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Su, Z.; Xian, K.; Lu, D.; Wang, W.; Zheng, Y.; Khotphat, T. Sustainable Livelihoods and Tourism Seasonality. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/50586 (accessed on 06 July 2024).
Su Z, Xian K, Lu D, Wang W, Zheng Y, Khotphat T. Sustainable Livelihoods and Tourism Seasonality. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/50586. Accessed July 06, 2024.
Su, Zhen, Kun Xian, Dandan Lu, Wenhui Wang, Yinghong Zheng, Tanaporn Khotphat. "Sustainable Livelihoods and Tourism Seasonality" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/50586 (accessed July 06, 2024).
Su, Z., Xian, K., Lu, D., Wang, W., Zheng, Y., & Khotphat, T. (2023, October 20). Sustainable Livelihoods and Tourism Seasonality. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/50586
Su, Zhen, et al. "Sustainable Livelihoods and Tourism Seasonality." Encyclopedia. Web. 20 October, 2023.
Sustainable Livelihoods and Tourism Seasonality
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This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su151914158

Local governments often integrate rural communities with tourism development to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development. The inherent vulnerability of tourism poses a substantial challenge to maintaining the productivity and stability of livelihoods among rural tourism households.

rural tourism tourism seasonality sustainable livelihood

1. Introduction

Local governments often integrate rural communities with tourism development to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development [1][2]. Such efforts have reshaped the livelihood activities of rural households, creating new opportunities and uncertainties [3][4][5]. Since the development of tourism in rural areas has been emphasized as the embedding of tourism in rural communities [6], related studies have mainly discussed the transformation of traditional livelihoods into tourism livelihoods [7][8][9][10]. However, rather than a process from A to B, transforming rural households’ livelihood strategies is a continual positive adjustment to changing environments and circumstances, ultimately leading to livelihood diversification [11]. As a determinant of livelihood diversification, seasonality significantly impacts the livelihood strategies chosen by rural households [12]. Depending on their specific endowment of resources, rural households adopt different combinations of livelihood strategies to reduce the adverse effects of seasonality on their annual income [13]. In rural communities deeply integrated with tourism, the tourism livelihood strategy has become a vital livelihood strategy employed by many rural households [14]. Consequently, seasonal fluctuations in tourism activities result in the discontinuity of livelihood strategies for rural households involved in the tourism industry (hereinafter referred to as rural tourism households) [15], prompting them to seek complementary and alternative livelihood strategies [16]. This transformation in livelihood strategies brings about a rhythmic combination of traditional and tourism livelihoods over time, subsequently affecting livelihood outcomes [17]. Although sustainable tourism livelihoods in the research field of rural tourism have been widely discussed, there remains a shortage of empirical research investigating the transformation of livelihood strategies in the context of tourism seasonality as well as combinations of livelihood strategies that can improve the livelihood outcomes of rural tourism households.

