Abstract
With the rapid modernization of China’s economic development, especially urbanization, China’s rural economy is clearly lagging behind the overall development level of the Chinese economy, with low industrial efficiency, irrational industrial structure, and unbalanced industrial development. The development of rural tourism brings new opportunities for industrial integration and industrial transformation and upgrading in rural China. This study draws on a case study of Zhonghaoyu village in Shandong province, China, to summarize the important experience of the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure of Chinese tourism villages by observing and analysing the changes in the industrial structure of Zhonghaoyu village before and during the development of rural tourism. Prior to the development of rural tourism, Zhonghaoyu Village was a mountainous village that relied almost entirely on farming. Through years of rural tourism development, the service industry in Zhonghoayu Village has grown, reflecting the driving effect of rural tourism, but the service industry is small and agriculture still dominates, and its role and position in the overall economic development of the village has not been highlighted. As the transformation of the shareholding system of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village was completed, the original decentralized operation of farmers was replaced by corporate operation, and the service industry led by tourism was developed comprehensively and rapidly, and the development of rural tourism promoted the completion of the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure of Zhonghaoyu Village.
1. Introduction
China’s rural industrial structure transformation and upgrading is an inevitable trend of the era. With the rapid progress of the modernization of China’s economic development, especially urbanization, China’s rural economy is obviously lagging behind China’s overall economic development level. Rural industrial structure development is unbalanced and inefficient, which can no longer meet the new requirements of China’s vast rural economic and social development. The complexity and particularity of China’s industrial structure problem lies in the coexistence and interweaving of the urban-rural dual structure, the regional gap, and the reform of state-owned enterprises. The dual structure of urban and rural areas is an industrial problem with unbalanced development of agriculture and non-agriculture. The rural industrial structure optimization, high-quality development, and industrial integration have become compelling strategies for the development of China’s rural industries. Some studies show that China’s rural industrial structure’s evolutionary history can be divided into four stages: agricultural industry dominated period, rural industrialization rapid promotion period, rural industry development and structure optimization period, and rural industry integration and high quality development period [1]. The rural industrial structure is the composition and interrelation of various industrial sectors in rural areas. It is an important part of the national industrial structure. It mainly includes (1) the structure of primary industry, secondary industry, and tertiary industry, (2) the internal structure of each industry, and (3) the production department or industry structure of each industry. This study classifies the transformation and upgrading of China’s rural industrial structure into the following three stages. The first stage is the restructuring and upgrading of the internal structure of agriculture. The initial restructuring of China’s rural industries began with the upgrading and optimization of the internal structure of agriculture. In other words, it evolved from the cultivation industry, especially the grain industry, which had an absolute proportion in the earliest stage, to the overall development of “big agriculture.” In the mid-80s, at the beginning of China’s reform and opening up, with the shift from state unified purchase and distribution of agricultural products to market regulation, the main objective of the restructuring of the agricultural industry began to be to meet the diversified demand for agricultural products [2]. The principle of rural industrial structure adjustment is to adhere to the principle of adapting measures to local conditions, the principle of gradual and sustainable development, the principle of combining market regulation with macro-control, and the principle of quality and efficiency. The restructuring of the agricultural industry is to balance the composition and proportional relationship between the various sectors of agriculture, forestry, husbandry, and fishery and to strengthen the development of secondary industries and animal husbandry in addition to food crop production [3]. While achieving a reasonable proportional relationship within agriculture, it also relies on advanced science and technology to transform traditional agriculture and develop new industries [4]. In the late 1990s, the development of China’s agricultural industry puts forward new development goals of industrialization and modernization, and the reform of agriculture began to turn towards such as improving quality and added value and began to focus on the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture. The countermeasures and suggestions for the adjustment of rural industrial structure include giving full play to the role of the government in the adjustment of rural industrial structure, relying on scientific and technological innovation, promoting industrial upgrading, comprehensively improving the quality of agricultural products, and realising the common development of leading enterprises and small enterprises. The second stage is the evolution of agriculture towards industrialization. As the 21st century progressed, agricultural value-added growth suffered a slowdown or even stagnation as the development of agriculture in rural China hit a bottleneck and industrialization began to gain importance. Over this period, the restructuring of various industries within agriculture, such as plantation, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery, brought minimal increase in agricultural output and economic growth to the countryside, with negative effects on rural economic growth [5]. China’s rural industries have begun to break away from separate agrarianism and started to vigorously develop industry, thus taking an important step towards the restructuring and upgrading of rural industries, and the industrialization of China’s countryside is accelerating rapidly. The third stage is rural tourism development and industrial integration. The role of rural industrialization includes the following: rural industrialization has changed the economic development of rural areas, rural industrialization has promoted the marketization process of rural economy, and rural industrialization has not only cultivated a new growth point of non-agricultural industry for rural economy but also greatly increased the economic income of farmers. Recently, China’s rural industrial structure has been transformed and upgraded in the trend of industrial integration. Some studies have concluded that industrial integration is a form of overlapping with agriculture as the main body of integration, with industry supporting the economy and the service industry as the main direction of development [6]. Rural tourism caters to the concept and needs of ecological protection and industrial development in rural areas, bringing new opportunities for industrial integration and industrial upgrading in rural China. The non-agricultural industry has increased farmers’ income, and the investment and consumption demand of rural social undertakings have promoted and stimulated the development of rural social undertakings; The non-agricultural industry strengthens the external exchange of rural areas and leads to the progress of farmers’ ideas and behavior. It is an important component of China’s rural economic development and has significant implications for the transformation and upgrading of China’s rural industrial structure. There is a more profound impact on the transformation and upgrading of rural industries from the horizontal and vertical values created by rural tourism [7]. Recreational agriculture is an advanced mode of agricultural production that is different from traditional agriculture [8]. The combination of agriculture and tourism is conducive to the optimization and upgrading of the rural industrial structure and plays a significant role in the rationalization of the rural industrial structure [9]. Rural tourism intervenes in traditional rural production activities in a new economic form and also promotes the non-agricultural of rural industries, drives the transfer of surplus rural labor, and increases farmers’ income [10]. Rural tourism takes the natural and cultural objects with rural characteristics as the tourist attractions. Relying on the beautiful landscape, natural environment, architecture, culture, and other resources in the rural area, on the basis of traditional rural leisure tourism and agricultural experience tourism, it expands and develops new tourism modes such as conference vacation, leisure, and entertainment. In this study, we analyse what happened to the industrial structure of Zhonghaoyu village before, during and after the development of rural tourism, and summarize the important experience of the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure of Chinese tourist villages.
2. Research Case and Methodology
In this study, we take Zhonghao Yu village in Shandong, China as a research case, analysing the function and influence of the development of rural tourism in the transformation and upgrading of the rural industrial structure of China’s tourism villages in the process of developing rural tourism. Meanwhile, we summarize both experiences and challenges of rural tourism for modernizing China’s rural industrial structure and provide insights into new issues that have emerged in the industrial restructuring and upgrading of China’s tourism villages. The development trend of rural tourism is to promote the construction of a new socialist countryside, agricultural production, rural scenic spots, farmers’ multi-industry, and resource production. The rural style becomes the background of tourism, the concept of landscape is used to build the countryside, the concept of tourism is used to manage agriculture, the concept of talents is used to cultivate farmers, and the countryside is decorated as a tourist resort hinterland. Exploring the path of transformation and upgrading of China’s tourism village industrial structure as a result of rural tourism, in order to better promote the industrial economy of China’s tourism villages.
