Online Yes Yes United interview Kingdom

Jim Bayern 33 mins Online Yes Yes Nürnberg, interview Germany

Penny Uppsala, 29 mins Offline Yes Yes Sweden Interview

Han Chengdu, 35 mins Online Yes No interview

Adam Stockholm, 45 mins Offline No Yes Sweden Interview

Dora Delft, 40mins Online Yes Yes Netherlands interview

Of the interview data collected, five interviews were in English, and three were in Chinese, for which I translated into English. All interviews used in this study were de-colloquialized, and where the language was unclear, I double-checked with the interviewees to ensure that the meaning was correct before using the original text. In transcribing the interviews, I have followed the principle of truthful recording, and the theories and cases mentioned by the interviewees will be understood and added to in

21 conjunction with the information. All quotations in this study are marked at the end of the quotation regarding the respondent from whom the quotation was taken, with the underlined parts being those that I felt were more relevant to highlight the central idea.

4 Case study

4.1 National Garden Scheme (NGS), the UK

In the context of the UK, where gardens often play the role of everyday spaces dependent on the home, the National Garden Scheme (NGS) is the basis for exploratory research into garden tourism in the UK, with a focus on promoting small private gardens for families in suburban or rural settings that are open to the public (Lipovská 2013). This program has enhanced the social ethos of sharing the joys of gardening and has positively affected promoting community tourism and suburban tourism. Home gardens in the UK play an important role in leisure and enjoyment (Bhatti and Church 2004). Gardening is the most popular outdoor activity in the UK, and the industry absorbs millions of the UK workforce (Evans 2001). The importance of in the UK has also led to the development of garden tourism in this country.

NGS, a charitable trust established in 1927, has developed a model that is not unlike ordinary management; NGS has a mutually beneficial relationship with garden owners, who receive help in maintaining and operating their gardens with the help of a professional charity, and NGS markets and promotes the gardens to increase the number of visitors and the profits from renting out their gardens. NGS raises charitable funds through garden tours, the proceeds of which are invested in the operation of charities such as Queen's Institute Marie Curie Cancer Care, Crossroads Care; Help the Hospices, and Macmillan Cancer Support (Scheme 2012). In 2019, 22 NGS had a total income of £4.6 million, with over 3,700 small private gardens benefiting from this and over one million visitors taking garden tours. Many Chinese gardens are private gardens, and the NGS operating model has created a new and mutually beneficial pathway for the tourism development of small private gardens, which is highly desirable.

4.2 Bogor Botanical Gardens (BBG), Indonesia

Bogor Botanical Gardens (BBG) is located in the center of Bogor, Indonesia. It covers 87 hectares and has 13,983 species of plants and animals, and is a famous center for agricultural and horticultural research, the oldest in Southeast Asia, and one of the famous sites in Indonesia (Levelink, Mawdsley, and Rijnberg 1996). The botanical garden has survived for centuries in an urban environment, and BBG provides an excellent example of the development of management of urban botanical gardens for reasons closely related to the development of sustainable tourism development strategies for the park.

In hengky and kikvidze's survey of the BBG, the investigators used quantitative research to collect people's perceptions of the park's sustainable management development. The survey results show that the park has achieved sustainability in terms of non-destructive resources and a focus on visitor satisfaction (Hengky and Kikvidze 2018). However, the sustainable tourism management of the park still has many shortcomings, mainly in the management of the garden landscape environment, followed by the contradiction between the living environment of flora and fauna and the gradual urbanization of Indonesia (Hotimah, Wirutomo, and Alikodra 2015).The sustainable tourism development of BBG represents the problems and contributions of a developing Asian country with a similar background to China, especially in the

23 development of a long history of garden tourism and the maintenance of flora and fauna diversity.

4.3 The Keukenhof Garden, Netherlands

The Keukenhof Garden (Image 7) are located in Lisse in the Netherlands and are famous for their tulip planting, known as the 'most beautiful spring garden in the world.'

The Keukenhof Garden dated back to the 15th century and have initially been an annex to Keukenhof Castle, before being redesigned in the 19th century by landscape architect Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher in the English garden style. Local flower merchants decided to open it to the public as a display garden for their spring-flowering bulbs export program. After 73 years of development, the Keukenhof Garden have become a famous in the Netherlands.

