online rural destination images: tourism and rurality

Research Paper

Online rural destination images: Tourism and rurality

Lingxu Zhou n

School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, TST East, Kowloon, Hong Kong

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 5 September 2013Accepted 13 March 2014

Keywords:ChinaRuralityRural tourismDestination imageImaginaries

a b s t r a c t

This qualitative study investigates the online rural tourism destination image of Wuyuan, Jiangxi, a townsaid to have “the most beautiful countryside in China.” The study focuses on domestic rural tourism andidentifies a set of themes found in the destination image of Wuyuan: resources, rewards, and expectations.Wuyuan's rural destination image is connected to common representations of rurality in tourism andrural imaginaries. Several ideological influences are found in the construction of Chinese ruraldestination images and imaginaries. Although similar, the Chinese rural image displays slight differencesfrom the global image of idyllic rural life. This study has practical implications for the online marketingof rural areas and microblog marketing.

& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Rural destinations throughout the world have a globalized andidyllic image, which, like the tourist gaze, is subject to mediatization(Bell, 2006; Urry, 2002). Rural tourism, as an important form of theconsumption of rural space, allows us to explore the concept of therural idyll in the context of touristic representations of rurality (Bell,2006). Destination images can be used to practically link therepresentations of rurality with rural destination marketing. Onlinedestination images have been intensively researched and arepowerful tools for destination management and marketing (Choiet al., 2007; Dwivedi, 2009; Govers & Go, 2005; Stepchenkova &Morrison, 2008); however, online images of rural destinations havebeen scarcely researched. Although rural tourism is largely domes-tic, and positioned as a small-scale activity and an alternative tomass tourism, rural destinations are becoming increasingly popularamong urban dwellers, and the online marketing and promotion ofrural destinations is in urgent need of development. This studyexamines the image of a specific rural destination in China usinginformation on the Internet to understand rural representations intourism discourse and the relationship between rural tourism andthe rural idyll.

Previous studies have examined images of rural destinations fromthe destination identity perspective, which can be divided into twostreams of research – social and cultural representations of thedestination (Frost, 2006; Kastenholz, 2010) and rural destinationbranding (Cai, 2002; Greaves & Skinner, 2010; Lin, Pearson, & Cai,2011; Wheeler, Frost, & Weiler, 2011) – and from the perspectives oftourist behavior and the market segmentation of rural tourism (Chen

& Kerstetter, 1999; Loureiro & González, 2008). The destinationidentity perspectives are the main foci of this research. A destinationimage has expressive and representative power that is more impor-tant than tourism aims or the destination itself, but this image has tobe anchored in a true destination identity (Govers, Go, & Kumar,2007). A transferrable feature of rural tourism is the idea of the ruralidyll, which is more seductive than actual rurality; the particularidentity of a destination is largely based on localized features ofrurality (Boyne & Hall, 2004; Lin et al., 2011; Woods, 2011). Therefore,it is possible to organically combine the two streams of destinationidentity research in the examination of a rural destination's imagestructure.

To construct a destination identity that represents localizedfeatures and lifestyles and elicits a holistic image suitable fortourism promotion, it is necessary to understand the role ofrurality in rural tourism. Rural tourism and rurality are inter-twined. The term “rurality” is used to capture generalized ruralfeatures; these features are then reproduced for tourist consump-tion (Lane, 1994). This study suggests that essential to thisconsumption is the “imagined rural idyll.” The concept of ruralityindicates that the rural is an imaginative place with a significantrange of cultural meanings (Cloke, 2006; Woods, 2011, p. 92).Furthermore, tourism has the capacity to revitalize the culture andheritage of rural communities, and represent local people, socie-ties, and lifestyles (Garrod, Wornell, & Youell, 2006). Therefore, therole of tourism in making, promoting, and representing ruralityneeds to be further understood (Pritchard & Morgan, 2001).

An online destination image can reflect the tourism-influencedrepresentations of a destination (Choi et al., 2007). Royo-Vela(2009) recommends that the measurement of destination imagesbe used as a management tool for rural-cultural tourism. Ruraldestinations should make proactive and collaborative marketingefforts and should seek intermediaries to promote their tourism

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Journal of Destination Marketing & Management

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2014.03.0022212-571X/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Please cite this article as: Zhou, L. Online rural destination images: Tourism and rurality. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management

(2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2014.03.002i

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product (Cai, 2002; Forstner, 2004). However, rural areas are oftenslower to adopt the Internet as a marketing and promotingchannel (Beldona & Cai, 2006; Boyne & Hall, 2004). An onlinedestination image is an important component of the reputationand success of a destination, due to the effect of digital (electronic)word-of-mouth; information displayed on the Internet can begenerated from different sources, viewed by potential tourists, andcan influence their intention to visit (Cai, Feng, & Breiter, 2004;Reza Jalilvand et al., 2012; Sigala, 2007, 2011). By developing theiruse of information technology, rural destinations have the poten-tial to promote tourism through various online platforms.

This study is situated in the rural tourism context and theonline environment in China. Rural tourism in China has devel-oped rapidly over the last two decades, and has faced manyproblems and challenges (Su, 2011). Tourism providers in Chinahave adopted online marketing efficiently (Feng, Morrison, &Ismail, 2004); social media sites such as Youku and Sina Weibohave become popular for destination marketing organizations(DMOs) and tourism businesses. The thriving online informationchannels ensure the dynamism of destination images constructedon Chinese websites. This study uses the so-called “most beautifulcountryside in China,” Wuyuan, as a successful rural tourism caseto explore representations of rurality in tourism and the use ofrural destination images online. Two specific research questionsare asked. First, how is Wuyuan represented and imagined intourism related online discourse? Second, to what extent isrurality and rural ideology reflected in this image?

2. Literature review

2.1. Destination image formation and identity

Destination images have been researched for more than fourdecades. There has been tremendous conceptual development onthe nature and formation of destination images, although the lackof a theoretical foundation for this concept has been criticized(Gartner, 1994; Echtner & Ritchie, 1993; Tasci & Gartner, 2007;Tasci, Gartner, & Cavusgil, 2007; Ryan & Cave, 2005; Martin delBosque, 2008; del Bosque & Martin, 2008). In a holistic review ofdestination image research, Tasci et al. (2007) states, 'destinationimage is an interactive system of thoughts, opinions, feelings,visualizations, and intentions toward a destination.' (p. 200). Theinteractive system they developed to illustrate the components ofa destination image is shown in Fig. 1. Their summary shows that adestination image is a complex entity with multiple attributes thatcan be viewed from the perspectives of destination organizations,local residents, anonymous agents, and tourists, and from its effecton consumer behavior before, during, and after their visits (Tasci &Gartner, 2007).

