Tourism Development in Ethnic Areas of Southern China Paul Jason Howard, BA (Hons) Department of International Business and Asian Studies Griffith Business School Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2006 ABSTRACT The development of tourism may catalyse a vast array of impacts, social, cultural, socioeconomic, environmental or political. In ethnic minority communities and regions, impacts are potentially greater due to the pre-existing social, cultural and even sociopolitical constructs. Tourism, as a global phenomenon, is confined to operating within the local context. This is certainly the case in ethnic minority communities of China’s southern peripheries. Tourism development is a differential process of formal and informal sector development. Formal sector development is generally capital intensive and relatively highly organised. In contrast, the informal sector involves many small vendors and family or community run businesses. The sectoral dichotomy may also be applied, in a general sense, to the types of tourists utilizing accommodation and services provided by these two distinct sectors. As the balance between the two sectors changes over time and across space, there is a commensurate shift in the type and scale of impacts generated by tourism in host communities. It is this that makes the sectoral paradigm so relevant to the role (or indeed lack of role) of ethnic minorities in tourism development in their local areas and communities. Apart from economic impacts, there are sociocultural and even socioenvironmental impacts on host communities. As with socioeconomic impacts, sociocultural impacts are also influenced by the differential development of the formal and informal sectors over time. Furthermore, particularly in ethnic minority areas, socioeconomic and sociocultural impacts are tightly integrated and one impact realm cannot adequately be considered in isolation. iii “This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.” ___________________________________ (Paul Jason Howard) iv CONTENTS Abstract iii Figures ix Graphs xi Images xii Maps xiii Plates xiv Tables xvi Acknowledgements xvii 1. Introduction 1 Why This Study is Important 2 Structure of the Thesis 3 Main Arguments and Explanation 5 Some Terms and Definitions 9 The Case Study Areas 13 Aims 17 Methodology 17 Theoretical Introduction 24 v 2. Integration of Impact Realms 29 The Multi-Realm Nature of Tourism’s Impacts 30 Sociocultural Realm 37 Economic Realm 48 Environmental Realm 54 Political Realm 62 Theoretical Discussion 69 3. Tourism and China’s Ethnic Minorities 77 Globalization and Tourism 77 Ethnic Minorities in the PRC 80 Minorities in Historical and Spatial Context 85 Conclusion 93 4. Spatial Development 95 Paradigms of Tourism Development 97 ‘Models’ of Tourism Development 99 Central-Place Theory 110 Tourism Development in the Case Study Areas 121 Summary and Conclusion 148 vi 5. Transformation of Labour and Income 151 Manjinglan 155 The Utsat of Fenghuang 164 Spatial ‘Shifts’ and Themed Villages 167 Gender Division of Labour 177 Ethnic Division of Labour 185 Summary and Conclusion 188 6. Commodification 193 Architecture, Space and Culture 194 Prostitution and the Sexualization of Ethnicity 222 Summary and Conclusion 236 7. Impact Assessment 241 Criterion 1: The Number of Guests in Relation to the Host Population 242 Criterion 2: The Predominant Object of the Tourist Gaze 244 Criterion 3: The Organization of the Industry that Develops to Service the Mass Gaze 250 Criterion 4: The Degree to which the State in a Given Country Actively Seeks to Promote Tourism Development or Alternatively Endeavours to Prevent it 258 Criterion 5: The Effects of Tourism upon the Pre-existing Agricultural and Industrial Activities 263 vii Criterion 6: The Economic and Social Differences between the Visitors and the Majority of the Hosts 265 Criterion 7: The Extent to which Tourists can be Linked to Economic, Social and Cultural Developments 266 Criterion 8: The Impact of Tourism on the Local Socioenvironmental Situation 269 Summary and Conclusion 273 8. Summary & Conclusion 279 Bibliography 297 viii FIGURES Figure 1.1: Main Characteristics of the Formal and Informal Tourism Sectors 25 Figure 2.1: Mieckowski’s Representation of the Interaction between Tourism Impacts 31 Figure 2.2: Butler and Hinchs’ Framework for Indigenous Tourism 33 Figure 2.3: Social and Cultural Impacts of Tourism on Ethnic Hosts 39 Figure 2.4: Doxey’s Irridex 42 Figure 2.5: Pearce’s Framework for Assessing the Economic Impact of Tourism 52 Figure 2.6: Potential Negative Impacts of Tourism on the Natural Environment 60 Figure 2.7: Hamid Mowlana’s Integrative Model of Tourism as International Relations 63 Figure 2.8: Tourism Interest Groups 65 Figure 4.1: Miosecc’s