The best feature of the gardens is their seasonality. Each year the gardens are only open for eight weeks from the end of March to May when the flowering bulbs are at their peak. The short opening time has prompted the officials and operators to move towards more careful management (Ma Lingna and Zhou Wuzhong 2012). There are two main elements to its success: the first is the unique tourism resources. The park is rich in floral resources, with over 100 varieties of tulips alone, with beautiful and practical plant varieties, while the landscape designers design the landscape of the site according to the opening times and shapes of the flowers, which allows visitors to enjoy a different landscape every day of the week (Kowatch 2016). The second is the combination of distinctive cultures. The park has several themed gardens, such as nature gardens, music gardens, water gardens, and various gardens designed according to the different needs of the visitors; in addition, the park also incorporates Dutch regional specialties windmills and wooden shoemaking (Ma Lingna and Zhou Wuzhong 2012). These activities and the landscape combine to make the park unique.

24 The Keukenhof Garden is responsible for the tulips becoming an icon of the Netherlands today. The success of this case is a reference for helping Chinese garden tourism to find its own identity.

4.4 Comprehensive analysis

Each of the three cases has its own characteristics, and Table 3 presents a SWOT analysis of the three cases. From the analysis, it can be seen that the successful cases have their uniqueness. In the case of NGS, because it includes many small gardens, there is an opportunity for visitors to find a nearby destination. Both the BBG and the Keukenhof garden have a unique botanical landscape, which is more distinctive than traditional botanical gardens, and it is not easy to find similar cases. As each case is in a different situation, they also have their own flaws and threats, which can also be found in the development of Chinese garden tourism, such as small scale and the threat of urbanization. These cases have responded to the crisis, and the direction to find new opportunities can provide problem-solving ideas for the developing Chinese gardens.

Table 3: SWOT analysis of three cases

25 5 Qualitative research analysis

For the collected interview data, I used Otter.ai. Software to transcribe the audio content textually. As this interview is semi-structured and not all of the conversations will be used in the study, I have manually purified the content of the interviews. In Table 4, I have collated the key response information from each interviewee and listed the gardens covered in the conversation separately. As can be seen from Table 3, six respondents shared two or more garden visit experiences, and five respondents shared their experiences of visiting Chinese gardens and other than Chinese gardens, respectively, with each respondent expressing satisfaction and suggestions for their garden tour experiences.

Table 3. Summary of Interviews

Respondent Summary of the interview Gardens Mentioned

26 Joyce Coming from Suzhou, she is very familiar with the Master of the Nets

local gardens. Garden（Suzhou. China)

Since she was a child, she visited the gardens with Botaniska Garden

her family and brought friends with her. (Gothenburg, Sweden)

Thinks that Suzhou gardens do an excellent job of

heritage conservation and landscape maintenance

and that the gardens have impacted the city's culture.

She believes that there is a lack of management in

the Suzhou gardens, such as illegal ticket sellers.

Leon He is from Guangzhou and loves to travel. Summer Palace

(Beijing, China) He recently visited the Summer Palace with his

mother and found it to be magnificent because of the

integration of many forms of landscape elements.

He felt that the Chinese gardens lacked accessibility

facilities, such as lifts.

He prefers national parks, which are dominated by

natural beauty, to visiting gardens.

Sally She is a Chinese living in Manchester, has visited Woodthorpe Grange

many English gardens, and once lived in Sichuan, Park (Nottingham,

China. England)

When she visits gardens, she pays more attention to

the plants in the garden and how they fit together.

She thinks the biggest drawback of garden tourism

is the lack of infrastructures like cafes, ,

27 and toilets.

Jim He is a German who had traveled to China and had Palais des Beaux-Arts

visited many Chinese gardens. (Vienna, Austria)

He believes that Chinese gardens possess a subtle Nymphenburg Palace

beauty that is most different from European gardens. (Munich, Germany)

Du Fu Thatched

Cottage (Chengdu,

China)

Penny She is an immigrant living Uppsala, and she is not Linnaeus Garden

familiar with Swedish. (Uppsala, Sweden)

She enjoyed visiting the gardens but struggled with Palais des Beaux-Arts

the lack of English descriptions of many of the sites (Vienna, Austria)

and the fact that long outdoor excursions can reduce Presidential Palace the visitor experience. (Nanjing, China)

Han He is from China and is very familiar with Chinese Humble Administrator's

culture. Garden (Shuzhou,

China) He believes that the beauty of Chinese gardens is

inseparable from Chinese poetry and historical Baotu Spring

events. (Jinan,China)

He pointed out the lack of infrastructure in the

development of Chinese garden tourism.