Regarding destination image formation, the intrinsic compo-nents of destination image and the extrinsic factors of informationsources, tourist motivation, and demographic characteristics allplay a role (Beerli & Martin, 2004). Travel constraints (Chen, Chen,& Okumus, 2012), political events and activities (Gartner & Shen,1992), and festivals and mega events (Boo & Busser, 2006; Lee, Lee,& Lee, 2005) also influence destination image formation. Multipleinformation sources are needed to form positive cognitive andaffective images (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). Govers et al. (2007)find that tourism promotion does not play a key role in destinationimage formation; in fact, other sources such as mass media andbooks have more significant effects. Apparently, in the digital age,the use of the Internet and mobile phones by destination market-ers attracts more visitors. By integrating destination branding andimage, Qu, Kim, and Im (2011) identify the effect of differentdestination image components on destination image formation.

They find that a unique image and the cognitive dimension make asignificant contribution to overall destination image formation.

The cognitive-affective construct has been widely applied indestination image studies (Baloglu & Brinberg, 1997; Baloglu &McCleary, 1999; del Bosque & Martin, 2008; Gartner, 1994; Kim &Yoon, 2003; Lin, Morais, Kerstetter & Hou, 2007; Pike & Ryan,2004). According to Martın and del Bosque (2008), the cognitivedimension (beliefs) of a destination image is related to thedestination's attributes, whereas the affective dimension (feelings)is related to the emotions the destination evokes in an individual.The conative dimension refers to the actions of a tourist that arebased on the cognitive and affective images he or she has formed(Gartner, 1994). The cognitive-affective-conative model of destina-tion image has been recently confirmed by a quantified empiricalanalysis (Agapito, Oom do Valle, & da Costa Mendes, 2013). Thatstudy suggests that both the affect and cognition of a destinationcan lead to a positive intention to visit, and therefore affectivecomponents should be developed in destination images, as acognitive image will have a greater effect on the conative dimen-sion if there is an affective mediator (Agapitoet al., 2013).

The cognitive and affective dimensions of a destination imagealso coincide with the taxonomy proposed by Echtner and Ritchie(1993), which provides insights into measuring the attribute/holistic, psychological/functional, and unique/common aspects ofdestination images. Destination attributes, such as functional(tangible) attributes and psychological (abstract) attributes, havean effect on cognition (Martın & del Bosque, 2008). Anothercommonly used categorization of destination images is accordingto the aspects of the projected image and perceived image. Theformer is constructed by the destination and the latter is perceivedby a tourist (Beerli & Martin, 2004). The projected image of adestination, along with its unique elements, contributes signifi-cantly to a destination's brand and brand identity from the supplyside (Konecnik & Go, 2007; Qu et al., 2011). The trend to integratedestination image with destination identity or personality anddestination branding grounds the concept in traditional brandpersonality theories, and expands the concept to the representa-tion, generation, and (re)production of cultural identity (Govers &Go, 2004; Hosany, Ekinci, & Uysal, 2006; Lin et al., 2011).

Destination image research is largely situated in the interna-tional context. In particular, similar cultural values have beenidentified as strongly influencing cognitive destination images(Martin & del Bosque, 2008). Presumably domestic tourists havebetter cognition of a domestic destination than an internationaldestination, due to the effects of cultural distance (Kastenholz,2010; MacKay & Fesenmaier, 2000). Despite its placement in a

Fig. 1. Interactive system of image components (Tasci et al. (2007, p. 200).

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mature field of research, the nature of destination images remainsundetermined; it is relativistic due to the subjectivity of theinteractions among places, objects, and individuals (Gallarza,Saura, & Garcıa, 2002). Tourists' perceptions of a destination cancome from completely different sources (de Jager, 2010), and canbe incongruent pre- and post-visit (Lee, Kang, Reisinger, & Kim,2012). Indeed, destination image is a broad concept with manylinks to other concepts that can contribute to tourism anddestination management. Thus, the formation of a destinationimage is not a linear process, and the complexity of this processneeds to be captured in all its diverse aspects, not only testedusing standardized statistical models (Ryan & Cave, 2005).

A review of destination image research for specific contextsshows that destination images of rural destinations have scarcelyappeared in the tourism literature (Cai, 2002; Royo-Vela, 2009).Williams (2001) identifies a shift in the destination image of winetourism from wine production to experiential and esthetic pro-ducts associated with rural landscapes. Especially in the context ofChina, the rural is undergoing transformation through moderniza-tion. The rural destination image is not static, but fluid. Ruralrepresentations of destination images are interesting subjects toexamine from a theoretical lens, and offer practical and construc-tive support to rural tourism (Greaves & Skinner, 2010). Thedestination image of a rural area can be an example of howdestinations explicitly define themselves through text, image, anddiscourse. It allows potential tourists to anticipate their tourismexperience through socio-cultural and economic representationsof a destination.

2.2. Online destination image

This study views the Internet as a viable platform to construct adestination's image, it is therefore necessary to review relevantstudies conducted on online destination image formation. Empiricalstudies so far mostly target at specific destinations, and perspec-tives from the projected and perceived image of the destinations areadopted (Choi et al., 2007; Govers & Go, 2004; Frias, Rodriguez, &Castañeda, 2008; Xiao & Zhao, 2009). In the case of onlinedestination image of Dubai, Govers and Go (2004) conduct awebsite content analysis through a projected image perspective.Their study pinpoints that different tourism providers projectdifferent sources and aspects of destination identity, private orga-nizations tend to focus on specific product and activity while officialDMOs aim at the overall projection of destination image in terms ofculture and heritage. Similarly, in the study of Macau's destinationonline image, Choi et al. (2007) find that different sources of theonline information about a destination provide different represen-tations. Research more specifically conducted on tourism websitesshows inadequate representations of a destination's projectedimage and space for updates on website content if better marketingoutcomes are desired (Stepchenkova & Morrison, 2008; Xiao &Zhao, 2009). The multiplicity of sources needs to be consideredwhen using online information to examine destination image.

Examined from the consumers' perspectives, India's onlineimage consists mainly of its natural resources, culture, history,and art (Dwivedi, 2009). It is suggested that online informationshows perceived image of consumers as well as the imageconstructed and shared by consumers. Therefore, positive andnegative aspects of tourists' travel experiences can be easilyidentified and management improvements can be devised fromcustomers' dissatisfaction. Frias et al. (2008) compare pre-visitdestination image of tourists with their behavior of using onlineinformation and travel agency information. They have found thatusing both online and travel agency information worsens the pre-visit image of a destination. Because of the development ofinformation technology, the resources of destination image have

become more complex and easily accessible; it is triggering newconceptualizations and theories of destination image (Govers,2003).

