ABSTRACT:

As an agricultural product with strong social and cultural connotations, the production and consumption of tea have high potential to be integrated with tourism to enhance community livelihood sustainability. A sustainable livelihood approach is used in a tea tourism context in Hetu Town, Anhui Province, China, to examine critically the interactive relationships between tea and tourism. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with management officials, community leaders, tea industry representatives and village residents in four field investigations in 2015 and 2016. Improvement in community livelihood sustainability was identified through enhancement of livelihood diversity and choice. However, impacts on household livelihood sustainability varied as tourism participation is restricted by level of livelihood assets. The increase of the within-community income gap may generate social problems in the long run. The current level of tea and tourism integration is limited. The history, culture and traditions related with tea are not widely disseminated by local tea producers. Opportunities for in-depth and diversified tea tourism experiences are being recognized, which call for partnership with those involved in tourism. Practical implications are discussed to enhance tea and tourism integration, boost local participation, enhance local benefits, and particularly, to engage those with lower levels of livelihood assets.

KEYWORDS:  Tea; tourism; rural community; sustainable livelihood; China

摘要:

茶作为一种具有丰富社会文化内涵的农产品，其生产和消费具有与旅游业融合发展，增强社区生计的可持续性的巨大潜力。本文以安徽省河图镇茶旅游为例，运用可持续生计的研究框架，对茶与旅游的互动关系进行了批判性研究。在2015年和2016年的四次实地调查中，研究对管理人员、社区领导、茶业代表和村民进行了面对面的半结构化访谈。研究表明通过旅游发展，当地居民生计多样性增强，使得社区整体生计可持续性的改善。然而，由于旅游业的参与受到参与户家庭生计资产水平的限制，对家庭生计可持续性的影响存在较大差异。目前，研究显示河图镇茶与旅游业的融合程度有限。当地与茶产业相关的历史、文化和传统并没有被运用到旅游业中，以营造具有地方文化特色的旅游体验。而旅游者访谈则显示出旅游者对于当地茶产业、产品和多样化的茶旅游体验具有一定的需求。综合对比茶旅融合发展的供需机会，研究讨论了依托河图镇茶产业资源和特色，加强茶旅融合，促进社区参与以提升社区生计可持续性的相关发展建议。

关键词: 茶，旅游，乡村社区，可持续生计，中国

原载于Journal of Sustainable Tourism，(2019 Impact Factor = 3.986）

原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1648482