Zhonghaoyu Village is located in Zhishang Town, Zibo City, Shandong Province, China, in the vicinity of the main peak of Lushan Mountain. One hundred and thirteen households and 268 people are registered in the village, which covers a total area of 2,800 mu. This village has developed from a poverty-stricken village based solely on agriculture to one that is famous for its wealth, in which the development of rural tourism has played a crucial role, enabling the village to achieve economic revitalisation, industrial prosperity, and the removal of poverty and wealth for its inhabitants. The production and living materials in rural areas should be transformed into tourism products with sightseeing, experience, and leisure value, and differentiated development should be carried out in certain areas. There are rural agricultural tourism, folk custom tourism, agritainment tourism, village and township tourism, leisure tourism, popular science education tourism, and other modes. In 2003, Zhonghayu Village was a mountainous village that relied almost entirely on farming, with a total output value of less than 900,000 yuan, with agricultural output accounting for 95% of the total. As a mountainous village that relied almost entirely on farming, arable land, and forest and fruit land were the most important means of production in Zhonghaoyu village at that time. Because of its geographical location, the land available for production in Zhonghayu was severely limited. There are only 108 mu of cultivated land in the village, with a per capita cultivated area of about 0.4 mu and an average household farmland area of 0.96 mu. The total area of woodland in the village is 285 mu, with a per capita area of 1.06 mu and an average household area of 2.52 mu. In 2004, Zhonghayu Village launched the leisure agriculture and rural tourism project, but after a few booming years at the beginning, the rural tourism industry has gradually decreased, and its development has been slow or even stagnant. The village’s total output value was 1.3 million yuan up to 2011, with agriculture still occupying the main position, accounting for 79% of the total. After eight years of rural tourism development, the tertiary industry in Zhonghaoyu Village has expanded, reflecting a positive effect of rural tourism development, but the relatively small volume of the tertiary industry, accounting for only 18%, has not been highlighted in the overall economic development of the village. The village’s productivity still comes mainly from farming in agriculture, with no improvement in industry and an increase in services mainly from tourism. In general, the unreasonable industrial structure of Zhonghaoyu Village has led to slow economic development. The development of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village has not formed a certain scale, and the economic effect is not obvious. Zhonghayu Village’s real ascendancy began with the shareholding reform in 2011, when the village set up Zibo Boshan Yuyu Valley Tourism Development Co Ltd, which, through the shareholding reform, achieved corporate operation and standardized management, and the development of the rural tourism industry entered the fast lane. By 2019, the total output value of Zhonghaoyu village also increased from 1.3 million yuan in 2011 to over 40.7 million yuan, of which the service industry, mainly tourism, achieved an output value of 34.7 million yuan, accounting for 86%. Through the development of rural tourism, Zhonghaoyu Village has achieved the transformation and upgrading of its industrial structure.
This study is based on a research method using survey and comparative and inductive methods. The industrial data and information in this stud are mainly obtained from the official statistics of the village committee of Zhonghayu Village. In order to more clearly observe and comparatively analyse the changes in the industrial structure of Zhonghaoyu village and to provide insight into the objective pattern of transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure of Zhonghaoyu village and the mechanism of the role of rural tourism, three observation points were set in this study: 2003, 2011, and 2019. The year 2004 was the initial year of rural tourism development in Zhonghaoyu village, 2003 was the year before the development of rural tourism, 2012 marked the completion of the transformation and corporatization of rural tourism, 2011 was the milestone before the transformation of rural tourism, and 2019 was the year when the tourism industry completed its normal operation before the outbreak in China. Industrial transformation and upgrading is defined as the upgrading of industrial structure, that is, the development in the direction more conducive to economic and social development. Industrial transformation and upgrading includes technology upgrading, market upgrading, and management upgrading. Most of the personnel think that the key is technological progress, and on the basis of introducing advanced technology, they should digest and absorb it and conduct research, improvement, and innovation to establish their own technological system. Furthermore, we also conducted in-depth interviews with the main village cadres, managers of tourism companies, business operators, practitioners, and some villagers so as to analyse the internal dynamics of the development of rural tourism and to conclude the important experience of the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure of Zhonghaoyu village.
3. The Development of Rural Tourism in Zhonghoayu Village
3.1. The Early Stages of Spontaneity and Exploration
Zhonghaoyu Village has gone through two main stages in the development of rural tourism. The early stage was one of spontaneity and exploration, while the later stage was one of rising and rapid development. In 2003, Zhonghaoyu Village began to emerge as a rural tourism operation, with only a few villagers participating, carrying out tourism operations such as farm caravans, and catering mainly on a spontaneous basis, each operating independently, with income going to individual villagers. Since 2004, the village collective has started to get involved in rural tourism activities, taking the initiative to explore the path of rural tourism development and guiding and mobilizing villagers to take the initiative to participate so that the number of farmers operating rural tourism began to increase, and the service content and scope of business expanded. However, farmers still operate independently and the income is owned by individuals. At first, the impetus for the development of rural tourism activities in Zhonghaoyu Village stemmed from the poor village’s instinct. In fact, the core of the “transformation” in the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure is to change the “type” of economic growth, that is, to transform high input, high consumption, high pollution, low output, low quality and low efficiency into low input, low consumption, low pollution, high output, high quality, and high efficiency and to transform the extensive type into intensive type, rather than simply changing industries. Zhonghaoyu Village develops rural tourism only following the trend of the rural tourism boom, without much vision at the beginning. As a result, the development of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village gradually encountered difficulties, with a confused tourism market, vicious competition between villagers, and low quality tourism products. It was only 225,000 yuan in 2011, and the development of rural tourism was in the process of groping, and the transformation and upgrading of the industry encountered difficulties and faced failure.