Online destination image is also examined from the perspec-tives of destination identity and cultural representation. Hashim,Murphy, and Hashim (2007) analyze the online image of Malaysiaas a Muslim destination, and they have discovered minimalrepresentation of the Malaysian religious imagery. In the religiontourism case, DMOs focus on uncontroversial cultural values, andthe use of internet to market religious destinations needs to beenhanced. Huang and Lee (2009) examine travel websites ofWashington DC to build up the destination image of the capitalcity. Strong political and patriotic themes in the capital city'sonline destination image are identified, concluding that nationalpride and identity is embedded in the city's image and its tourismpromotion. As a summary, online destination image tends to bedichotomized: either from the destination's perspective or that ofthe tourists. Research focuses on the projected image of adestination distinguishes the differences projected by differentinformation sources (Choi et al., 2007; Govers & Go, 2004), whilefrom the consumer's perspective, the source of information usedto construct destination image is less disperse, thus providingmore practical value in terms of managing tourist experience anddestination marketing. Alternative from the binary streams,research aiming at destination identity and representation maypurposely dilute the boundary, as reviewed in the followingsection.

2.3. Destination representation, imagery, and discourse

Marketing value is only part of the interpretation and repre-sentation of a destination's image. As Pritchard and Morgan (2001)state, representations of a destination image are not value-free;they do not merely reflect the marketers' or planners' purposiveresponses to the tourist market, but also reveal the larger socio-cultural and political ideology of a place. Moreover, the symbolicproduction of a destination's tourism icons often involves politics,as the construction of a destination image is also the (de)construction of a place's identity (Holinshead, 2009). Henderson(2008) examines the representation of Islam in the official promo-tional content of Islamic countries and identifies controversialimages of the religion. In a word, a destination image can reflectthe social constructions of the place as a tourism destination.As Govers and Go's (2004) work on the deconstruction of destinationimages indicates, destination images can represent cultural identities,but can also generate and produce cultural identities, cross-culturalidentities, and perceptual gaps related to the destination.

National culture and identity is also commonly used in productand destination branding (Hashimoto & Telfer, 2006). China'simage as a destination is largely associated with its culturalrepresentation to the West, which has been presented along manydimensions, including travel articles written in English (Xiao &Mair, 2006), an international promotional video (Yan & Santos,2009), and even search engine results (Pan & Li, 2011). Thecomplex and dynamic image of China's oriental culture and theeagerness to market China to Western countries has beenresearched and discussed. But domestic Chinese cultural valuesand the Chinese perception of rurality have not been explored intourism studies. Previous studies have been based on the culturaldistance between China and the West, although China, as thecountry with the largest population in the world, has a strongdomestic tourism market.

Imagery is a useful tool for examining the representation of aplace (Chon, 1990; Choi et al., 2007; Yan & Santos, 2009). Visualelements such as photography are a significant part of projecting astrong destination image (MacKay & Couldwell, 2004; MacKay &

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Fesenmaier, 1997). In addition to imagery, discourse in the formsof texts, media projections, and brochures can also represent adestination's resources, attractions, and identity (Figueiredo &Raschi, 2012; Hunter, 2012; Jenkins, 2003; Nelson, 2005). Therelationships between imagery, discourse, and cultural represen-tations have been analyzed from various perspectives. Mellinger(1994) analyzes historical photographic postcards of African Amer-icans and identifies a strong racist element. By critically analyzingtourism discourse, Stamou and Paraskevopoulos (2004) note that adualism of tourism and environmentalism exists in ecotourism.Analyses of the symbols and discourse of rural representationshave identified the cultural discourse that creates a mythical andidyllic countryside (Hopkins, 2003; Figueiredo & Raschi, 2012).

Imaginative elements largely consist of the interpretation oftourism imaginaries and are related to the ideological representa-tion of the content (Salazar, 2011). It is generally acknowledgedthat places in tourism have both real and imagined components(Hughes, 1995). Salazar (2011) describes tourism imaginaries asoffering stereotypical perceptions with Eurocentric views, exag-gerating the differences among populations, cultures, and con-tinents and neglecting the commonalities that we all share.Chronis (2012) develops a theory of tourism imaginaries basedon a heritage site in the US and he defines tourism imaginary as a'value-laden, emotion-conferring collective narrative constructionthat is associated with and enacted in a particular place throughtourism' (p. 1809). Narrative and material are the two majorsources used to construct tourism imaginaries, and they makefour configurations: narrative disposition, emplaced enactments,moral valuation, and emotional connection (Chronis, 2012). In thecase of heritage tourism, tourism imaginaries lead to ideologicalreinforcement of the present through storytelling about the past(Chronis, 2012). Although previous studies have abstractly andvaguely implied that tourism destinations have both real andimagined aspects, it is a big theoretical step to conceptualizetourism imaginaries as a universal concept that can be applied toall types of tourism destinations.

When considering a destination as a tourism imaginary, thetourists' image of the place is an important component. Imagesand discourse, including narratives, symbols, and material repre-sentations, reflect how an imaginary is communicated. Therefore,a destination image can be viewed as a mental projection of atourism imaginary. In the case of rural destinations, tourismimaginaries can be constructed from rural narratives and ruralmaterial life. Examining a destination image through the lens oftourism imaginaries helps to identify the true representations ofrurality in tourism and the ideology that tourism imaginariesinduce through rural tourism.

2.4. Rurality and rural tourism

Rurality is a central idea in the production of rural tourism andin motivating tourists to visit a rural destination (Majewski, 2010).Rural areas are often stereotypically categorized as homogenous,conservative, and change-resistant (Champion & Hugo, 2004). In theera of globalization and modernization, the rural is part of theprocess of shifting ideology and identity and its functional role isbeing transformed from a nucleus for production to a stage ofconsumption (Woods, 2011). According to Halfacree (2006a), a ruralspace has three components: rural locality (landscape, naturalenvironment), representations of the rural (socio-economic, political,and cultural features), and everyday lives of the rural population. Formass tourists and modern agriculturalists, rurality is often materi-alized and exploited rather than viewed as a source of spirituality(Halfacree, 2006b). The imaginative and idyllic rurality can be treatedas a tourism imaginary that influences tourism consumption andtouristic commodification (Crouch, 2006).