Adam He has not been to China but has visited Chinese Chinese Garden Enchoen (Tottori, gardens in countries outside of China. Japan)

He loves the beauty of Chinese gardens combined Palace of Versailles

28 with modern architecture. (Paris, France) Central Park (New What he finds most attractive about Chinese gardens York, USA) is their uniqueness. Bergianska trädgården

(Stockholm, Sweden)

Dora She is a graduate student in Keukenhof Park (Lisse,

and is very knowledgeable about gardens. The Netherlands)

She believes that the historic gardens do not meet Fa Xi Temple

the needs of contemporary visitors and that the (, China)

gardens need to make changes.

5.1 Tourists' factors

Garden tourism is different from traditional tourism because it is not as evident as a natural landscape that can be awe-inspiring or as a cultural heritage that needs to be understood in a rich cultural background. As a combination of landscape and cultural tourism, the visitor's factors in visiting the garden will also have a relatively significant impact on the quality of tourism. First of all, tourists must have the ability to appreciate the natural landscape. Chinese gardens mostly use natural topography in gardening and emphasize the natural beauty in gardening techniques (Wang Wei & Liu Yang, 2012), which also requires tourists to distinguish this beauty from untouched natural scenery.

When I visit gardens, I like to focus on the plant configuration and whether the flowers in the place look good or not. I especially want to visit gardens in the spring. There are many small gardens in the city where I live filled with

29 tulips in the spring, and this natural and colorful feeling makes me feel full of life (Sally).

Gardens appeal to a specific group of people and the quest for beauty and vibrancy.

The Chinese gardens and some Japanese gardens I have visited have a stunning landscape, such as small bridges and flowing water and trees of all kinds of shapes and sizes. In fact, these (landscape elements) can also be seen in the ordinary countryside, but in Chinese gardens will give me a more refined atmosphere impact, just like a lovely painting (Jim).

The elements of the garden can be varied to meet the different psychological needs of the people. For both respondents, what attracted them to the gardens was different, suggesting that the gardens are unique and that this uniqueness meets the needs of a diverse group of people.

Gardens, especially Chinese gardens, usually have a long history and rich cultural connotations, and in the book Shuo Yuan (Chen, Cong-Zhou & Chen, Jian-Xing, 1984) had this to say about the unique cultural connotations of Chinese gardens: "Chinese gardens are a comprehensive artwork made of a combination of architecture, landscape, flowers, and trees, rich in poetry and painting." Visitors with a certain level of cultural literacy will help them better understand the beauty of gardens.

In 2020 I visited the Jinan Baotu, there's a very famous historic garden

landscape, called "玉树流飞（Yu Liu Fie, means jade trees flowing

fly）." This name from the poem describing the landscape of the spring here.

I really like this mood... Although it may seem silly to others, this is just a pond with a spring, but if you look at the poem, as a flowing jade tree, it seems to be in heaven (Han).

For some people who love Chinese culture, a visit to the gardens can help them to immerse themselves in it.

30 A person's personality (psychological) traits can have a more critical impact on the quality of the visitor's experience. Introverts and extroverts differ in their , with introverts preferring familiar, formal, low-activity tours and extroverts preferring high-activity, unexplored areas for exploratory travel (Plog 1974). Most Chinese gardens are rich in Chinese cultural heritage, and for Chinese people, this familiarity will allow them to understand the visit well, but because of this, tourists who have never been to China or who are unfamiliar with Chinese culture will have little opportunity to visit the area and will spend little effort to understand it.

I love eastern culture, but I have never had the chance to China. I only visited several Chinese-style gardens in Tokyo. I enjoy the old atmosphere scenery in the city, and sometimes the contrast of seeing some old buildings in the modern jungles is striking to me... I like the imagination and implicit of Eastern culture, and the process of exploring something different was delightful for me (Adam).

The distinctiveness of Chinese gardens can satisfy the curiosity of some visitors. People have their familiar cultural backgrounds, and Chinese gardens attract visitors from non-Chinese cultural backgrounds, which is a direction for their tourism development.

