IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i17p10572-d896816.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Seasonality on the Sustainability of Livelihoods of Households in Rural Tourism Destinations

Author

Listed:
  • Zhen Su

    (Department of Tourism Management, School of Business, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
    Guangxi Development Strategy Institute, Nanning 530004, China)

  • Ruyi Wen

    (Department of Tourism Management, School of Business, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China)

  • Yanyu Zeng

    (Department of Tourism Management, School of Business, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China)

  • Kai Ye

    (Department of Tourism Management, School of Business, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China)

  • Tanaporn Khotphat

    (Airline Business Program, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Suan Dusit University, Bangkok 10300, Thailand)

Abstract

Even though seasonality is an important concern in tourism research, only a few scholars have focused on the seasonality of rural tourism. Therefore, this study examines seasonality in rural tourism destinations. We adopt a mixed research approach to explore the sustainable livelihoods of households in rural tourism destinations from a seasonality perspective, using the case of rural tourism destinations in Yulong River basin, Guangxi, China. First, in-depth interviews and grounded theory are used to construct a sustainable livelihood model for households in rural tourism destinations under the influence of seasonality. Second, the model is tested using the data envelopment analysis model and statistical analysis. We find that (1) psychological capital, a previously neglected livelihood capital, is an important component of rural households’ livelihood capital in rural tourism destinations under the influence of seasonality; (2) rural tourism does not significantly improve rural livelihoods due to seasonal influences; and (3) participating in tourism work in the off-season and combining it with other work practices are the main livelihood strategies of rural households to cope with seasonality; however, over-dispersing resources reduces the livelihood efficiency. This study’s findings will prove useful for policy formation by governments to deal with seasonality in rural tourism.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhen Su & Ruyi Wen & Yanyu Zeng & Kai Ye & Tanaporn Khotphat, 2022. "The Influence of Seasonality on the Sustainability of Livelihoods of Households in Rural Tourism Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:17:p:10572-:d:896816
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/17/10572/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/17/10572/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Renaud Lapeyre, 2010. "Community-based tourism as a sustainable solution to maximise impacts locally? The Tsiseb Conservancy case, Namibia," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 757-772.
    2. Fang Su & Jiangbo Chang & Haiyang Shang, 2021. "Coupling Coordination Analysis of Livelihood Efficiency and Land Use for Households in Poverty-Alleviated Mountainous Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-28, October.
    3. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    4. Joe Zhu, 2014. "Data Envelopment Analysis," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Quantitative Models for Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking, edition 3, chapter 1, pages 1-9, Springer.
    5. Yaping Liu & Huike Shi & Zhen Su & Tafazal Kumail, 2022. "Sustainability and Risks of Rural Household Livelihoods in Ethnic Tourist Villages: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-26, April.
    6. Cook, Wade D. & Tone, Kaoru & Zhu, Joe, 2014. "Data envelopment analysis: Prior to choosing a model," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-4.
    7. Huiqin Li & Peter Nijkamp & Xuelian Xie & Jingjing Liu, 2020. "A New Livelihood Sustainability Index for Rural Revitalization Assessment—A Modelling Study on Smart Tourism Specialization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    8. Zhen Su & Joshua R. Aaron & Yang Guan & Hongchen Wang, 2019. "Sustainable Livelihood Capital and Strategy in Rural Tourism Households: A Seasonality Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-14, September.
    9. Radisti A. Praptiwi & Carya Maharja & Matt Fortnam & Tomas Chaigneau & Louisa Evans & Leuserina Garniati & Jito Sugardjito, 2021. "Tourism-Based Alternative Livelihoods for Small Island Communities Transitioning towards a Blue Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-11, June.
    10. Juan Antonio Duro, 2018. "Seasonality of tourism," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(5), pages 615-621, August.
    11. Jing Zhang & Zhonglei Yu & Changhong Miao & Yuting Li & Shuai Qiao, 2022. "Cultural Tourism Weakens Seasonality: Empirical Analysis of Chinese Tourism Cities," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-14, February.
    12. Iulia C. Muresan & Camelia F. Oroian & Rezhen Harun & Felix H. Arion & Andra Porutiu & Gabriela O. Chiciudean & Alexandru Todea & Ramona Lile, 2016. "Local Residents’ Attitude toward Sustainable Rural Tourism Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eleonora Santos, 2023. "From Neglect to Progress: Assessing Social Sustainability and Decent Work in the Tourism Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Julius Uti Nchor, 2023. "Livelihood Strategies and Their Determinants among Informal Households in Calabar, Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Marius-Ionuț Gordan & Elena Peț & Gabriela Popescu & Ioan Brad & Anda Ioana Milin & Tabita Cornelia Adamov & Ramona Ciolac & Anka Roxana Pascariu & Tiberiu Iancu, 2022. "Factors Influencing the Accommodation Prices of Romanian Rural Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Sofia Gkarane & Chris Vassiliadis & Iordanis Kotzaivazoglou & Garyfallos Fragidis & Vasiliki Vrana, 2025. "Combating Seasonality in Regional Tourism: A Call to Action Through Sport Events and Practitioner Insights," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-19, April.
    5. Zhen Su & Kun Xian & Dandan Lu & Wenhui Wang & Yinghong Zheng & Tanaporn Khotphat, 2023. "Rural Tourism Households Adapting to Seasonality: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-19, September.