Commodification and authenticity are paired and contradictoryconcepts that describe the contested nature of tourism as bothconsumption and preservation (Edensor, 2007). The commodifica-tion of rural space is an unavoidable aspect of rural consumption.It is often for the purpose of tourism and leisure (Crouch, 2006),and carried out as part of the commercialization of local resources,image, and local identity (Kneafsey, 2001). The rural space can alsobe divided according to Goffman's notion of “front region” and“back region” (1959, cited in MacCannell, 1973). The front region isconstructed for tourism performances and is related to culturalerosion and other negative effects of tourism, whereas the backregion is the reality of the destination. Both the front and backregions exist in a tourism location, consistent with the notion of“performance” and “gaze” in studies of tourist experiences (Ryan &Cave, 2005). The term “rural gaze” can be used to describe therelationship between rurality and tourism and other exploitiveeconomic activities, similar to the use of “tourist gaze” (Urry, 2002;Urry and Larsen, 2011). But tourists not only gaze on the place ofinterest, they also simultaneously receive the ideological influ-ences projected by the tourism imaginaries.

Studies of the motivations for rural tourism suggest that close-ness to nature is the most important attraction (Fleischer & Pizam,1997). Rural culture and lifestyle, escape from everyday life, andquality of time spent with or visiting family and friends are alsodeterminants for participating in rural tourism activities (Molera &Albaladejo, 2007; Park & Yoon, 2009). Sharpley and Jepson (2011)propose that a spiritual dimension may be part of the rural touristexperience that consists of emotional fulfillment and upliftingexperiences. This point can be associated with tranquility as avaluable outcome of rural tourism experiences (Barke, 2004). Insummary, rurality and rural tourism are interconnected. The imageof the rural is symbolized and idealized by tourism in various forms(Edensor, 2007). In the marketing and branding of rural destina-tions, specific products of rural areas, such as rural gastronomy, canrepresent a rural identity and brand (Boyne & Hall, 2004).

In Western countries, a crucial component of rurality is therural idyll, which can take the form of the “farmscape,” the“wildscape,” or the “adventurescape.” The three forms combinethe notions of natural wonders, romanticism, authenticity, andnostalgia (Bell, 2006). The concept of the rural idyll can be foundin different historical periods (Mingay, 1989), and at differentnational and local scales that influence local lifestyle experiences(Cloke & Milbourne, 1992). The rural idyll is created and repre-sented in artistic and media discourses such as novels, paintings,music, movies, and TV dramas. The production of a tourismversion of the rural idyll in the UK is largely a construction offamous British TV series (Edensor, 2007). Australian movies havebeen identified as having similar effects (Beeton, 2004). Theoffering of scenic tours, nature-related and engaging rural tourismactivities, and outdoor adventures seems to be follow a commonpattern in Western countries. However, the tourist idyll does notoriginate solely from the rural idyll or the mediatization ofdestinations, but also from the tourist's previous knowledge,expectations, and fantasies (Bell, 2006). As investigated byFigueiredo and Raschi (2012), rural tourism entrepreneurs playan important role in commodifying rurality.

Thus rural tourism imaginary might be constructed by combin-ing material rurality and the rural culture and lifestyle with theimagined rural idyll.

3. The case study and the Chinese context

In 2008, 400 million person trips were made to rural tourismdestinations in China and generated a total of 60 billion Chineseyuan (Guo & Han, 2010). In 2012, the number of rural tourism







receipts reached 700 million and the annual total revenue rose tomore than 200 billion Chinese yuan (Xinhua Net, 2012). Sightsee-ing is the major rural tourism activity; rural tourism sites arelocated near developed urban cities, major resorts, and scenicareas, reflecting market demand (Guo & Han, 2010). As ruraltourism in China is predominantly domestic only a few ruraltourism destinations have an international reputation, suggestingthat the potential niche market exists to attract internationaltourists to a more genuine China (Li, 2003). Rural tourism devel-opment and management has faced many problems, such as thelack of creativity in formulating products and diminishing unique-ness in rurality and deteriorating rural atmosphere (Zou, 2005)incomplete policies and immature management systems (Xu,2009); and governments losing public trust and ignoring commu-nity benefits (Bao & Sun, 2006).

Urban areas are the major market for rural destinations (Zou,Ma, Zhang, & Huang, 2006). Rural tourists consider intrinsic ruralcharacteristics as the most attractive features of rural tourism andthey prefer to purchase souvenirs with rural features and localspecialty foods (Su & Wang, 2007). Peng (2005) identifies therurality that attracts urban tourists as a non-working space, heemphasizes that only the beautiful, unique, and exotic rural imageis attractive. The late sociologist and anthropologist Fei Xiaotongwrote about Chinese people's rural complex (Fei, 1988, cited inTong, 2009). He describes the embedded rurality in people's livesand the close relationship between an immigrant and his/herhometown. A more recent study on rural visitor behavior suggeststhat the Chinese rural complex is a primary motivation for Chinesetourists to visit rural sites (Huang, 2003). Therefore, planning andmarketing rural tourism could utilize the “rural complex” toimprove outcomes. This phenomenon highlights a Chinese nos-talgia that may lead people to seek childhood memories in ruraldestinations.

Rural ideology in China has undergone many changes in theprocess of economic development. Rurality is expressed in uncer-tain and conflicting ways in contemporary literature (Meng, 2007).The Chinese countryside served as a strategic place during the war(1937–1949) and has been eulogized by the winning Communistparty for contributing to the establishment of the People's Republicof China. However, rurality was seriously attacked during theCultural Revolution (1966–1976). In contemporary China, the ruralareas took the initiative in the restructuring of the economy whenChina started to open its doors to the world in 1979. However, thesocial distance and inequality between rural and urban commu-nities have drastically increased due to unbalanced development.In rural areas, the traditional values of neighborhood care and

family values are being challenged; negative values are beingpracticed and are threatening rural harmony (He, 2007; Wang,2012). Rurality is a fluid concept in China, where the rural lifestylehas endured many changes and challenges historically. Tourismdevelopment tries to evoke the essence of rurality for reproductionand consumption, but this characteristic of rurality may not be asmarketable as the static and persistent rural idyll.

This case study chooses Wuyuan (Figs. 2 and 3), a ruraldestination in central China, because it has successfully developedthe brand as “the most beautiful countryside in China” amongdomestic Chinese tourists. It can be a representative case of theChinese countryside as a tourist attraction. Wuyuan has been afamous rural tourism destination since the late 1990s. The countyis located in Jiangxi province, eastern China, with a population of340,000 and a history of over a thousand years. For the lastdecade, Wuyuan has successfully built its brand as “the mostbeautiful countryside in China” and become a popular domesticrural tourism destination (Yang, 2006). Feng and Sha (2009) haveformed a model with weighted factors to quantitatively captureWuyuan's rural features. According to their study, Wuyuan's ruralfeatures contain both practical and idealized characteristics.Wuyuan's well-preserved rurality, expressed in its ancient archi-tecture, natural resources, and agriculture-based lifestyle isundoubtedly vital to its tourism and branding success. This studyhopes to examine Wuyuan's image from a qualitative standpoint.It uses Wuyuan's well-known image as a microscope to scrutinizethe projections of rural ideology and tourism imaginaries, and topractically examine the promotion of a rural destination imageusing the Internet.