3.2. The Late Stage of Rising and Rapid Development
3.2.1. Implementing a Shareholding System and Establishing a Benefit-Sharing Distribution Model Has Mobilized Villagers to Participate
In 2011, Zhonghaoyu Village established the Youyougu Tourism Development Company, which officially operated in 2012 and began to try the shareholding system reform of rural tourism operation, opening up the company operation mode under the collective leadership, breaking through the bottleneck and the rapid growth of rural tourism business [11]. The village has achieved a relative separation of ownership and management by setting up a joint-stock tourism company, breaking the operational limitations of rural tourism operators on their own and strengthening the unified management and administration functions of rural tourism. Zhonghaoyu village valued the resources available to the whole village as shares. These include all kinds of unused houses, such as the offices of the two village committees, schools, health rooms, and villagers’ houses. Villagers’ contracted land, such as gardens, mountain forests, ponds, and vegetable fields, economic trees on contracted land, such as peach and chestnut trees, and even labour, which are assessed for the value. All categories of contracted land are calculated at the total price of the original contract fee for 20 years. Villagers have the possibility to invest their own resources in the company, with no restriction on the form of shareholding. The joint-stock system reform is to establish a standardized corporate governance structure, raise funds, optimize the allocation of resources, and establish the property rights of legal persons. In addition, the villagers can participate in the shares progressively from year to year, and the tourism company is constantly absorbing new resources [12]. As of 2013, Zhonghaoyu Village finally realized the participation of all villagers, the oldest being 94 years old and the youngest only 2.5 months old. The village resources integration, joint-stock reform, and the integration of various kinds of assets totaling 6.416 billion yuan of equity, as the start-up capital of Yuyugu Tourism Development Company, are also the basis for the rise of Zhonghaoyu Village’s rural tourism industry. Up to 2019, the Yuyugu Tourism Development Company’s assets have increased from less than 6.5 million yuan initially to 210 million yuan now. With the transformation of the shareholding system of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village, villagers have taken shares and become shareholders, which has not only enabled the reasonable and effective allocation and utilization of limited tourism resources but also effectively mobilized the enthusiasm of all villagers to develop rural tourism under the incentive and drive of their own interests. A governance structure that meets the requirements of a joint stock limited company must be established. For example, the general meeting of shareholders shall be established as the power organ of the company, and the board of directors and the board of supervisors shall be established. The board of directors shall appoint the manager as the operation and management of the company in accordance with the provisions of the articles of association. The manager shall preside over the production and operation management and organize the implementation of the resolutions of the board of directors. As the internal supervision organization of the company, the board of supervisors exercises the supervision power over directors, managers, and other senior management personnel. One of the keys to the success of the shareholding system transformation in the village of Zhonghayu is the distribution of benefits, ensuring that the distribution of benefits is fair and equitable, attaching importance to the practical interests of villagers, realising benefit sharing, collective income generation, and enrichment of villagers. In the share system transformation, the share composition of the Yuyu Valley Tourism Development Company includes three parts: proportional shares account for 80%, collective shares account for 17%, and welfare shares account for 3%. All proceeds from the collective shares of the company, which is used to finance the company’s operations and the construction of tourism infrastructure. In addition, the welfare share is used for the welfare of the elderly. Twenty percent of the proportional shares are used as head shares for dividends, a fixed income enjoyed by all villagers, while the remaining 80% of the proportional shares are used for secondary dividends, which are distributed according to the proportion of villagers’ shares, forming a distribution mechanism of “minimum income + the second dividends.” Villagers’ income can include share dividends and share of business income and wage income, reflecting the fact that those who can work more, earn more. It not only protects and increases the income of villagers but also better mobilizes them to make concerted efforts to improve rural tourism. Zhonghaoyu Village, based on household registration, protects all villagers in the village to enjoy the rights and interests of the shares, enjoy the proceeds of collective assets and dividends, and enjoy the right to elect and be elected to the board of directors of the tourism company. The main business must have a certain high-tech content. The main business must have enough market space. The main business must have continuous innovation ability and high-added value. The main business must have high growth. Following the establishment of the Yuyugu Tourism Development Company, a shareholder’s certificate was issued for all Zhonghaoyu villagers, and the shares held by the villagers can be circulated and transferred within the village collective, and the shares can be inherited by the designated heirs, fully protecting the interests of the villagers.
3.2.2. Implementing Corporatized Operations and Standardized Management Has Improved the Efficiency of Tourism Operations and the Quality of Products
Zhonghaoyu Village explores the innovative model of rural tourism industry development, undergoes the transformation of shareholding system, establishes the modern enterprise system, draws up the Zhonghaoyu Village Development Plan, explores the advanced management model, and realizes the corporatization of operation, standardized management, and project development, which is of great significance for the development of Zhonghaoyu village rural tourism [13]. The company is responsible for development and management as well as market development, while the farmers are responsible for service and reception, with a clear division of labour and responsibilities. It is responsible for the development and operation of all tourism projects in the village, including lodging, catering, commerce, and amusement. In addition, the company is also in charge of the development and operation of all tourism projects in the village, including lodging, catering, business, and entertainment. All visitors to the village are received and distributed by the tourism company, and the prices of tourism products are also set by the tourism company, and fees for tourism activities are collected uniformly, which well avoids vicious competition among farmers. In this way, the tourism company contracts the operation to the farmers, who are responsible for the reception and service according to the prices and operation standards set by the tourism company. In order to safeguard and enhance the quality of rural tourism products and services and to ensure a good sense of experience for tourists in rural tourism activities, the tourism company has developed the “Standards for the Management of Accommodation Services,” which provides training on tourism services and hospitality to villagers involved in tourism services throughout the village, in order to achieve standardized management. In order to be able to rationalise the operation, the tourism company is taking charge of the overall planning of the village’s business activities, and at the end of each year, statistics and analysis of the village’s tourism business situation are carried out to guide and plan the tourism development for the next year, such as quantitative planning of the village’s planting industry and rational planting to avoid oversupply, or market shortage, in order to achieve a balance between supply and demand for tourism business activities.
Zhonghaoyu Village has gained significant success in the practice of rural tourism development. By summarising the development experience of rural tourism, Zhonghaoyu Village has formed a replicable and replicable “Haoyu Model.” By 2019, more than 1000 villages across the country have visited Zhonghaoyu Village to study the advanced experience of rural tourism development. Yuyu Valley Tourism Development Company began to progress towards a new goal of group development and exporting its business model. Model of Zhonghayu in Shandong, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, and other 27 villages around the country cooperation operation, such as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Chifeng City Lei Yingzi village, Gushan village, Shandong Weihai City, Be Cao Kou village, Dezhou City, before the Yang village, Chongqing Youyang County Che Tian village, and Shizhu County Huaxi village. Leiyingzi Village in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is a successful case of implementing the “Haoyu Model.” Through the analysis of the background, current situation, context, geographical context and objective image of rural tourism development and the horizontal and vertical analysis, the problems in its development are diagnosed, the overall thinking of rural tourism development is determined, including rural tourism image planning, development direction and layout, and development planning, and the planning objectives are determined. According to information, in 2016, the village still had 29 poor households; after replicating the rural tourism business model in Haoyu Village, vigorously developing the rural tourism industry, by 2019, Lei Yingzi Village’s poor households achieve all out of poverty; the village’s per capita annual income also reached 14,000 yuan. Lei Yingzi Village has become a model for the development of rural tourism in Inner Mongolia and has been selected as a “National Rural Tourism Key Village.” Yuyugu Tourism Development Company has sent a management team to join the tourism village for business guidance, guide training, the establishment of study teams and market operations, and the implementation of unified training and management of the local B&B. According to the general manager of the Youyu Valley Tourism Development Company, Zhao Shengjian, the tourism company will lay out 100 tourism villages in the country in the “Haoyu model” operating company to help backward areas to develop rural tourism industry.