Model of Tourist Space 100 Figure 4.2: Cyclical Nature of Tourism Development over Time 101 Figure 4.3: Formal and Informal Sector Development in Resort Areas 102 Figure 4.4: Model of Urban Tourism Space around a Cruiseship Dock 105 Figure 4.5: Opperman’s Model of Tourism Space in Developing Countries 108 ix Figure 4.6: A Settlement Hierarchy Representing Consumer Movement between Retailing Centres 115 Figure 4.7: Dependency between Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Tourist Places 119 Figure 4.8: Schematic Representation of Sanya and Peripheral Tourist Areas 126 Figure 4.9: Schematic Diagram of the Li and Miao Villages as Tertiary Nodes Connected to A1, a Secondary Node 129 Figure 4.10: Schematic Diagram of the Li and Miao Villages as Secondary Nodes Connected to Primary Node A (Sanya) 129 Figure 4.11: Representation of Sanya and Peripheral Tourist Places including Xidao Island off the Coast 130 Figure 4.12: Representation of Formal Sector Tourism Development around Sanya 132 Figure 5.1: Schematic Diagram Showing the Location of Ethnic Theme Villages on Hainan Island 168 Figure 5.2: Spatial Flow of Income of Ethnic Performers/Workers under Three Scenarios of Relative Location of the Theme ‘Village’ of Employment and Home Village 175 Figure 6.1: Representation of Baoting Ethnic Theme Village 212 Figure 6.2: Schematic Diagram – Indicative of the Location of Hotels and their Proximity to the Manting Road ‘Red Light’ Precinct 228 x GRAPHS Graph 4.1: Tourist Numbers to Selected Cities in Hainan 123 Graph 7.1: Percentage of Employees by Types of Accommodation Establishments 251 Graph 7.2: Hotels by Official Ownership Status 252 xi IMAGES Image 4.1: 1990 Landsat image of Sanya and surrounds 133 Image 4.2: 2000 Landsat image of Sanya and surrounds 134 Image 4.3 1990 Landsat image of Sanya CBD and Dadonghai 134 Image 4.4 2000 Landsat image of Sanya CBD and Dadonghai 134 Image 4.5: 1990 Landsat image of Yalong Bay 135 Image 4.6: 2000 Landsat image of Yalong Bay 135 Image 4.7: 1990 Landsat image of Jinghong 142 Image 4.8: 2000 Landsat image of Jinghong 142 Image 4.9: 1990 Landsat image of Jinghong showing the urban area and Manjinglan 143 Image 4.10: 2000 Landsat image of Jinghong showing the urban area and Manjinglan 143 Image 4.11: 1990 Landsat image of Lijiang 146 Image 4.12: 2000 Landsat image of Lijiang 146 Image 4.13: 2000 Landsat image of Lijiang and the airport 147 xii MAPS Map 1.1: Location of the Case Study Sites 13 xiii PLATES Plate 4.1: Centre of Li village area some 20 kilometres inland from Sanya 127 Plate 4.2: Buffalo on the road from the proposed tourism ‘centre’ 128 Plate 4.3: View looking west along the beachfront at Sanya 132 Plate 4.4: Micro-bus terminal at Ganlanba 139 Plate 4.5: Mekong River ferry crossing at Ganlanba 139 Plate 5.1: View looking south down Manting Road to Manjinglan 157 Plate 5.2: Traditional Dai stilted structures just south of Manjinglan 157 Plate 5.3: The entrance to Baoting ‘Li and Miao ethnic theme village’ 171 Plate 5.4: Tour buses in the car park of Baoting ethnic ‘village’ 171 Plate 6.1: A lane in Dayan (Lijiangs ‘Old Town’) 198 Plate 6.2: More of the ‘old town’ being built 198 Plate 6.3: A Dai guesthouse on Manting Road, Manjinglan 210 Plate 6.4: The welcoming committee at Baoting ‘Li and Miao ethnic theme village’ 214 Plate 6.5: Young Li women attend to ‘guests’ at the staged Li ‘wedding’ 214 Plate 6.6: Tourists participate in a staged Dai ‘water splashing’ ceremony 232 xiv Plate 7.1: The Golden Phoenix Hotel on Binhai Road 255 Plate 7.2: Small informal sector businesses on Waimao Road 255 Plate 7.3: Bilingual sign providing information about the Sanya Coral Reef Nature Reserve on the main walkway entrance to the Yalong Bay beachfront 272 xv TABLES Table 5.1: Household Survey of Income per Household in Manjinglan, 1995 158 Table 6.1: Souvenir Items Purchased in 3 Folk Villages in Hainan 221 Table 6.2 Typology of Cross-border Movements of Emigrant Population Groups and Assessment of Their HIV Risk Situations in Yunnan Province 225 xvi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My primary supervisor, Professor Emeritus Colin Mackerras, has been outstanding. He has been helpful in many ways. He offered invaluable advice and guidance on the writing of the thesis and the feedback from him was always prompt and carefully considered. In short, I could not have wished for a better primary supervisor. As the associate supervisor, Associate Professor Lawrence Crissman provided tremendous support, particularly in regard to the chapter on spatial development. He helped me to obtain and format the landsat images that appear in the thesis and lent me advice and logical analysis regarding spatial development, without which I would have been completely lost.