Is Lifestyle Tourism Business in the Age of Commercialization Just a Dream? Challenges and Remedies

Abstract

Lifestyle tourism businesses have emerged in many Chinese township destinations, and with rapid tourism development in China the problem of commercialization cannot be ignored. This study explores the effects of tourism commercialization on lifestyle tourism business owners’ attitudes towards doing business. In-depth interviews were conducted with lifestyle tourism business owners in Yangshuo, China. The grounded theory approach was followed through a systematic procedure of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding in order to make sense out of the data. The findings indicate that most of the lifestyle tourism business owners have changed their attitudes towards doing business as a result of the commercialization of tourism in their area. Two major reasons contribute to this change of attitude, namely, altered perceptions of the destination, and the increased difficulties of doing business. This study also points out two barriers to operating small tourism businesses: high rents and increased competition from business rivals.