5.2 Tourism resource factor

In the beginning, Chinese gardens were always built for private enjoyment, and gardens were often part of private homes, with few gardens open to the public. Through the transformation of modern times, private gardens have gradually been opened to the public, viewing Chinese garden tourism as a tourism product, and part of its appeal is often its artistic value and the aesthetic value it brings to people. Artistic aesthetics is the main content of tourism aesthetics, and from the essence of tourism, tourists experience the practical process of "cultural aesthetics" and "cultural

31 comparison," and aesthetic value is one of the primary functions pursued by classical Chinese gardens (Lou, Qingxi, 2003). Chinese garden tourism products have the commonalities of general tourism products, but their core resource factors are the key to attracting and improving the quality of tourists' tourism experience. These core resource factors include the uniqueness of the gardens, the participatory nature of the gardens, the landscape design of the gardens and the historical and cultural richness of the gardens, and other complex factors. The pursuit of unique things is the nature of human beings; whether it is exploring the universe and space or the tracking of the underwater world of the deep sea, all reflect the nature of people to pursue strange and unique things. This nature is more evident in the process of people visiting and visiting a scenic spot (whether natural or humanistic), people to a new unknown place, always want to explore and experience those cultural customs and other attractions that are different from their daily environment. Garden is a tourism product with strong regional characteristics, and its artistic uniqueness has a close relationship with the quality of people's experience (Li Huailan, 2004).

When my friends come to Suzhou to see me, I always take them to gardens because it is the calling card of my hometown... The most impressive experience I ever remembered was Wang Shi Yuan garden. This garden is famous for beautiful lakes and rockeries. They are all small and delicate, like a French meal, using natural elements to create artificial stuff in a beautiful way. We all thought it was beautiful and perfect for taking some instagram photos (Joyce).

Chinese gardens have a unique shape that is more about the variation in form than the typical layout, a poetic expression of the landscape.

I have been to Bergianska trädgården in Stockholm many times, and I was impressed by a small Chinese garden in this garden, and I still remember the structures... I don't really think the design is the best, but it's really refreshing

32 to see such an exotic garden in Sweden, and if I mention China, or Asia, the first image that comes to my mind is Bergianska (Adam).

The imagery and landscape elements of the Chinese garden are a figurative expression of Chinese culture, where culture and tourism are combined in garden tourism. Both respondents had an experience of the culture during their visit to the Chinese Garden. The influence of traditional Chinese culture rooted in the landscape expression of Chinese gardens is such that visiting the gardens has a more complex cultural impact on the visitor than mere words and pictures.

5.3 Visitor experience

Most Chinese gardens have a long history and are characterized by heritage tourism, and there is a problem of authenticity in the tourism of intangible cultural heritage. As a tour for tourists to visit intangible cultural heritage, tourists will prefer those authentic intangible cultural heritage from the bottom of their hearts. They will have some resistance and loss of psychology to that intangible cultural heritage "made" to meet the needs of tourists, just like ordinary customers (tourists) buying a product (If a customer (tourist) buys a product (a tour of intangible cultural heritage) if the product is a fake (intangible cultural heritage may be "made" for the development of local tourism), the customer's psychology at this time is most likely challenging to accept the reality. As intangible cultural heritage, gardens that retain a high level of authenticity can positively affect the quality of the tourist experience.

The most recent Chinese garden I visited was the Summer Palace, a very famous classical royal garden. The design of this garden is very special. He combined all the elements of the Chinese landscape from the south to the north. One of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty wanted to celebrate his mother's birthday by condensing the entire country's gardens and giving

33 them to his mother as a gift. I also went with my mother on this trip. With these buildings and trees that have not changed in the last hundred years, I could appreciate what the garden owner wanted to convey to his mother, and the person also gave me the feeling of empathy (Leo).

Chinese gardens as historical landscapes, it is crucial to preserve the cultural authenticity for cultural protection, which will deepen the impression of tourists and give them a sense of being there.

In the era of the experience economy, experience consumption is more reflected in the active participation degree of consumers, and the active participation degree of tourists in the process of experience is important, which is an important symbol to measure the quality of a kind of tourism products ( Pine and Gilmore 1998). The garden is mainly landscape, and tourists play the role of visitors. Garden tourism operators increase interactive resources with a high degree of participation, which has positive significance for improving tourists' visitor experience. The garden tourism operators increase the interactive resources with high participation, which has positive significance for improving tourists' visitor experience.

