Abstract
Rural tourism has long been considered the means of accelerating economic and social development, and has become a development tool for many rural areas. In response to agricultural structure adjustment, rural tourism in China took into shape as a new economic growth point to meet the market demand at the late 1980s. Now, a structural frame of rural tourism has shaped, with the core of Zhujiang (Pearl) River Delta, Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu of China. But in Xinjiang, the western part of China, there are hardly any studies in this field in spite of its richness of tourism resources. In this paper, development of rural tourism is studied in Turpan of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. With its rich natural and cultural tourism resources, Turpan has become one of the pioneer tourism destinations in China. But same to the rural tourism development of the other areas’ of China, rural tourism programs in Turpan mainly aimed at sightseeing activities, and little attention had been paid to the protection and exploitation of national minority culture—an important factor to satisfy both tourists demand and local economic development. However, this kind of rural tourism development policy is harmful on the long run. Because, many tourists seek tourist destinations that offer pleasant experiences related to not only the natural environment but also historic heritage and cultural patterns. The study suggests that on the base of government support in the long term, to enhance tourism training, to protect and exploit national minority culture are essential elements of rural tourism development in Turpan.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BRAMWELL B, LANE B, 1994. Rural tourism and sustainable rural development [A]. In: Proceedings from the Second International School of Rural Development [C]. London: Channel View Books.
CANOVES Gemma, VILLARINO Montserrat, PRIESTLEY K Gerda et al., 2004. Rural tourism in Spain: an analysis of recent evolution [J]. Geoforum, 35: 753–767.
HE Jing-ming, LI Hui-xia, 2003. Systematic analysis on factors affecting the development of rural tourism: a case study of Chengdu [J]. Wuhan University Journal of Natural Sciences, 8(3B): 919–925.
KENNEDY I Ondimu, 2002. Cultural tourism in Kenya [J]. Annals of Tourism Research, 29(4): 1036–1047.
LI Yi-ping, 2000, Ethnic tourism: a Canadian experience [J]. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(1): 115–131.
LU Yi-nong, 2000. The characteristics of human tourism resources and the development potentiality of Turpan [J]. Journal of Xinjiang Normal University, 19(1): 67–71. (in Chinese)
MACDONALD Roberta, JOLLIFF Lee, 2003. Cultural rural tourism: evidence from Canada[J]. Annals of Tourism Research, 30(2): 307–322.
REICHEL Arie, LOWENGART Oded, MILMAN Ady, 2000. Rural tourism in Israel: service quality and orientation [J]. Tourism Management, 21: 451–459.
SHARPLEY Richard, 2002. Rural tourism and the challenge of tourism diversification: the case of Cyprus[J]. Tourism Management, 23: 233–244.
SOFIELD Trevor H B, LI Fung Mei Sarah, 1998. Tourism development and cultural policies in China [J]. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(2): 362–392.
TOOPS Stanley, 1999. Tourism and Turpan: the power of place in inner Asia/outer China [J]. Central Asian Survey, 18(3): 303–318.
Xinjiang Statistical Bureau, 2001. Xinjiang Statistical Yearbook [R]. Beijing: China Statistics Press. (in Chinese)
XIONG Hei-gang, HAN Chun-xian, 2005. Study of local residents benefiting from tourism in Grape Valley, Turpan [A]. The Third Conference of the Development of Tourist and Recreational Agriculture and Rural Tourism in Mainland China and Taiwan [C]. Ürümqi: Public Affairs Service Company of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography. (in Chinese)
YANG Zhao-ping, 1998. The analysis of tourist market and its developing tactics in Turpan, Xinjiang [J]. Arid Land Geography, 21(2): 56–61. (in Chinese)
ZHANG Hai-xia, ZHANG Xu-liang, 2003. A basic study on the tourism image in Turpan [J]. Journal of Xinjiang Normal University, 22(3): 86–91. (in Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received date: 2005- Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX3-SW-327-04)
Biography: KEYIM Parhad (1972—), male, a native of Turpan of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, assistant professer, specialized in tourism geography. E-mail: parhadidikut@yahoo.com
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Keyim, P., Yang, Dg. & Zhang, Xl. Study of rural tourism in Turpan, China. Chin. Geograph.Sc. 15, 377–382 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-005-0028-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-005-0028-4