3.2.3. Building Product Features and Forming Its Own Advantages with Its Unique Tourism Resources
Zhonghaoyu village is located in the hinterland of the mountainous region of Luzhong, in the shade of the main peak of Mount Lushan, and their geographical disadvantage turns out to be their greatest advantage. The village is surrounded by mountains, streams, green water, and green hills, the scenery is extremely beautiful, and the village is planted with peach trees, ten miles of peach blossoms, and the flavor of the paradise, coupled with the simple and rich peasant style, very suitable for leisure, holiday, and other tourism activities. Outstanding natural resource endowment and local humanities have laid a good foundation for the development of rural tourism industry in Zhonghaoyu Village. Since its establishment in 2011, the Yuyugu Tourism Development Company has started to make use of its own superior natural conditions and cultural customs to explore its own unique tourism resources and create unique rural tourism products with its own characteristics. Regarding the development of the basic elements of rural tourism, it relies on the natural and humanistic features of the villages, pursues original ecology, and takes the path of specialization. First is building characteristic rural lodges, positioning ecological and cultural leisure and residential functions, renovating and transforming villagers’ houses, and building unique farmhouses, with designs focusing on local styles. Services are based on unified norms, highlighting the characteristics of family hospitality. In the past few years, there have been eight kinds of local food for visitors to experience and taste, namely, the Zhangmuniang big bowl of tea, the Poxiyuanbao, the Xiucaihezi, the ma Madaniang’s bean curd, the Sishenzi cake and noodles, the Erjinzi, the Shanzuihouzi, and the Laoliang’s pancake. The food development not only reflects the local style of Boshan Mountain Village but also contains the local village folk culture. Compared with traditional sightseeing tourism, experiential tourism focuses on the process of tourists’ feeling, experience, and enjoyment of tourism products, rather than blindly pursuing the tourism results of “visiting here.” To some extent, it emphasizes psychological perception and understanding. Secondly, the tourism company has developed more than 30 kinds of experiential leisure and entertainment projects, which are unique and adaptable to the rural leisure and study needs of foreign visitors, such as the Yuyugu Farm Ranch, the Living Gallery of Farming Culture, the Real CS, the Suspension Bridge, the Village Memory Hall, and the Yuyugu Wonderland. Thirdly, it attaches importance to the development of traditional rural handicraft experience activities and has established eight traditional folk handicraft workshops, where folk handicraftsmen demonstrate on-site and visitors can visit and enjoy the fun of handicraft making, such as pottery, weaving, carpentry, masonry, rattan weaving, blacksmithing, and woodblock printing. Fourth is the construction of an ecological recreation base, highlighting the characteristics of ecological recreation, giving full play to the ecological advantages of the mountainous area of Zhonghaoyu village, with a forest coverage rate of 96% and an average summer temperature of less than 26°C, which has suitable conditions for recreation and summer vacation, focusing on the construction of recreation supporting facilities, and increasing and improving the functions of the elderly activity centre, recreation, and leisure, as well as medical services, to create a national forest recreation demonstration base [12].
3.2.4. Grasping Market Opportunities, Precise Market Positioning, and Forming a Good Market Effect
Zhonghaoyu Village’s rural tourism development attaches importance to market demand, product development is guided by market demand, and the business strategy of “short, flat, and fast” and “fast, accurate, and active” is proposed to accurately grasp the rural tourism market demand and achieve accurate market positioning. In line with the long-term development plan of Zhonghaoyu Village, the company follows the tourism market situation, analyses customer needs, and stands at the forefront of the rural tourism demand market. In the business activities, tourists’ suggestions are actively adopted and encouraged to put forward their needs, and the tourism company carries out statistics, makes analysis and selection, and implements them quickly, and puts forward the positive response strategy of “chasing the stars, chasing the trend, chasing the fashion” in the market, cultivates rural tourism products with its own characteristics, and makes rural tourism products that can meet customers’ preferences. In addition, the company has built an excellent marketing team, which is responsible for marketing, product promotion and promotional activities, collecting feedback on the consumer experience of the products in the tourism market, and providing suggestions for the design of new tourism products. For example, Yuyugu Tourism company has successfully created a group study tour product, using a personalized programmer customization strategy, through the word-of-mouth marketing approach, project-based and theme-based study products, red culture study tours for one day, three-day, and two-night study tours, parent-child study tours, etc., and designed various types of summer camps, with the form and content of the product constantly pushing the envelope. The research team is received by the company’s specially trained research coaches and life instructors to ensure the quality of research and is popular with primary and secondary school students. In 2017, Zhonghaoyu Village was awarded the first batch of “Shandong Primary and Secondary School Students’ Research and Practice Teaching Base” and “Shandong Primary and Secondary School Research and Tourism Destination.”
3.2.5. Bringing the Advantages of the Collective Economy into Full Play to Maximize the Benefits of Resource Utilization
The success of Zhonghaoyu Village in developing rural tourism is to explore a new model for the development of rural collective economy. The joint-stock system and corporate operation will give full play to the advantages of collective ownership. The company will make unified planning and use of various resources in the village, manage and coordinate the tourism service reception work of the whole village, improve efficiency, and ensure tourism quality. By strengthening the collective economy and serving the production and livelihood of the villagers, the company also maximises the interests of the villagers. As the backbone of rural tourism development, the overall environment and conditions of Zhonghaoyu Village have been improved and enhanced, reflecting the advantages of the collective economy. Collective economy is a form of public ownership owned by workers (members) within a certain range and obtains the right of control. The right of control of workers (members) is the main symbol that is different from private ownership and state ownership. Workers have individual property rights in the enterprise as well as common property rights of workers (members). The collective economy embodies the combination of labor and capital elements, the distribution according to work, and the sharing of benefits by various factors of production. First is the improvement of public facilities and infrastructure. Zhonghaoyu Village has set up a special construction team, using idle labour to build public facilities and infrastructure in the village, investing more than 2 million yuan to redesign and build roads in the village, investing 4.2 million yuan to renovate and improve the river, building a 5,000 square metre car park, constructing a leisure square for villagers, carrying out courtyard renovation, old house renovation and house appearance beautification, and installing street lights, and greatly improved the village appearance of Zhonghaoyu Village. Secondly, it improved the hygiene and environmental conditions. In the village of Zhonghaoyu, agricultural toilets have been renovated and a special hygiene and cleaning team has been set up to carry out daily environmental cleaning and sanitation and to maintain the hygiene and environmental conditions in the village. Thirdly, the tourism landscape has been improved. It has built a 5.6 km sightseeing road around the mountain, constructed two water storage dams on the natural river in the village to create a water body landscape, and implemented greening projects to achieve a greening rate of over 80% in the village, to construct road landscapes and tourist signs, and to beautify old houses, stone walls, stone roads, old trees, ponds, and streams in the village to create a tourist atmosphere. Fourthly, it will enhance the quality of life and security for all villagers. The development of the collective economy has ensured that all villagers are able to escape poverty and common prosperity. Zhonghaoyu Village Yuyugu Tourism Company has achieved universal shareholding, with all villagers participating in the business activities of rural tourism, realising the common prosperity of all villagers, a great practice in the development of China’s rural social undertakings. The 20% of the company’s proportional shares are used for capitation dividends, a fixed income for the whole village, and some of the special groups of the elderly, the sick, and the disabled can enjoy the capitation income even if they have no assets to share. Part of the welfare shares of the tourism company is used for elderly welfare dividends and also gives all villagers a unified purchase of cooperative medical care and pension insurance and other welfare benefits and, in June 2018, began to achieve all villagers free three meals throughout the year; the village also had set up a nursing home, the elderly aged 70 years or older moved voluntarily into the nursing home, all living expenses were borne by the company. In order to protect the interests of all villagers, villagers do not need to care about and participate in the development of village commerce. In view of the difficulties and problems faced by the collective ownership economy in the reform and development, we should base ourselves on the long term, focus on the present, adhere to the scientific concept of development, and conscientiously solve them by means of reform and development. Therefore, it has become an inevitable requirement to focus on clarifying property rights, deepen collective reform, and develop various forms of collective economy.