Fig. 2. Wuyuan's canola flower fields in spring (photo by author).

Fig. 3. Ancient Hui style architecture (photo by author).







Wuyuan is a famous site for photographers, particularly itsagricultural flower fields and its remnants of ancient Huizhouculture (1121–1911 A.D.). The visible heritage of the Huizhoulandscape and culture-scape strongly reflects and represents thetraditional Chinese Han culture. This is significant, as Han is thelargest ethnicity in China, out of 56 officially recognized ethni-cities. Wuyuan's tourism development is not isolated from theoverall tourism planning in Jiangxi province. In recent years,notable efforts have been made by the Jiangxi provincial govern-ment to develop tourism and many quality tourist destinationshave appeared, including cultural, historical, and natural attrac-tions. Wuyuan is also located adjacent to the Yellow Mountain andmany historical villages in Anhui province. The integrated devel-opment of tourism in this region is a key factor in Wuyuan'ssuccess.

4. Methodology

Internet searches are a common data collection method intourism research. The most commonly used online materialsinclude websites, online reviews, blogs, online forums, and infor-mation from social media sites (Jani & Hwang, 2011; Son, 2011;Tse & Zhang, 2013; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). Travel blogs have beenused to examine how travel experiences are used to form destina-tion images (Çakmak & Isaac, 2012). Visual and textual materialsare used to identify key components of a destination's projectedimage (Garrod, 2009; Hunter, 2008), and media and onlineresources are used to examine destination images created byanonymous sources (Choi et al., 2007; Pike, 2002). A destinationimage should be projected using different information sources,and tourist journals and blogs can reinforce a destination's imageand identity (Beerli & Martin, 2004; Martın & del Bosque, 2008).Therefore, using information provided by different online sourceshelps to triangulate online representations and to identify variousdestination image attributes. Websites, online forums, andtourism-related websites are practical and useful sources fordiscourse and images of rural destinations. The proliferation ofsocial networking sites also allows organizations and individualsto share tourism information online (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). Thesesocial networking sites provide new ways to market destinationsand offer diversified platforms to construct destination images(Syed-Ahmad & Murphy, 2010).

This study uses a qualitative approach. The choice of websites isbased on the domestic nature of rural tourism. As a major ruraldestination in China, Wuyuan has attracted large numbers ofdomestic tourists. Two popular Chinese websites, Baidu andYouku, are selected as Baidu is the most popular online searchengine in China and Youku is an online video sharing website.A paired keyword search using “Wuyuan” and “Wuyuan travel” inChinese with a time restriction to 2012 yields up-to-date data. Thesame keyword search on Youku yields related video streams. Dueto the increasing popularity of microblogs in China, a keywordsearch on the search engine site Baidu automatically carries out amicroblog search with the same set of keywords on Sina weibo(a microblog site). Therefore, an independent search of the Sinaweibo site is conducted. The microblog search filters include date(monthly in 2012), originality, in the category of “hot” microblogs(popularity) and a limitation to posts created by certified users.As most of the certified users are tourism businesses, destinationmarketing organizations, and tourism bureaus, the microblog datacan better represent a destination image from a tourism perspec-tive. The first 20 microblogs from each month in 2012, are used torepresent the most popular microblogs, resulting in 240 microblogposts with texts and photos. Almost all of the microblogs arerelated to tourism.

Keyword searches using “Wuyuan” and “Wuyuan travel” showidentical results in terms of textual web pages and online videos.This overlap indicates the strong tourism focus of Wuyuan as adestination, and tourism providers' online marketing efforts. Datascreening criteria for keyword searches on Baidu include contentclarity, richness of descriptive information, tourism related, origin-ality, and non-repetitiveness. The search results include 40 articlesproviding general descriptions of Wuyuan from 10 websites, andfive online travel guidebooks for Wuyuan, from five online tourismforums. The limited number of articles in the search results reflectsthe fact that most of the smaller travel websites copy promotionaltext from the large websites, limiting original content. Onlineforums and travel sharing sites such as Mafengwo provide officialtravel guidebooks based on tourists' postings. These are anothertype of resource for examining destination images. The results ofthe video search are more diverse and informal than the results ofthe webpage search. The selection of videos is based on the samecriteria as the article and yields 15 videos with diverse content.The purpose of collecting both textual and visual data is totriangulate the image, and to have a broad range of data fromdifferent information sources to form a holistic dataset.

This study uses qualitative content analysis for data analysisand interpretation. The data are analyzed using the qualitativeanalysis software Nvivo 10. The author is a native Chinese, thuswas capable to conduct the analysis and interpretation and latertranslate selected examples from the data. The data are analyzedseparately by sources of information, such as articles and guide-books, official texts and tourist journals, videos, and microblogs,but the findings are reported in an integrative manner. Accordingto Mayring (2000), procedures of qualitative content analysis hastwo central approaches: inductive category development anddeductive category application. This study combines the twoapproaches in data analysis. The first step is determining on whataspects of the textual and visual communication inferences shallbe made, and then devise suitable rules of categorization(Mayring, 2000). This study chooses the socio-cultural backgroundand the situation of information production of tourism discourseas points of inference. In the initial analysis an inductive approachis used in order to identify key categories, questions were askedwhen coding the data line by line: what is the discourse about;what message is it giving; and how is it presented? Data weregrouped into categories and major themes were identified. In thedeductive application stage, the categories and themes werelinked to the attributes of destination image and the concept ofrurality and rural representation.

5. Findings

5.1. Components of Wuyuan's destination image

After the screening and initial coding of data, two themesemerge from the formal and informal representations of Wuyuan.The criteria used to group content into formal or informalcategories are based on the content and on the linguistic andsemiotic features, which are categorized as either elite or grassroot.The three streams of data sources each generate elite and grass-root content. These two groups of data became comparative casesin the exploration of Wuyuan's idyllic image and its reality. Thecontent of microblogs that is not included in the formal/informalcategorization is presented separately. There are several interest-ing findings pertaining particularly to microblogs. The destinationimage of Wuyuan is formed by the elite content. The centralimage of Wuyuan as “the most beautiful countryside in China” isassertive and consistent, indicating the successful branding ofWuyuan as a rural tourism destination (Yang, 2006). The content







of these materials can be categorized as functional and psycholo-gical components of the horizontal destination image in Echtnerand Ritchie (1993); functional components reveal the cognitiveimage and psychological components reveal the affective image(Table 1).