    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. Ying Li & Yung-Ho Chiu & Tai-Yu Lin & Tzu-Han Chang, 2020. "Pre-Evaluating the Technical Efficiency Gains from Potential Mergers and Acquisitions in the IC Design Industry," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(02), pages 525-559, April.
    2. Park, Jaehun & Lee, Dongha & Zhu, Joe, 2014. "An integrated approach for ship block manufacturing process performance evaluation: Case from a Korean shipbuilding company," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 214-222.
    3. Trinks, Arjan & Mulder, Machiel & Scholtens, Bert, 2020. "An Efficiency Perspective on Carbon Emissions and Financial Performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    4. Babak Daneshvar Rouyendegh & Asil Oztekin & Joseph Ekong & Ali Dag, 2019. "Measuring the efficiency of hospitals: a fully-ranking DEA–FAHP approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 278(1), pages 361-378, July.
    5. Maha Kalai, 2019. "Nonparametric Measures of Capacity Utilization of the Tunisian Manufacturing Industry: Short- and Long-Run Dual Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 318-334, March.
    6. Cook, Wade D. & Ruiz, José L. & Sirvent, Inmaculada & Zhu, Joe, 2017. "Within-group common benchmarking using DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(3), pages 901-910.
    7. Shuangjie Li & Hongyu Diao & Liming Wang & Chunqi Li, 2021. "Energy Efficiency Measurement: A VO TFEE Approach and Its Application," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Kai Li & Zhili Ma & Guozhou Zhang, 2019. "Evaluation of the Supply-Side Efficiency of China’s Real Estate Market: A Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Hossein Abdollahnejadbarough & Kalyan S Mupparaju & Sagar Shah & Colin P. Golding & Abelardo C. Leites & Timothy D. Popp & Eric Shroyer & Yanai S. Golany & Anne G. Robinson & Vedat Akgun, 2020. "Verizon Uses Advanced Analytics to Rationalize Its Tail Spend Suppliers," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 197-211, May.
    10. Harald Dyckhoff, 2018. "Multi-criteria production theory: foundation of non-financial and sustainability performance evaluation," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(7), pages 851-882, September.
    11. Andreas Eder & Bernhard Mahlberg & Bernhard Stürmer, 2021. "Measuring and explaining productivity growth of renewable energy producers: An empirical study of Austrian biogas plants," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 37-63, February.
    12. Sarmento, Joaquim Miranda & Renneboog, Luc & Verga-Matos, Pedro, 2017. "Measuring highway efficiency : A DEA approach and the Malquist index," Other publications TiSEM 23264815-321e-45a3-83ee-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    13. Qian Zhang & Huaxing Zhang & Dan Zhao & Baodong Cheng & Chang Yu & Yanli Yang, 2019. "Does Urban Sprawl Inhibit Urban Eco-Efficiency? Empirical Studies of Super-Efficiency and Threshold Regression Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-18, October.
    14. Benítez-Peña, Sandra & Bogetoft, Peter & Romero Morales, Dolores, 2020. "Feature Selection in Data Envelopment Analysis: A Mathematical Optimization approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    15. Halkos, George & Petrou, Kleoniki Natalia, 2018. "Assessment of national waste generation in EU Member States’ efficiency," MPRA Paper 84590, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Pawel Dobrzanski & Sebastian Bobowski, 2020. "The Efficiency of R&D Expenditures in ASEAN Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-26, March.
    17. Fabienne Miller & Justin Wang & Joe Zhu & Ya Chen & Jason Hockenberry, 2017. "Investigation of the Impact of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform on Hospital Costs and Quality of Care," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 250(1), pages 129-146, March.
    18. Bozana Zekan & Ulrich Gunter, 2022. "Zooming into Airbnb listings of European cities: Further investigation of the sector’s competitiveness," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(3), pages 772-794, May.
    19. Marc Rohde & Christoph Breuer, 2018. "Competing by investments or efficiency? Exploring financial and sporting efficiency of club ownership structures in European football," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 563-581, December.
    20. Victoria Wojcik & Harald Dyckhoff & Marcel Clermont, 2019. "Is data envelopment analysis a suitable tool for performance measurement and benchmarking in non-production contexts?," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 559-595, 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:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:17:p:10572-:d:896816. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.