I really like the gardens around some palaces, like the Messe Frankfurt in Vienna... Such gardens are not a separate attraction, but part of the palace. After visiting the castle and then walking around the gardens outdoors, it does have a relaxing and different feeling, like an after-dinner dessert... I also remember the maze of hedges in the garden, which was fun to wander through. (Jim)

Apart from the artificial stones, there are few interactive attractions in Chinese gardens. And in the need for heritage conservation, many garden features are forbidden to be touched, which affects the experience of many visitors.

34 5.4 Infrastructure factor

The infrastructure factors of the garden tourist site include (Benfield 2013):

 the facilities of the food and accommodation conditions of the tourist site,

 the accessibility of the roads,

 the completeness of the facilities such as parking at the tourist site, and

 public transportation.

The function of eating, living, and traveling is evident in the supporting facilities of the garden. Most of the garden attractions are enclosed areas, and whether or not they can provide visitors with quality accommodation and catering services will have a bearing on the quality of their travel experience. On the issue of hotels, Han said this:

I was very unhappy with my trip to Suzhou. There's one Suzhou garden is so well known and visited by so many people every day, that if you want to have a quality visit, then you have to go in the morning when it first opens. To get there early enough, I had to book a close to the gardens, but most of the garden sites are located in the center of town, and the hotels in these places are too expensive and have few options. I don't think such a splurge was in my travel plans. (Han)

The smallness of Chinese gardens can sometimes be a drawback - as most of them are in the center of town, space is tight, and they can easily be packed with visitors.

I visited Fa Xi Temple in Hangzhou; there's a temple garden inside. The biggest impression I got from this place, besides its uniqueness, was the lack of infrastructure. I think this is not just a problem with this one garden, because many of the gardens in China are developed from the private 35 gardens in the past. During the landscape design process in the past, the designers didn't consider the possibility of opening to the public, such as setting up more toilets, cafes and so on. As the park gradually opened to the public, the scope gradually expanded, but infrastructure construction did not keep up, but these facilities determine the visitor experience. In addition, in the Netherlands I also found that there are only one or two toilets in a large garden, either hidden or not open to the public (Dora).

In addition to restaurants, restrooms, and other facilities that every visitor will use, some unreasonable phenomena are widespread, including Chinese gardens and most European gardens.

The infrastructural problems that exist in gardens have been accentuated by the modernization of society. The experiences of both respondents took place in areas that are well urbanized, where modern urban design and traditional gardens are at odds, and such challenges are worthy of attention for both garden designers and managers. A high-quality service level creates a good environment and atmosphere for garden tourism and lays the foundation for improving visitors' experience quality. In this research, I believe that the range of services in garden tourism places includes garden background interpretation services, service staff's work ethic, and good garden management. For tourists, visiting gardens can sometimes pray for learning knowledge in addition to relaxation, but many gardens neglect interpretation services or have some impersonal services.

The city I live in (Uppsala) has a very famous garden, Linnaeus Garden, but I didn't enjoy visiting it because I couldn't understand a lot of it. There are actually many signboards in the garden and there is guide service, but very little in English. As an immigrant who doesn't speak Swedish very well, reading all this long text is challenging, and I would have liked more languages for each attraction and then more clear presentations(penny).

36 With the international development of tourism, the increase in international visitors is something that many tourist attractions did not anticipate, and a thriving tourist attraction should do well to keep up with the times and install more English language signage.

There are also many management gaps in garden sites, and such a phenomenon is most evident in Chinese garden tourism sites.

I think in fact, the introduction of the attractions inside the Suzhou gardens are quite well, the signs are very clear, and I can know what I see. However, there are many ticket sellers at the entrance who want to sell me tickets. Even if I refuse them, they never stop, which is very annoying. In fact, not only one specific garden has these guys outside, many places in Suzhou have such ticket sellers at the entrance. They usually sell some cheaper tickets. I have never bought a ticket from them because I don't know if it is legal (Joyce).

The development of Chinese garden tourism has its characteristics and unique appeal, especially in the last decade or so, the government has gradually focused on the protection of cultural heritage, and many gardens have become world cultural heritage; the design style of Chinese gardens is also gradually obvious and well known to the public (Gao Lihong 2012). From the interviews, the respondents showed interest in the unique cultural connotation of Chinese gardens and had their own opinions; this is an exemplary aspect of the development of Chinese garden tourism. However, some service level and infrastructure problems are the areas that deserve attention and improvement in the development of garden tourism.