Table 1 presents the main components of Wuyuan's onlinedestination image, emphasizing on its discourse and linguisticfeatures. Three major themes are derived fromWuyuan's cognitiveand affective image: resources, rewards, and expectations. Thecognitive image of Wuyuan is a combination of its resources andrewards, and the affective image is built on expectations. Keyattributes and content under the three themes are also listed inTable 1. The resources of Wuyuan include the special features ofthe natural, cultural, and historical characteristics, which arecaptured with functional rather than psychological descriptions.Rewards, fame, and reputation are a major part of the cognitiveimage, positioning the destination as worth visiting, profound inculture, history, and well managed. Despite the key attributeslisted, Wuyuan's cognitive image online also includes other func-tional attributes concerning travel itinerary and tourism infra-structure, such as the accommodation capacity, new facilities, andtransportation system. Wuyuan's landscape and rural lifestyle areshown to be the essential elements of its cognitive image. Shownin the data, the cognitive and affective components are oftenintertwined in order to present an integrated image. Examplesfrom the data are translated and presented here to demonstratecommon descriptions of Wuyuan's landscape and lifestyle.

Example 1. Wuyuan is called “the most beautiful countryside inChina.” It is a Utopian dream: the Matou wall surrounded by cookingsmoke from chimneys, abstract lines formed by rice terraces on hills,country boys riding on cows against the sunset, a quiet boat floatingon the wild river, flaming maple leaves reflected in a clear mountainstream,… everything makes you feel peace in your heart, like being inanother world. 婺源被称为“中国最美的乡村”,向你诠释了什么才是“乌

托邦”式的理想家园 : 被淡淡炊烟笼罩的马头墙、山间梯田抽象的线

条、暮色中骑在牛背上的村童、幽静的孤舟野渡、倒映在清澈山涧里

的火红的枫叶......一切都让人陡然间心静如水, 恍若隔世 (from Mawo-feng travel guide).

Example 2. Wuyuan in autumn is filled with warm colors. There aregolden hayracks under tall red maple trees; flaming red peppers onrooftops of black and white house; several red and yellow fallenleaves floating in green mountain water ponds. Pick a clear and freshautumn day to glance at the beautiful country scenery of autumn,absorb the seductive feeling of ecstasy and enchantment. 秋天的婺源,乡村到处是温暖的颜色。高大的红枫下是金黄的柴垛; 白墙黑瓦的房

子顶上晒起火红的辣椒; 大山的碧绿深潭里漂着零星的红黄叶片。随

便拣个秋高气爽的日子, 去看一眼这秋意盎然的乡村美景, 体会一下心

醉神迷的诱人感觉 (from Ctrip.com).

The uniqueness of the destination is presented through lin-guistic and visual features. Language is carefully selected and thevisuals are artistic. Linguistically, tailor-made captions such asparallel phrases are functionally used (See Examples 1 and 2).

Table 1Components of the destination image of Wuyuan.

Image Themes Attributes Key content Linguistic features Linguistic examples

Cognitive Resources Ecologicalresources

Natural scenery, Chinese four-letter idioms, paralleledphrases, traditional Chinese poems

“Home of Scholars and Countryof Etiquettes” (书香门第, 礼仪之邦),Rural landscape, canola

flower fields in particular In-depth description “Wuyuan has a forestry area of 258 thousandhectare”,

Numbers and statistics “Four-Color Specialty”: Red – Pocket Red Bean;Green – Green Tea; Black – Dragon Tail InkStone; White – Jiangwan Pear (四色特产)

Emphasis on scarcityCultural/historicalheritage

Ancient “Hui” architecture Emphasis on visual elements(i.e., color composition)Confucian cultural relics

and sitesHeritage from the ImperialagesSites of television shows

Agriculture-basedlifestyle

Farming and harvestingHarmony between humanand nature

Local specialty FoodFolklore souvenirsArtifacts

Rewards Historical praises Ancient poems andinscription

Traditional Chinese poems “One of the ten must-visit places in China”“The most”/“one of the most” “The last Shangri-La in China”

Media praise andcredentials

Official and non-officialtitles

Title or nicknames “Museum of Ancient Architecture”

Tourism success News on tourismdevelopment and revenue

Emphasis on fame “Hometown of Books” (书乡)

Affective Expectedfeeling/experience

Tranquility andenjoyment

Relaxation and peace ofmind

Chinese four-letter idioms, paralleledphrases, traditional Chinese poems

“Play chess and appreciate tea, read poems andmake paintings” (品茶对弈, 吟诗作画),

Slow travel – time stopsrunning

Metaphorical and persuasive wording “Refreshing and lingering”(心旷神怡, 流连忘返)

Comfort and complacence ImaginationHarmony andnostalgia

Childhood memoryDistanced homeSenses of the ruralInnocence and friendlinessof the rural

Valuable andworthyexperience

Comparison with otherdestinationsAccessibility and value formoney







As shown in Table 1, the descriptions largely use metaphors,traditional Chinese idioms, and poems. These approaches arecongruent with Wuyuan's deep culture and its association withtraditional literature. Landscape and scenery are depicted as“beautiful paintings,” “harmonious Chinese ancient painting,”“idyllic painting of the peaceful countryside,” with appealingcombinations of harmonious colors: green mountains, runningcreeks, yellow canola flowers, golden fields, and black and whiteancient houses. Visually, Wuyuan is labeled as a “photographer'sparadise,” “out of the world,” “Shangri-La,” “hideaway,” and“heavenly place.” Interestingly, human and living animals are notvery visible in the official tourism imagery and discourse, althoughlocal people appear to be a significant source of information and alarge part of tourists' recollections in their journals. A frequentlycited Chinese traditional poem is provided as an example of thepicturesque Wuyuan with traces of human living instead of actualhuman beings (Example 3).

Example 3.

High and low houses along ancient trees 古树高低屋

Near and far hills in sunset 斜阳远近山

A foggy ribbon around the tree top 林梢烟似带

A water ring around the village 村外水如环

The rural idyll in the West includes the “farmscape,” the“wildscape,” and the “adventurescape” (Bell, 2006). The Chineserural ideal is different. In the cognitive destination image ofWuyuan, features of the farmscape and the wildscape are found,but not the adventurescape. It has a significant emphasis on therural lifestyle, rural culture, and historical heritage (Fig. 4). Chinahas a long history, which produces a tremendous amount ofintangible and tangible cultural heritage. In fact, in the historicalcontext, the rural is not static at all. Many of Wuyuan's historicaland cultural resources show a prosperous rural history; thisperspective explains the differences between Western ruralityand the current Chinese rurality, which dates back to previousdynasties. Until the contemporary period, the countryside hasproduced, created, and provided both materially and spiritually forthe majority of the country.

