Study on Urban Residents’ Willingness to Buy the Products of Rural Tourism

Haibo Zhu, Ruihu Wu

Business School, Center South of Forest and Technology University, Changsha, China.

DOI: 10.4236/ib.2012.42021                

Abstract

The level of value injected into the rural economy is dependent consumers acceptance of rural tourism. Data was obtained through primary research conducted in the three provinces in China of Hunan, Guangdong and Gansu, the paper explores urban residents’ attitude to rural tourism and then estimates their willingness to pay for rural tourism products, utilizing hypothesis-evaluation to find a valid conclusion. The results show that their willingness is affected by gender, educational background, level of income; personal travel frequency, tourism form, aggregate demand form rural tourism, acceptance for rural tourism and the price of tourism in other cities have significant effect on their willingness to pay. The WTP proves that urban residents are usually willing to pay 35.1% more for non-rural tourism than they are for rural tourism.

Keywords

Rural Tourism; Purchase Intention; Empirical Analysis; Urban Residents

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Z. G. Yao and Q. Su, etc., “Research Perspective of Abroad Rural Tourism,” Economic Geography, Vol. 27, No. 6, 2007, pp. 1046-1049.
[2]	S. A. Hernandez, J. Cohen and H. L. Garcia, “Residents’ Attitudes towards an Instant Resort Enclave,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 23, No .4, 1996, pp. 755-779.
[3]	P. Mason and J. Cheyne, “Residents’ Attitudes to Proposed Tourism Development,” Annals of Tourism Resear- ch, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2000, pp. 391-411. doi:10.1016/S0160-7383(99)00084-5
[4]	Q. L. Wu and S. W. Zhen, “Abroad Rural Tourism Research and Its Apocalypse for China-Based on Status Cerebration of the Development of Chinese Rural Tourism,” China Price, 2007, pp. 58-61.
[5]	M. Rosa, A. Pablo and S. Libia, “The Moderating Role of Amiliarity in Rural Tourismin Spain,” Tourism Management, Vol. 28, No. 4, 2006, pp. 951-954.
[6]	Z. Q. Fang and Y. X. Guo, “The Marketing and Experience of French Rural Tourism Products—The Case of Le Relais de Chenillé,” Cultural Geography, Vol. 97, No. 5, 2007, pp. 76-80.
[7]	J. G. Zhang and Y. W. Yu, etc., “The Trend of Urban Residents’ Demand for Rural Tourism Products—The Case of Ningbo Residens,” Business Research, Vol. 21, No. 362, 2007, pp. 195-198.