4. Transformation and Upgrading of the Industrial Structure of Zhonghaoyu Village
4.1. Rural Tourism Has Promoted the Diversification of Agricultural Categories in Zhonghaoyu Village
Firstly, agriculture in Zhonghaoyu village as a whole has shown continuous growth driven by the development of rural tourism. From 2003 to 2011, the increment of the total agricultural output value in Zhonghaoyu village was relatively small and the growth rate was slow, and the impact of rural tourism was not significant. From 2011 to 2019, as the development of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village entered the fast track, the development of agriculture, driven by the tourism industry, has significantly accelerated. From 2003 to 2011, the total agricultural output value of Zhonghaoyu Village grew from RMB850,000 to RMB1.03 million, an increase of 21%, with an average annual growth rate of 2%, a relatively slow growth rate. In terms of the increase in the output value, the largest increase in the output value was in fruit cultivation, which increased by 117,500 yuan, while the output value of grain cultivation showed negative growth, decreasing by 0.73 million yuan. In terms of growth rate, the largest growth rate was in vegetable cultivation, with an average annual growth rate of 27%, while the average annual growth rate in food cultivation showed a slight decline, with an average annual decrease of 1%. In general, from 2003 to 2011, fruit in Zhonghaoyu Village had the largest volume and the largest increment in the primary industry, vegetable had a large development and the fastest development, and grain cultivation showed negative growth. From 2011 to 2019, with the rapid development of rural tourism, the development of Zhonghaoyu Village’s primary industry also had a significant speed up, with the total output value increasing from 1.03 million yuan to 1.77 million yuan, an increase of 72%, with an average annual growth rate of 7%, which is 5 percentage points higher than the growth rate from 2003 to 2011, and more than three times the growth rate from 2003 to 2011, with a significant increase in growth rate. This is mainly due to the rapid development of the farming industry, which has been driven by the demand for tourist meals due to the breakthrough development of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village. From the perspective of incremental output value, the largest incremental output value was in the farming industry, which grew from nothing to something like 460,000 yuan, and the smallest incremental output value was in vegetables’ cultivation, which grew by 70,000 yuan. In terms of growth rates, both grains’ cultivation and vegetable cultivation grew at an average annual rate of around 10%, while the smallest growth rate was in fruit cultivation, which grew at an average annual rate of only 2%. Overall, from 2011 to 2019, fruit cultivation in Zhonghaoyu Village still has the largest volume in the primary industry, but the rate of development has slowed down significantly, while the largest increment is in the emerging livestock farming industry, and the development of grain cultivation and vegetable cultivation is stable (Table 1 and Figures 1 and 2).
Secondly, under the development of rural tourism, the agricultural categories in Zhonghaoyu Village have developed in a diversified direction. In terms of the internal structure of agriculture, in 2003 and 2011, there were mainly three types of industries: grain, vegetable, and fruit cultivation, while fruit held an absolute proportion, accounting for 90% in 2003 and 85% in 2011, while grain production and vegetable had a smaller proportion, accounting for less than 10%, and the development of various categories within agriculture was extremely uneven. Since 2011, with the rapid development of rural tourism and driven by the market demand for tourist consumption, the internal structure of agriculture in Zhonghaoyu Village began to adjust. By 2019, the main production sectors of agriculture, apart from the original grain cultivation, vegetable cultivation, and fruit cultivation, livestock farming became an important growth point for agriculture in Zhonghaoyu Village, with fruit cultivation dropping to 56%, although still accounting for the largest share, but the balance of the internal structure of agriculture has been greatly improved, with the rapid rise of the farming industry, accounting for 26%, and the share of both grain production and vegetable cultivation approaching 10%. in following the rapid development of rural tourism, the internal structure of agriculture in Zhonghaoyu village has become more balanced, with a richer range of industrial categories, and has begun to develop in a diversified direction (Table 1 and Figures 1 and 2).
However, as a result of the development of rural tourism, the basic position of agriculture in Zhonghayu Village is no longer the same, and agricultural production is relatively weak. Due to the limitations of the arable land and the quality of the farmland, it has been difficult to make a breakthrough in food cultivation in the mountainous area of Zhonghaoyu Village, and growth has been slow. Until the development of rural tourism, fruit tree cultivation had been the most important source of economic income for the farmers in Zhonghaoyu Village, but the varieties of fruit tree cultivation were relatively homogeneous, mainly planting chestnut and peach trees. Agricultural production of vegetables in Zhonghaoyu Village has not been very large, and livestock breeding has only been developed in recent years. At present, the production of these agricultural products is mainly used to meet the consumption needs of tourists in the rural tourism market, and the agricultural and rural tourism industries in Zhonghaoyu Village are necessarily complementary. Agricultural production in Zhonghaoyu Village is relatively weak, and agriculture is no longer a fundamental position, but the rapid development of rural tourism does not mean that the development of agriculture is abandoned; the core of what makes the countryside a countryside lies in agriculture, which is indispensable in the countryside, but that agriculture should be pushed towards higher directions and goals, and ecological agriculture and high value-added agricultural products should be vigorously developed with the opportunity of the development of rural tourism. Initially, rural tourism originated from leisure farming, agricultural farming, and the countryside in the fields, and its attraction lies in the enjoyment of the tourists’ participation in farming or harvesting, and the experience of the countryside, known as “Nongjiale.” Even though rural tourism is now beginning to develop in a cultural connotation direction, the cultural attributes of rural tourism are still agrarian and everything is based on agriculture. The development of agriculture in tourist villages must abandon the original rough and tumble model of rural development and give full play to the role of agricultural technology to improve quality and efficiency. To make good use of the huge tourist flow brought by the development of rural tourism, we cater to the current consumer philosophy of “environmental protection, health, and green,” produce green ecological and organic agricultural products, develop modern agriculture with high added value, and take the road of quality and branding of agricultural products. For example, Zhonghaoyu Village should do more in the production of peaches and chestnuts. New modes of agricultural production and new businesses should also be constantly explored. The tourist villages can make good use of the important offline advantages of tourists in the production of agricultural products to develop new forms of agricultural production such as shared agriculture, adventure agriculture, and creative agriculture. It is also possible to further explore a large number of new business models such as central kitchens, direct agricultural business supply, smart agriculture, contract farming, and personal customization. In addition, in the marketing of agricultural products, market development and sales can be carried out through a combination of online and offline and virtual and physical organic means, with the benefit of the enormous visitor groups’ spreading and the utilization of great marketing techniques.