Fig. 4 illustrates the connections between Wuyuan's tourismand its history using the categorization of Wuyuan's historical andcultural resources retrieved from promotional materials. It demon-strates the major historical attractions in Wuyuan on a timeline.Wuyuan County was established in the Tang dynasty, around 729A.D. Most of the historical resources branded and developed fortourism come from the Tang and Song dynasties, which are themost dynamic dynasties in Chinese history. This explains why theimage of rurality is presented in a static manner. Although someaspects of rural living may date back for centuries, the Chinesecountryside has been rapidly reformed and changed, especially inthe last few decades. In other words, the destination image isselective, purposive, and market-driven.

The affective image of Wuyuan centers on the theme of expecta-tion. Key attributes include tranquility and enjoyment, harmony andnostalgia, and valuable and worthy experience. Generally, to meettourists' expectations of a rural destination, Wuyuan is shown to beconservative and remote. At the same time, the tourists are told that“time stops running” in Wuyuan, creating an idealized expectation.Potentially, a valuable experience of tranquility and nostalgia ispromoted. Tourism imagery and discourse describe Wuyuan as autopia, presenting the countryside as isolated from its urban counter-part. Tranquility is a major component of the affective image ofWuyuan; the quiet, innocent, and peaceful countryside could not bemore attractive to the fast-paced and impetuous urban market.Nostalgia is more commonly expressed by the tourists themselvesthan in destination-related tourism sources. From tourist journalsand microblogs, tourist experiences are generally positive andnostalgic; the recollections are centered on romantic themes. Touristsrelate their experience to childhood memories, and a collectivememory of the rural past (Examples 4 and 5). Nostalgia is relatedto the feeling of authenticity.

Example 4. If you want to experience the lives of Wuyuan people,you can stay in a farm home; when you wake up every morning, youcan pick fresh fruits and vegetables and wash them by the river, andchat with the women who are washing clothes by the river at thesame time; after lunch, you can sit in the sun and do some handworkwith the grandma next door, you can make pickles or sew shoe soles;in the evening, if you would like to drink, your host might offer hishomemade fruit wine and have a few drinks with you, and tell youthe old tales of Wuyuan's past. 如果想体验一下婺源山区人们的生活,你可以找一个农家住下, 每天清晨起床, 在自家的菜园里摘一篮蔬果,在溪边洗净, 顺便和一旁洗衣服的大嫂唠唠家常; 午后, 你可以陪老奶

奶在巷子口晒晒太阳,一起做一些零碎的手工, 比如腌咸菜、绣鞋垫等;晚上, 如果你的酒量够好, 可以和男主人一起小酌几杯, 品尝一下自酿

的果酒, 一边听他讲婺源那过去的故事 (from Mawofeng travel guide).

Example 5. Of all the colors of Yan Cun (a village in Wuyuan), themost breathtaking to me are graphite and dark black. If these twocolors are missing, Yan Cun may lose its attractiveness. Stone-pavedlanes, graphite bricks and doors, dark black house roofs, white walls,does time freeze or flee? It is time that gives Yan Cun its light andcolor today. Someone has said, coming to Yan Cun is like returning toyour childhood home, warm and calm, I think this deja vu generatesand spreads on the rows of spotted gray walls. 在延村所有的颜色中,最摄我心魄的是青灰、黛黑, 如果没有这两种色彩, 延村一定会失色不

少。石板小巷、青砖门罩、黛色屋瓦、灰白墙头, 是凝固的时间还是

流逝的时间? 如果没有时间从中作祟, 延村就没有今天的光泽和美

感。有人说, 来到延村, 就好像回到儿时的家, 温暖而从容, 我想这种似

曾相识的感觉就是从那一排排斑痕点点的灰墙上漫延开来的 (fromlvyou.baidu.com).

In summary, Wuyuan's elite destination image has both cogni-tive and affective dimensions that resonate with the componentsof idyllic rurality. The rural tourism brand of Wuyuan has beensuccessfully created and built using a variety of linguistic and

Fig. 4. Timeline of Wuyuan's historical attractions.







visual strategies on different online information channels. TheInternet offers virtual front-stage scenes and back-stage scenes ofreal life. The destination image is presented on the front-stage,providing a standardized and repetitive image, with a strongemphasis on “performance” and “gaze” (Ryan & Cave, 2005;Fairweather & Swaffield, 2001).

5.2. Tourism and rural imaginaries

Another group of data uses a grassroot style of presentation.These data are informally generated by different social groups suchas travel agencies, souvenir sellers, wedding planners, photogra-phers, and other unidentified sources. This group uses onlinechannels for diverse purposes, such as recollection and sharing onsocial media, and product promotion. The grassroot content is morescattered than the formal data and difficult to attach any meaningto, but it can be compared to the formal destination imageaccording to the identified attributes. Compared to the romanticimage of Wuyuan in the formal data category, videos without visualeffects present an ordinary and mundane rural place. The mundanerural world is portrayed in news reports and narratives of dailylives, which provide views on local politics, development, and socialproblems. These mundane images of Wuyuan diverge from thetourism destination image. One visual discrepancy is that while thedestination image of Wuyuan constitutes astonishing and calmscenes of canola flowers growing on laddered fields, the reality isthat field banks can be jammed with tourists, and photographersoften have to try hard to eliminate tourists from the pictures.

Commercialization has become a major issue and independenttourists have gradually been attracted to outskirt areas and lessdeveloped villages. News reports show a few government initiativesto develop some villages for tourism, and undeveloped villages aretaking the opportunity to act on their own and charge tourists.One village sought community-based tourism development butencountered many challenges. The effects of government-led devel-opment, which lead to discrepancies in villages’ revenue across thecounty, remain in the background of the destination's image. Over-commercialization of some of the developed attractions also influ-ence tourist's decision-making. Tourists have responded to theexpansion of tourism with statements like “Let's go there beforetourism takes over/destroys it,” and “The attractions that charge aticket fee are not worth going to anymore.”

Commercialization and tourism development also influencelocal people's lives. Rural areas are usually more vulnerable tochanges; tourism has definitely changed many lives in Wuyuan.Stories are told about the waves of tourism. There are TV reports oflocal children who became tour guides to support their schoolingand villagers who transformed their homes into tourist accom-modations. In fact, the friendliness and good hearts of Wuyuan'slocal people are praised in tourist journals, but negative experi-ences of tourist traps are also mentioned. These experiences evokethoughts and reflections on the dramatic changes tourism devel-opment has brought. One blogger wrote the following.