6 Chinese garden tourism enhancement strategy 37 6.1 Developing tourism value

The development of Chinese garden tourism has now been quite adequate, and in some famous garden spots, garden tourism has become the local city's calling card. However, from the interview data, tourists' experience of Chinese garden tourism is concentrated on the visual and experiential level, with relatively little excavation of the deeper cultural connotations of classical gardens.

For me, the meaning of travel is to experience a different place, so I prefer a national park with a better natural scenery than a Chinese garden. The gardens give me a feeling of limitations, and although it is designed beautifully, the small space is not enough for me if I just look at the scenery and relax (Leo).

Chinese gardens, represented by Jiangnan gardens, have a narrow layout, and if the garden content is thin, the experience left to the visitor is only crowded and unfulfilling.

The Chinese garden has a long-term cultural background, and its heritage value should not be neglected for tourism. These unique cultural meanings should be emphasized and reflected in some way so that visitors can experience, understand and appreciate them. The most significant advantage of garden tourism over natural landscape tourism is the basic characteristics of the visual imagery, historical authenticity, and non-reproducibility and the historical, scientific, cultural, artistic, and tourism values it has, which can provide a high level of spiritual enjoyment for tourists.

6.2 Enhancement of infrastructure

Infrastructure development is the component most lacking in Chinese gardens (Guo Xiang and Luo Mingchun 2016). According to interviews, despite the global lack of 38 public facilities such as public toilets, restaurants, and coffee, the lack of visiting functions is a unique problem in Chinese gardens tourism.

I visited the Presidential Palace in Nanjing, and I spent three hours outside, not because I liked the place, but just because I couldn't find my way out and felt like I was going around in circles in the gardens, during the summer in southern China, when the temperature outside was over 30 degrees and also very humid. I got bitten by mosquitoes because there were many plants, and I had a horrible experience (Penny).

Chinese gardens were not originally designed to serve visitors and therefore do not have the details commonly found in modern landscape design approaches, such as user-friendly facilities and convenient entrances and exits, which are the areas where traditional gardens want to become more visitor-friendly.

Most of the Chinese garden sites are historical heritage, and it is impossible to make large-scale changes to the internal structure and layout of the gardens (Wang Jiaxi 1986). Therefore, when setting up the infrastructure, the designers are required to integrate humanistic and sustainable concepts, to consider the needs and behavioral characteristics of the public recreationists, and to realize public participation in the design.

6.3 Innovative management

The example of NGS in the UK provides new approaches to the management model of garden tourism. Most of the garden attractions currently open to the public in China are managed by specialized departments set up by the government, which has led to the problem of homogeneous and inflexible management models, and the uniqueness of each garden has not been highlighted (Xia Tingjun, 2016). NGOs and professional

39 companies can be involved in the management of gardens, so that each garden can be valued.

6.4 Establishing a tourism brand

In the interview, some respondents indicated that Suzhou gardens possess a distinctive branding effect.

I grew up with a family that would take me to visit the gardens, and when I was older, I would bring my own friends to the gardens. The gardens have become a cultural icon of Suzhou to a great extent, and Suzhou is often mentioned when talking about Chinese gardens (Joyce).

Although I have never been to Suzhou, I had seen some documentaries and pictures of Suzhou gardens, and these could also give me some information about Chinese gardens and Suzhou (Sally).

Chinese gardens, represented by Suzhou gardens, have gradually formed their brand and evolved into a symbol of a specific region associated with Chinese culture. The combination of tourism and cultural aspects is undoubtedly a mutually beneficial opportunity for both. For example, the Suzhou Museum, designed by architect I.M. Pei for Suzhou, is an architectural design that incorporates the characteristics of the Suzhou gardens, and this attraction is now widely popular.

The Suzhou Museum combines some modern features with some of the Chinese gardens of Suzhou, this chic and unique design is one of the most famous spots in our city. This has triggered a boom in the creation of such fusion of local features. Many restaurants, cafes, and shopping malls in Suzhou are designed to combine some garden elements (Joyce).

40 Freed from the constraints of the region, garden tourism will become an invisible cultural influence, integrated into all corners of social development.