4.2. Rural Tourism Drives the Industrialization of Zhonghaoyu Village
Above all, as a result of the development of rural tourism, the industrial sector in Zhonghaoyu Village has grown from scratch. Early industrial development in Zhonghoayu Village was rather fragile, and from 2003 to 2011, industry in Zhonghaoyu Village was confined to a few artisanal workshops making and selling steamed buns and bean curd, and although the growth rate was rapid and the relative value of the increment was large, the absolute value of the increment was small due to the small total value of the output, and the impact of rural tourism was not significant during this period. From 2011 to 2019, the development of industry has been enhanced owing to the rapid development of rural tourism and the establishment of a construction team in Zhonghaoyu Village in order to meet the needs of the village’s infrastructure construction and the renovation of the residential accommodation, etc. From 2003 to 2011, the total output value of industry in Zhonghaoyu Village grew from 0.5 million yuan to 43,000 yuan, an increase of nearly eight times, with an average annual growth rate of 31%. The growth rate is very fast, but the total output value is limited. In terms of the incremental output value, the handicraft workshop was the only industry in Zhonghaoyu Village at the time, and the output value increased by 38,000 yuan; although the relative amount of the added value was large, the absolute amount was small. Judging from the growth rate, the growth rate was high, with an average annual increase of 31%. Overall, from 2003 to 2011, the volume of industry in Zhonghaoyu Village was small and, despite the high growth rate, was less influential in the village’s economic development. 2011 to 2019 saw the rapid rise of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village, which provided a good boost to the development of industry in the village. The total output value grew from 43,000 yuan, a huge increase to 4,248,000 yuan, an increase of nearly 98 times, with an average annual growth rate of 78%, a significant increase of 47 percentage points compared to the growth rate from 2003 to 2011. The construction industry in Zhonghaoyu Village, from scratch, developed an annual output value of 3 million yuan in 2019, and the number of handicraft workshops increased dramatically, as did the incremental output value, which grew by 1.205 million yuan, a 28-fold increase, with an average annual growth rate of 52%. Overall, industry in Zhonghaoyu Village has seen a significant increase in volume from 2011 to 2019, with relatively large growth rate figures. This is mainly due to two reasons: firstly, the industry in Zhonghaoyu Village was extremely weak before 2011 and the volume of the total output value was very small, and secondly, due to the huge traction formed by the breakthrough development of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village, the number of handicraft workshops increased dramatically and the output value grew significantly, as well as the construction demand of rural tourism drove the construction industry to grow significantly (Table 2 and Figures 3 and 4).
Furthermore, through the development of rural tourism, the industrial sector in Zhonghaoyu Village has developed from a single category to a richer category. According to the internal structure of the industry, in 2003 and 2011, there was only one type of industry in Zhonghaoyu Village, mainly producing steamed buns and bean curd, and the industrial structure was homogeneous. After 2011, a special construction team was set up by the Village Youyugu Tourism Company to serve the construction and renovation of tourism infrastructure and reception facilities, and the construction industry became an important industrial sector in Zhonghaoyu Village. The internal structure of the industry in Zhonghaoyu village has been restructured. In 2019, among the industrial sectors in Zhonghaoyu Village, the output value of the construction industry was 3 million yuan, accounting for 71%, while the output value of handicraft workshops was 1.248 million yuan, accounting for 29%. Overall, the internal structure of industry in Zhonghaoyu village has been optimised to some extent following the breakthrough development of rural tourism, which is a good example of the driving effect of rural tourism (Table 2 and Figures 3 and 4).
Nevertheless, Zhonghaoyu Village’s industrial development as a whole has been slow and the shortcomings are yet to be fulfilled. In 2003, there was only one traditional handicraft workshop making and selling bean curd, and in 2011, a steamed bread workshop was added, leaving the village’s industry largely in limbo. Even in 2019, when Zhonghaoyu Village saw the great development of rural tourism, industrial development was still seriously inadequate. In order to meet the requirements of rural tourism development, the village has set up a construction team to serve the construction and maintenance of rural tourism landscapes, residential accommodation, and infrastructure such as roads, and no modern agricultural processing and manufacturing industries have emerged. A large number of traditional handicraft skills have been tapped for the diversification of rural tourism products and services, but not enough large-scale operations. Drawing on the development opportunities of rural tourism, Zhonghaoyu village should vigorously promote traditional handicraft skills and the processing industry of agricultural products. By leveraging the rural tourism industry, the tourism industry chain is extended towards the upper reaches, which can promote the development of tourism village industries. A huge consumer base of tourists and a market diffusion effect give the development of tourism village industries an inherent market advantage, the key to which is the ability to produce products with local characteristics and excellent quality. The industrial development of tourist villages can form a breakthrough from two aspects: the processing of agricultural products and the production of traditional handicrafts. Agricultural products have the characteristics of freshness, originality and taste, etc. Villages of tourism put out primary agricultural products in the local consumption activities of tourists, and these original fresh agricultural products, with their unique local flavour and local characteristics, can make tourists produce good consumption experience and enhance the image of the place of origin of tourism villages. It is an important feature of tourism consumption for consumers to capitalise on the fact that they conduct their consumption activities in the places where tourism products are produced. However, primary agricultural products also suffer from problems such as unsuitability for storage, inability to achieve taste enhancement, inconvenience in carrying, and poor health protection conditions. In terms of operating profit, primary agricultural products are generally less expensive, have simple packaging and no brand image promotion, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to vigorously promote the processing industry of agricultural products, combining deep processing and moderate processing according to the characteristics of agricultural products by combining coarse as appropriate. Moreover, we should strengthen the extension of the agricultural industry chain, improve the storage, processing, packaging, and logistics, express delivery and transportation of agricultural products, attach importance to innovation-driven and green production, and constantly increase the added value of agricultural products production. The production of traditional handicrafts is another important growth point for the development of industry in tourist villages, fitting the need for shopping and consumption of souvenirs for tourists in rural tourism, and making comprehensive use of processing of rural agricultural resources to achieve multiple levels of depth of use. Zhonghaoyu village has a rich variety of traditional handicraft making workshops, such as pottery, carpentry, masonry, rattan weaving, weaving, blacksmithing, and woodblock printing, which are popular with tourists. In the development of traditional handicraft-making industry, we should pay attention to local characteristics and bring into account our own advantages. For example, as Zhonghaoyu Village has a tradition of peach tree planting, we can make full use of peach tree resources to develop handicrafts with local characteristics such as peach wood carving and peach kernel ornaments and promote the characteristic development of handicraft skills.
