The Roles of Formal and Informal Institutions in Small Tourism Business Development in Rural Areas of South China

Abstract

Abstract:Taking a livelihood perspective to study tourism has become popular in recent years, but as an essential part of livelihood analysis, institutional processes have not yet received enough attention. This study focuses on the influences of formal and informal institutions on small tourism businesses in rural areas. A case study was conducted in Hong Kong, and the entitlements framework was adopted as an analytical tool. Based on qualitative data generated from field study, this paper describes how different groups of residents rely on institutions at multiple levels to gain assets and make legitimate effective use of them through operating small tourism businesses. Results indicate that the interaction between formal and informal institutions is mediated by a variety of organisations, particularly implementation authorities at the frontline, and determines residents' access to assets and the tourism market and subsequently, affects their start-up and operation of small tourism businesses. Informal institutions play a vital role in creating a favourable situation for local residents. However, this role may not satisfy small business owners who are non-local residents.

Assessment of the Tourism’s Potential as a Sustainable Development Instrument in Terms of Annual Stability: Application to Spanish Rural Destinations in Process of Consolidation

“…The results are consistent with previous studies where the rural tourism's high seasonality is noted [119]. This fact might condition the support that the tourism industry receives from the citizens, since said support is based on the assessment of potential benefits [124]. Nonetheless, the profits produced by the activities developed in rural environments include certain benefits besides the economical ones.…”

Community Participation in the Decision-Making Process for Sustainable Tourism Development in Rural Areas of Hong Kong, China

“…From 1981 to 2006, its population declined from 5150 to 2951 [32]. The Tai O population is mainly Chinese (94.7%) with more female (54.5%) than male (45.5%), and the population is dominated by residents aged over 65 years due to the influence of rural-urban migration in past decades.…”

Innovating Rural Tourism Targeting Poverty Alleviation through a Multi-Industries Integration Network: the Case of Zhuanshui Village, Anhui Province, China

“…This is a method that can deeply describe and analyze a certain specific phenomenon based on abundant qualitative data [42], and most likely addresses "how" research questions [43]. It has been widely used in rural tourism research [4,5,25,29,31,[33][34][35][36][37][38]40,41].…”

“…Komppula [34] argued that without innovative, committed, and risk-taking entrepreneurs, no destination will flourish. Community participation in rural tourism is helpful for desirable interrelations among tourism stakeholders [5,35]. The government also has a crucial role to be facilitator of the entrepreneurial environment [34,36], the mediator in establishing trust relationships with the rural service providers [26,37], and policy maker of rural tourism [38,39].…”

“…As for the methodologies, most of the research in tourism-based poverty alleviation and rural tourism domain used a case study method [4,5,25,29,31,[33][34][35]38,40,41], and many cases come from China [4,5,33,35,38,40,41].…”