IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/anture/v112y2025ics016073832500057x.html

When hosts meet guests: Local residents' identity construction amidst rural tourism gentrification

Author

Listed:
  • Ma, Xiaolong
  • Zhao, Yiyuan
  • Su, Weifeng

Abstract

Amidst rural tourism gentrification, local residents' identity construction offers a window into how rapid local development transforms inter-subject power relations. Guided by embeddedness theory, a longitudinal case study in Ankang Village, China with 78 interviews and observations was conducted to explore the dynamics and mechanism of local residents' identity construction as hosts. Findings reveal that as tourism grows, local residents adopt interactive strategies of withdrawal, negotiation, and advocacy, constructing three identities: “nominal hosts”, “dubious hosts”, and “true hosts”. The reshuffling of identities results from the internal mechanism of “power disparity-interest consistency-identity subjectivity”. Successful demonstration by gentrifiers and equitable sharing of benefits would help the local community maintain its core status in dialogue with external entities, thereby achieving sustainable community-based tourism.

Suggested Citation

  • Ma, Xiaolong & Zhao, Yiyuan & Su, Weifeng, 2025. "When hosts meet guests: Local residents' identity construction amidst rural tourism gentrification," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:112:y:2025:i:c:s016073832500057x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2025.103951
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016073832500057X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.annals.2025.103951?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Almagro, Milena & Andrés-Cerezo, David, 2020. "The construction of national identities," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 15(2), May.
    2. Bredvold, Randi & Skålén, Per, 2016. "Lifestyle entrepreneurs and their identity construction: A study of the tourism industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 96-105.
    3. Xue, Lan & Kerstetter, Deborah & Hunt, Carter, 2017. "Tourism development and changing rural identity in China," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 170-182.
    4. Zhang, Jingru & Tucker, Hazel & Morrison, Alastair M. & Wu, Bihu, 2017. "Becoming a backpacker in China: A grounded theory approach to identity construction of backpackers," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 114-125.
    5. Liu, Shang & Lai, Dan & Li, Zhiyong, 2022. "The identity construction of Chinese anime pilgrims," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. D. Asher Ghertner, 2015. "Why gentrification theory fails in 'much of the world'," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 552-563, August.
    7. Cheng, Mingming & Zhang, Guojie, 2019. "When Western hosts meet Eastern guests: Airbnb hosts' experience with Chinese outbound tourists," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 288-303.
    8. Zhou, Jiao & Yang, Fiona Fan & Lin, Geng & Xie, Xiaoru, 2023. "WeChat business and place identity construction in rural China: A case study of Beiqishui village, Zhouzhi county," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olabisi S. Obaitor & Marion Stellmes & Tobia Lakes, 2024. "Exploring Spatio-Temporal Pattern of Gentrification Processes in Intracity Slums in the Lagos Megacity," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Fayard, Gregory, 2024. "Revisiting cultural approaches to Chinese tourists," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Gabriel Schwake & Haim Yacobi, 2024. "Decolonisation, gentrification, and the settler-colonial city: Reappropriation and new forms of urban exclusion in Israel," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 42(4), pages 618-638, June.
    4. Juan Luis Jiménez & Armando Ortuño & Jorge V. Pérez-Rodríguez, 2022. "How does AirBnb affect local Spanish tourism markets?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 2515-2545, May.
    5. Sai Balakrishnan, 2019. "Recombinant Urbanization: Agrarian–urban Landed Property and Uneven Development in India," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 617-632, July.
    6. Ingmar Pastak & Anneli KÄHRIK, 2021. "SYMBOLIC DISPLACEMENT REVISITED: Place‐making Narratives in Gentrifying Neighbourhoods of Tallinn," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 814-834, September.
    7. Hyun Bang Shin & Loretta Lees & Ernesto López-Morales, 2016. "Introduction: Locating gentrification in the Global East," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(3), pages 455-470, February.
    8. Agustin Casas & Federico Curci & Antoni-Italo De Moragas, 2022. "Checks and Balances and Nation Building: The Spanish Constitutional Court and Catalonia," Working Papers 189, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    9. Fan, Xiangli & Wang, Jingqiang & Xiao, Honggen, 2021. "Women's travel in the Tang Dynasty: Gendered identity in a hierarchical society," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Jing Guan & Jun Gao & Chaozhi Zhang, 2019. "Food Heritagization and Sustainable Rural Tourism Destination: The Case of China’s Yuanjia Village," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, May.
    11. Huichao Feng & Jieling Xiao, 2024. "(Re)shaping the Tourists’ Imagined Identity of Mosuo towards Sustainable Ethnic Tourism Development in Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-22, August.
    12. Seth Schindler & Jonathan Silver, 2019. "Florida in the Global South: How Eurocentrism Obscures Global Urban Challenges—and What We Can Do about It," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 794-805, July.
    13. Miruna Radu-Lefebvre & Vincent Lefebvre & Eliana Crosina & Ulla Hytti, 2021. "Entrepreneurial Identity: A Review and Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(6), pages 1550-1590, November.
    14. Jeff Garmany & John Burdick, 2021. "‘An open secret’: Public housing and downward raiding in Rio de Janeiro," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(13), pages 2798-2813, October.
    15. Mousa Pazhuhan (Panahandeh Khah) & Nabi Moradpour & Bahar Beishami & Rando Värnik & Yenny Katherine Parra-Acosta & Rytis Skominas & Maryam Pour & Hossein Azadi, 2023. "Do Inhabitants’ Perceptions Support Tourism Sustainability? The Case of Khorramabad in Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-16, July.
    16. Stefan Applis, 2022. "Crises around Concepts of Hospitality in the Mountainous Region of Svaneti in the North of Georgia," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-19, May.
    17. Woo, Ka-shing & Chan, Bobbie, 2020. "“Service with a smile” and emotional contagion: A replication and extension study," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Pengfei Sun & Hong Cao, 2024. "Tourism Development and Rural Land Transfer-Out: Evidence from China Family Panel Studies," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-16, March.
    19. Ivlevs, Artjoms & Smith, Ian, 2023. "Do International Tourist Arrivals Change Residents' Attitudes Towards Immigration? A Longitudinal Study of 28 European Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 15953, IZA Network @ LISER.
    20. Tao Liu & Kewei Shi & Lingli Hu & Yuqing Liu & Yunyao Liu, 2023. "A New Instrument for Measuring Customers’ Perceptions of Service Warmth: A Big Data and Machine Learning Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:112:y:2025:i:c:s016073832500057x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/annals-of-tourism-research/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.