4.3. Rural Tourism Boosts the Continuous Growth of the Service Industry in Zhonghaoyu Village
On the whole, along with the development of rural tourism, the service industry in Zhonghaoyu village has continued to grow, especially after the shareholding system transformation in 2011, to achieve explosive development; the impact of rural tourism development is obvious. From 2003 to 2011, the volume of the output value of the service industry is relatively low and steady growth and can reflect a certain countryside tourism driven role, but the role and status in the village’s overall economic development has not been highlighted. From 2011 to 2019, following the completion of the transformation of the shareholding system of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village and the realization of the company’s operation, the countryside tourism has been developed by rapid progress, and the service industry led by rural tourism has been developed comprehensively and rapidly. Between 2003 and 2011, the total output value of the service industry in Zhonghaoyu Village increased from 35,600 yuan to 225,000 yuan, an increase of more than five times, with an average annual growth rate of 26%. Before the development of rural tourism in 2003, the service industry in Zhonghaoyu only consisted of the traditional supermarket and catering sectors, but after the development of rural tourism, the residential business sector was added. In terms of incremental output, the residential sector saw the largest increase in output, from nothing to something like 110,000 RMB, followed by the catering sector with an increase of 68,000 RMB, while the shop sector saw a smaller increase of 11,400 RMB. In terms of growth rates, supermarkets had an average annual growth rate of 20% and restaurants had an average annual growth rate of 15%. In general, from 2003 to 2011, rural tourism brought about the development of service industries such as farm caravans and residential accommodation for Zhonghaoyu Village, and the growth rate of service industries was relatively high, and the relative value of the increment was relatively large, but the total output value of service industries was still not very large, the volume was small, and the absolute value of the increment was relatively small. From 2011 to 2019, with the transformation of the shareholding system and the corporatization of rural tourism, the Zhonghaoyu Village’s service industry has seen a breakthrough development, with the total output value increasing dramatically from 225,000 yuan to 34.7 million yuan, an increase of 153 times, with an average annual growth rate of 88%, which is 62 percentage points higher than the growth rate from 2003 to 2011 and 3.5 times the average annual growth rate from 2003 to 2011, with a huge increase in growth rate. In terms of incremental output value, catering, B&B, and leisure projects all achieved incremental output value of over RMB10 million, leisure projects went from strength to strength, achieving operating income of RMB11.5 million in 2019, while supermarkets, convalescent residences, and hospitality services achieved relatively small incremental output value, also achieving incremental output value of RMB1.489 million, RMB600,000, and RMB436,000, respectively. In terms of growth rates, the three operating sectors of supermarkets, restaurants, and B&B, which have comparable calibers, all grew at an average annual rate of nearly 80%. Overall, from 2011 to 2019, the service industry in Zhonghaoyu Village has achieved explosive development, with huge growth in both incremental output value and average annual growth rate, fully reflecting the significant role of a good rural tourism development model in promoting the great development of the service industry (Table 3 and Figures 5 and 6).
Secondly, as a result of the development of rural tourism, the economic sector of the service industry has become increasingly diversified. However, before the launch of rural tourism, the service sector in Zhonghaoyu Village was rather traditional and homogeneous. There were only two types of service sector in 2003, namely, supermarkets and restaurants, both of which had relatively low revenues and mainly met the consumption of local villagers, with restaurants accounting for 90% and supermarkets for only 10%. In the early stages after the development of rural tourism, the internal structure of the service sector in Zhonghaoyu Village did not change much with the development of rural tourism, as the main forms of rural tourism were low-level products such as farmhouses and residential accommodation. In 2011, only one category of residential accommodation was added to the service sector in Zhonghaoyu Village, with supermarkets, catering, and residential accommodation accounting for 7%, 44%, and 49%, respectively, which were among the important business sectors. Since 2011, the internal structure of the service industry has changed dramatically with the successful transformation of the shareholding system and the corporatization of the operation of rural tourism. In 2019, the main sectors of the service industry, apart from the original supermarket, catering, and residential accommodation, leisure projects have become an important sector of the service industry, and other sectors such as recreational housing and hospitality services have also been added, with an increasingly rich industrial sector. The service industry is developing in a diversified direction with the rural tourism industry as the mainstay. The service sector has developed in a balanced way, with restaurants, lodges, and leisure projects, being the three pillars of the service sector, accounting for 29%, 31%, and 33%, respectively. Although the proportion of recreational housing is relatively small, accounting for only 2%, it is an important attempt to develop the service industry in a pioneering way (Table 3 and Figures 5 and 6).
However, Zhonghaoyu Village is dominated by tourism in the service sector, and further industrial development is necessary, with an emphasis on enhancing the sustainable development of the village. In 2003, agriculture dominated the industrial economy of Zhong Hao Yu village, with agriculture dominating the economy, accounting for more than 95% of the total, and the economy was backward and a poor mountain village well-known nearby. After a decade of development of the rural tourism industry, it has been constantly transformed into a service industry, gradually getting rid of the homogeneity of agriculture. In 2019, the proportion of tourism-dominated service industry rose to 85% and was transformed into a rich village with a strong village and rich people. Rural tourism is developing rapidly and tourism has become the dominant economy, occupying an absolute share. However, the development of rural tourism in the village still mainly relies on the six elements of traditional tourism, such as food, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping, and entertainment industries, and the industrial categories are basically complete, but the lack of new industries and new forms are bigger and stronger, and there is still a lot of room for development. In addition, besides these traditional forms of the tourism industry, other service industries, such as public services such as health care, education, and culture, are still missing and not fully developed. Firstly, the innovation and development of the rural tourism industry is properly carried out. The current rural tourism product structure is single, the quality varies, homogenization is serious, and the supply of quality products is insufficient, which seriously restricts the healthy and sustainable development of rural tourism. Rural tourism should focus on deepening reform from four aspects, production factors, product structure, industrial structure, and consumption environment, effectively carry out product optimization and industrial structure adjustment, and improve the quality and efficiency of the supply system, so as to realize the sustainable development of rural tourism [14], promoting the further development of the service industry by relying on the traditional rural tourism industry. This is followed by the integrated development of the wellness, health, culture, and tourism industries. Crucial to the further development of the service industry in tourist villages is the outreach of the industry and the diversification and expansion of the service industry, with rural tourism as the core. We should expand the concept of rural tourism, which is all the activities carried out by foreign tourists and all the phenomena arising from it, in order to give full play to the economic driving effect of rural tourism. In summary, these can cover the four main industrial sectors of “wellness, health, culture, and tourism.” Health: health can be defined as the health elements that rural areas can provide to the outside world. It can include ecological agriculture and ecological environment, green ecological agriculture, such as organic agriculture, green agriculture, and ecological environment, such as fresh air, green vegetation, and many rural and agricultural elements that can be processed, produced, and manufactured to affect people’s health. Health: it can be understood as “health,” which means relaxing, releasing pressure, and cultivating health. It also highlights its other main value, “retirement,” whether it is to return to their farms or their hometown, which is also a phenomenon. People in cities are willing to go to the countryside to take care of themselves. The countryside has natural environmental advantages, and the rural retirement industry will become a new driving force for the development of rural industries. The rural retirement industry is bound to become a new dynamic force in the development of rural industries. Culture: culture is the elements in rural society, especially those that can be transformed into productive forces, such as traditional culture, folk customs, local customs, theatre, folklore, festivals, crafts, or buildings, objects and artefacts that can carry these cultures, either as objects for sightseeing or as cultural souvenirs, or even as daily necessities. These rural traditional cultures, which are themselves a factor of production, such as local specialties such as food and handicrafts, still have a large market and a certain influence, and are even a golden signboard for the industrialization of folk culture. Tourism: tourism is an important driving force for rural areas to be able to bring their various advantages of resources to industrial effectiveness; it can bring a large number of consumer groups, relying on the strong spending power of tourists and health; the cultural industrial value will be able to give full play to drive the development of various industries in rural areas; rural tourism will certainly contribute to the prosperity of rural industries. In addition, the tourism industry also has an important cultural propaganda role, which can bring these resources of the countryside to the world and become a free propagandist. The four industrial forces of “Wellness, Culture, and Tourism,” both traditional and new industries, are an important expression of the modern value of the countryside and agriculture. The development of the four industries of “Wellness, Culture, and Tourism” will be the key to promoting the development of the rural service industry.