7 Research limitations

The main subject of this study is Chinese gardens, intending to explore the path of development of Chinese gardens' characteristics. Due to the pandemic, I did not have the opportunity to conduct field research and observation in Chinese gardens, nor was there a way to directly interview visitors to the site, which cost the study much immediate feedback. From the interview data I collected, the respondents' experiences were all previous experiences. The interview format was constrained by the distance, which inevitably led to memory errors or nervous responses, which could affect the feedback data's authenticity.

Chinese gardens are different from other historical gardens, that it is difficult to use other cases for exact cross-referencing. Chinese gardens are a combination of architecture, plants, and landscape and do not focus on plants like botanical gardens or parks. Tourism in Chinese gardens involves multiple aspects of heritage tourism, cultural tourism, etc., and possesses a complex dimension. Therefore, this thesis does not elaborate a detailed enough perspective, and there are missing aspects.

8 Future prospect

Garden tourism has become a widespread tourist consumption in recent years because of its characteristics, and it has the shell of a historical parcel and the kernel of a stylish pair of pursuing the aesthetics of the garden. This study explores the development of Chinese gardens in terms of both case study and visitor experience and draws recommendations for developing gardens, which is an elaboration from a

41 macro level. In future studies, the study of Chinese garden tourism can be conducted from more detailed specialized gardens.

In this study, the garden tourists are considered an overall non-differentiated sample for analysis and research, without subdividing the tourists' groups and without distinguishing whether the tourist experience value of tourists under different demographic sample classifications will be different. Future research can continue to study different samples in-depth around this point to bring more theoretical and practical support to marketing under market segmentation.

9 Conclusion

The path with Chinese characteristics explored in this study is a localized improvement of the existing inadequate model of garden tourism while retaining strong regional characteristics and on the basis of not destroying the history and environment.This study addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development: economy, society and the biosphere. Firstly the economic dimension of sustainable development is mainly reflected in the sustainable management of the Chinese garden. To manage gardens, achieving a more scientific management model can lead to healthy and sustainable development. Secondly, the satisfaction of tourists and stakeholders is also a part that deserves to be improved, this also reflects the social dimension of sustainable development. Specific directions for improvement are divided into four levels: discovering tourism values, increasing infrastructure development, innovative management, and creating a unique tourism brand. These proposals have a kernel of sustainable development concepts under the appearance of practicality and do not aim at profiteering or popularity but instead take the garden proper as a perspective for thinking. Finally, there are the ecological and historical aspects of the conservation of Chinese gardens, it is essential to obtain tourism benefits without destroying historical buildings and ancient plants. The sustainable

42 development proposed in this study involves environmental sustainability, cultural continuity sustainability, and commercial sustainability, dimensions that seep into the details of the concept of garden tourism enhancement to seek the long-term virtuous operation of the destination.

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Interviews

1、Joyce: Cruise company staff Year of birth:1998

Sex: female

Date of interview:210330(Year-month-date)

Length of interview: 35 minutes. Interview conducted by author. Interview archived by author.

2、Leon: student Year of birth:2001

Sex: male

Date of interview:210402(Year-month-date)

Length of interview: 28 minutes. Interview conducted by author. Interview archived by author.

3、Sally: student Year of birth:1995

Sex: female

Date of interview:210402(Year-month-date)

49 Length of interview: 42 minutes. Interview conducted by author. Interview archived by author.

4、Jim: Consultant Year of birth:1990

Sex: male

Date of interview:210404(Year-month-date)

Length of interview: 33 minutes. Interview conducted by author. Interview archived by author.

5、Penny: student Year of birth:1997

Sex: female

Date of interview:210405(Year-month-date)

Length of interview: 29 minutes. Interview conducted by author. Interview archived by author.

6、Han: Government staff Year of birth:1997

Sex: male

Date of interview:210404(Year-month-date)

Length of interview: 35 minutes. Interview conducted by author. Interview archived by author.

7、Adam: student Year of birth:1998

Sex: male

50 Date of interview:210407(Year-month-date)

Length of interview: 45 minutes. Interview conducted by author. Interview archived by author.

8、Dora: landscape architect Year of birth:1993

Sex: female

Date of interview:210411(Year-month-date)

Length of interview:40 minutes. Interview conducted by author. Interview archived by author.

51