2. Sustainable Livelihood

Chambers and Conway (1991) proposed a sustainable livelihood approach for addressing rural poverty in which livelihoods are sustainable when they can adapt to and recover from external risks while enhancing capabilities without compromising natural environmental resources and development opportunities for future generations [18]. To develop a systematic paradigm for sustainable livelihood research, the Department for International Development (DFID) developed a widely recognized framework for sustainable livelihood analysis. This framework places people at the center of the study, considers the fundamental changes in the scale and structure of livelihood capital of subjects under the influence of vulnerability contexts, and selects appropriate livelihood strategies to respond to transforming structures and processes to achieve the goal of livelihood outcomes [11].
In peripheral areas, tourism is perceived not only as a development tool but also as a sustainable livelihood approach that can improve the livelihood of rural households and their adaptive capacity in a vulnerable context [14]. Existing studies on sustainable livelihoods in tourism often use the DFID sustainable livelihood framework for analysis, which examines the interrelationships among livelihood capital, livelihood strategies, and livelihood outcomes, including the evaluation of capitals, strategy transformations, and differences in outcomes attributed to different strategies [19][20][21][22]. Among these, livelihood strategies, which are at the core of rural household responses to external changes, have garnered significant attention [9][23][24]. Livelihood strategies encompass the choices and combinations of activities adopted by rural households to achieve their livelihood objectives, such as production and investment [11]. In the context of tourism as an external force, rural households’ livelihood strategies can be broadly categorized into tourism and non-tourism types [10]. Scholars argue that tourism strategies can enhance sustainability and therefore encourage rural households to actively choose these strategies for improved livelihood outcomes [3][25]. Some even claim that earning income through tourism livelihood strategies is more advantageous than other types of livelihood activities and that specialized tourism livelihood is a sustainable “developmental pattern” [26]. However, tourism livelihoods are subject to seasonal variations and unexpected events, which may lead to potential volatility and uncertainty in relying solely on tourism [27]. Therefore, diversifying livelihoods by combining both tourism and traditional strategies over different periods and locations is an effective measure to mitigate livelihood risks [6][17].
Livelihood diversification refers to the process through which rural households build a varied range of activities and social support systems to enhance their standard of living and resilience to livelihood risks [15]. Most scholars categorize rural households’ livelihood diversification according to the proportion of income obtained from farming, labor, and tourism activities in their overall household incomes [28][29]. They then used descriptive statistical analysis to compare the differences in livelihood outcomes attributable to each strategy [9][30]. These studies affirm the positive impact of tourism livelihood diversification on rural household sustainability. Nonetheless, livelihood diversification extends beyond mere income diversification; it also entails broadening the range of available options and opportunities, highlighting the significance of flexibility [25][27][31][32]. This aspect becomes particularly critical during seasonal shifts as individual livelihood diversification manifests in the short-term, flexible, and ongoing selection of various livelihood strategies [31].

3. Tourism Seasonality

While tourism development in rural communities has led to improvements in livelihood capital and the diversification of livelihood strategies for rural households, the inherent uncertainties of the tourism industry, particularly tourism seasonality, also present challenges to the livelihoods of households [33][34]. Tourism seasonality refers to the temporary imbalance between demand and supply over time, primarily characterized by fluctuations in critical factors such as the number of tourists, employment, and prices [35]. Seasonality in tourism is influenced by natural and institutional factors [36][37]. Natural seasonality results from cyclical variations in natural phenomena such as temperature and precipitation [36][38], which are particularly pronounced in remote and peripheral areas [39]. Institutional seasonality arises from fluctuations in social norms and customs, such as holidays, which significantly impact tourism seasonality [40][41]. Some scholars argue that tourism seasonality has potential benefits, including providing tourism practitioners with the opportunity to repair equipment [42], as well as facilitating ecological restoration [35][43] and capitalizing on seasonally inexpensive labor [44]. However, seasonality is often considered a negative factor in tourism development as it places considerable pressure on the sustainability of the tourism industry [45]. For instance, seasonal fluctuations can result in unstable employment relationships, leading to seasonal employment and hidden unemployment among tourism practitioners [46]. Furthermore, tourism practitioners must take advantage of the brief peak season to secure sufficient capital to ensure year-round business income. This discontinuity in income generation may compel practitioners to seek alternative income sources [46].
To mitigate the adverse effects of seasonal uncertainty, most studies recommend demand regulation strategies for tourism firms or destinations [6]. These strategies can be broadly categorized into product and market diversification [47]. Product diversification entails offering a wide range of tourism products, particularly during the off-season, to stimulate sluggish demand [48]. Market diversification involves reducing the risk of reliance on a single market by expanding and targeting new markets [45]. Nevertheless, tourism practitioners in remote and peripheral areas, especially those from rural households with limited resources and expertise [49], often face challenges in effectively responding to seasonal shocks through the mentioned strategies. Consequently, rural tourism households can only adjust their lifestyles and livelihoods when confronted with seasonality [6]. Su et al. (2019) examined the livelihood strategies of various rural households during low- and high-tourism seasons, emphasizing the need for increased attention to seasonality in sustainable livelihood studies [34].

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Subjects: Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism
Contributors MDPI registered users' name will be linked to their SciProfiles pages. To register with us, please refer to https://encyclopedia.pub/register :
Zhen Su
,
Kun Xian
,
Dandan Lu
,
Wenhui Wang
,
Yinghong Zheng
,
Tanaporn Khotphat
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Update Date: 20 Oct 2023
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