4.4. Rural Tourism Promotes the Transformation and Upgrading of the Overall Industrial Structure of Zhonghaoyu Village
During the development of rural tourism, the industrial economy of Zhonghaoyu Village has been transformed and the industrial structure has been adjusted, transformed, and upgraded. The transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure of Zhonghaoyu Village has experienced three important stages. The first stage is the agricultural era; in 2003 and before, Zhonghaoyu Village was a typical agricultural mountain village, with agriculture accounting for 95% of the total, and industry and services nearly absent, accounting for 1% and 4%, respectively. From 2003 to 2011, agriculture was still the mainstay of the village’s economy, while industry was still poor, but the service sector was developing rapidly. In terms of incremental output value, agriculture and service industries both had almost 200,000 yuan of incremental output, while industry had only 38,000 yuan of incremental output. Judging from the growth rate, industry and services grew rapidly, with an average annual growth rate of 31% and 26%, respectively, while the average annual growth rate for agriculture was only 2%. However, the volume of the service sector remains small, reflecting the inadequate development of rural tourism. Up to 2011, the share of agriculture decreased to 80%, industry accounted for 3%, which was only a slight increase, and service industry accounted for 17%, showing a significant increase, and the industrial structure showed a diversified development trend. The third stage, which is the advanced stage of rural tourism development; since 2012, with the completion of the shareholding system transformation, the company began to operate, the development of rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village entered the fast track, and the tourism industry has been developed rapidly. From 2011 to 2019, agriculture in Zhonghaoyu Village’s output value growth rate is growing slowly and the proportion is declining. The main position of agriculture gradually lost, while industry developed steadily and its position has been developed steadily and its position was upgraded, and the development of service industry emerged and took the leading position. Based on the increase in output value, the service industry achieved a huge increase of 3,445,000 yuan, while the increase in industrial output value was 4,205,000 yuan and the agriculture only 735,000 yuan. From a growth rate perspective, both services and industry achieved high growth rates, averaging 88% and 78% per annum, respectively, while agriculture achieved a slow growth rate of only 7% per annum. As of 2019, the village has seen a significant decline in the share of agriculture to just 4% and a further increase in the share of industry to 10%, with the rise of the service industry, mainly tourism, which has risen to 86% and become the dominant industry. Overall, through the development of the rural tourism industry, Zhonghaoyu Village has achieved a transformation and upgrading of its industrial structure, with a more rational industrial structure and a more diversified industrial sector (Table 4 and Figures 7 and 8).
However, there is still plenty of opportunity for industrial integration in Zhonghaoyu Village, and there is still a need to focus on the balanced development and diversity of industries, while avoiding the phenomenon of a monolithic rural tourism industry. As the rural tourism industry develops rapidly and deeply, the industrial structure has undergone significant changes. Traditional agriculture no longer exists, and the industrial economy of Zhonghaoyu Village is developing in the direction of diversification and industrial integration. Nevertheless, with the continuous and in-depth development of rural tourism, the industrial economy has a new tendency towards industrial mono-industry and the mono-industry of tourism. In 2019, the proportion of agriculture in Zhonghaoyu Village dropped rapidly from 95% before the development of rural tourism to 4%, and the proportion of industry was only 11%, while the proportion of tourism was as high as 85%. This is threatening the healthy and stable development of the industrial economy. Seasonality, vulnerability, and instability are characteristics of the tourism industry itself, and the off-peak season is an inescapable topic for tourism, as well as the fact that tourism is susceptible to natural disasters, the economic environment, and political and cultural conditions and is sensitive and fragile, such as the current outbreak, which has hit China’s rural tourism industry hard, and over-reliance on the rural tourism industry is not conducive to the stable and healthy development of the rural industrial economy. Preventing the industrial economy of tourism villages from moving from one monolithic industry to another and reasonably avoiding industrial risks is another important issue for tourism villages after they have achieved greater development in their tourism industrial economy. Firstly, agriculture is the basis of rural areas, and agriculture in tourist villages should be based on leisure agriculture and ecological agriculture, which are mutually dependent and complementary to the rural tourism industry. Secondly, using industry as an auxiliary, relying on agricultural resources, vigorously developing the processing industry of agricultural products and traditional handicraft manufacturing, taking the road of boutique and specialization, enriching the content of tourism products, and increasing the depth of rural tourism activities, furthermore, with a focus on tourism and the overall development of the service industry, the development of “tourism+” and “agriculture+” is emphasized, as is the integration of agriculture industry and the service industry. In addition to the cultural experience, health and wellness, and elderly care services mentioned above, there are many other industries that are closely related to the foreign tourist community and have great potential, such as farmhouse rental, education, health and wellness, medical and health care, leisure and sports, and exhibitions and fairs. Tourism information technology has arrived, and rural tourism should also pay attention to the development of tourism information technology industry, using modern information technology to achieve digitalization, networking, and intelligence of rural tourism, to achieve the integration of digital economy and rural tourism, to carry out short video marketing with the help of new media platforms such as Tik Tok and Kuaisho to conduct online experience, and to use the Internet to live-stream rural local products, so that rural tourism’s operation, production, purchase, and consumption are more convenient and fast.
5. Summary
Zhonghaoyu Village’s rural tourism development is a clear demonstration of the impact of rural tourism industry on the industrial structure adjustment and transformation and upgrading of tourism villages. From 2003 to 2011, Zhonghaoyu Village’s rural tourism development was at a primary stage, and although the industrial structure had changed compared to before the development of rural tourism, it did not undergo substantial transformation, and the impact of rural tourism was relatively feeble; therefore, rural tourism development does not always lead to the transformation and optimization of the industrial structure of tourist villages. From 2011 to 2019, following the transformation of the shareholding system and the realization of corporatised operations, rural tourism in Zhonghaoyu Village has achieved a breakthrough and entered a brand new stage of development, where the driving effect of rural tourism has been highlighted and the industrial effect has been fully reflected, and the village’s industrial structure has been fully transformed and optimised and upgraded. Zhonghaoyu Village has also developed from a traditional and backward agricultural village to an affluent village with tourism-led and multiproduct integration.
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