I appreciate the economic progress Wuyuan's countryside hasmade, how people are getting rich. But I dislike how it also bringsthe impetuous and excessive pursuit of economic benefit; person-ally I have fully experienced it…. I have seen photographs fromother bloggers, they are nice, Wuyuan is a place with such abeautiful countryside, but I don't want Wuyuan to be mentionedsimply as a tourist attraction. 我很欣赏婺源农村在经济上的进步,人们的逐渐富裕。但是反感由此而带来的人心的浮躁和过分追逐

利益。这些我是深有体会的。...看过很多博友拍的婺源, 都很好, 婺源也是一个乡野风光很动人的地方, 但是不想说到婺源就简单说成

一个旅游景点 (from wuyuan168.com)

These days, the Internet provides more information channelsmore conveniently than ever, and tourists can anticipate theirexperiences by retrieving the information; however, the dominantimage provided through online discourse about a sophisticateddestination is divergent from its reality. A destination image isrelated to tourism imaginaries. Drawing from Chronis's (2012)conceptualization of tourism imaginaries, rural imaginaries con-structed in tourism are constructs based on narratives about therural and the material offerings of the rural, including its naturalscenery, culture, and lifestyle. The emotions attached to theseconstructs are nostalgia, tranquility, and mixed feelings towardstourism development. But it is difficult to understand from thecurrent data how these rural imaginaries influence ideologicalchanges. However, it is certain that rural tourism conveys mes-sages of a peaceful and harmonious lifestyle and cultural con-servation in the Chinese countryside.

5.3. Macro examination of microblogs

No previous study in China has used microblog content toexamine a destination image. Microblogs with tourism contentare often part of broader online marketing strategies. More thanone-third of the original microblogs posted about Wuyuan arecreated by tourism organizations and businesses, such as online/offline travel agencies, destination accommodations, destinationorganizations, and travel magazines. Tourists and tourism relatedbusinesses such as photography groups, calligraphy groups, garden-ing companies, wedding organizers, driving clubs, and so forth alsopost many microblogs about Wuyuan. Most of the identifiablecreators of microblogs on Wuyuan are not from Wuyuan. Becauseonly a few local businesses and the destination organization arecertified users, many were eliminated by the certified user criterionused in collecting the data. Therefore, the microblog data do notrepresent local lives very well. The contents of the posts are used toidentify individual users.

Tourism organizations/businesses and tourism related organi-zations/businesses post destination related content for promo-tional, recollection, and information-sharing purposes, butindividuals and non-tourism businesses also post microblogsabout Wuyuan as a rural tourism destination. This phenomenonindicates that tourism is gaining popularity among Chinese peopleas a leisure and lifestyle choice. The content of microblog posts islargely tourism related and constructs a destination image con-sistent with the one presented above. Table 2 indicates the sourcesof the microblogs and the content. Microblog content is categor-ized as bundled destination promotion, recollection/review, singledestination promotion/introduction, event promotion (grouptours, activities, and other events), and local product. Some ofthe tourist recollection/review, event promotion, and local pro-ducts posts have very specific information, whereas bundleddestination promotion and destination introduction posts areprimarily general descriptions. The most popular style identifiedin the microblogs is the bundled destination promotion.

Microblogs in China, like Twitter in the West, strongly influencethe spread of information and e-word-of-mouth (Reza Jalilvand etal., 2012). Therefore, having more reposts indicates that morepeople have viewed a post. The number of reposts is used toindicate the marketing value of a microblog. Six microblog posts inthe sample have over 100 reposts, but most of the microblog postshave no reposts. Significantly, photos are attached to almost all ofthe microblogs. Example 6 is the content of the most repostedmicroblog, which has more than 700 reposts. However, originalliterary production is also popular. All of the creators have a largenumber of followers, but certified individuals, not tourism orga-nizations or businesses, created the top two posts. It is evident thatindividuals and microblog celebrities have a bigger influence than







organizations or businesses in the microblog environment inChina. Moreover, the redirection to other users and links to otherwebsites does not necessarily guarantee a higher amount ofreposts.

Example 6. The arty youth (Wenyi Qingnian) group's ten mostprefered destinations. 1. Yangshuo: With all that moves your heart.2. Lijiang: Come here and escape from what tires you. 3. Dali:Romance is in the air. 4. Fenghuang: The place to daydream. 5. LuguLake: Mysterious. 6. West Lake: Poetic South-river. 7. Sanya: Sun,Sand, and Sea 8. Gulangyu: Only Gulangyu makes you truly artistic(Wenyi) 9. Wuyuan: The most beautiful countryside 10. Lhasa:Whereyour soul rests. 文艺青年最爱的十大旅行地: 1阳朔: 具备一切心动的

因素; 2丽江: 累了, 就到这里逃离; 3大理: 风花雪月, 浪漫何求; 4凤凰:适合发呆; 5泸沽湖:神秘; 6西湖:诗意江南; 7三亚:阳光、沙滩、海浪;8鼓浪屿: 不去鼓浪屿, 文艺也枉然; 9婺源: 最美乡村; 10西藏: 心灵栖

息的地方 (from microbloggger Yang)

Due to the word limit of microblogs (140 characters), texts aremore focused and purposive. Lists or bundles of destinations areefficient ways to use the limited space to market the same type ofdestinations. Example 6 shows a blog for a segment of the Wuyuanmarket: the young artistic group. Many tourist towns in Chinahave a bourgeois atmosphere that attracts this group and some ofthe destinations in the above list are examples of this. But most

of rural China remains conservative, unlike some rural areasin Western countries that are radical or building a rural utopia(Browne, 2011). Wuyuan has appeared in many of these listswhich tend to rank destinations and use words like “the best” or“most.” They do not appear in any articles from travel websitessince they are not authorized. However, they are anonymouslycreated for the purpose of microblog marketing. Although theorigin of these lists is in doubt, they can effectively promote lessfamous destinations by bundling them with more famous onesand thus presenting a holistic destination image for a certain typeof destination. The phenomenon of bundled destination promo-tion also reflects the reward emphasis in destination images,therefore, the lists are categorized along with the common titlesof Wuyuan and presented in Table 3. These categories of emphasiscan provide marketing implications to the destination.

Microblogs and other social networking websites can be usedfor tourism destination management and promotion. Destinationpackages and lists seem to be an effective strategy in microblogmarketing. Microblog content not only provides representations ofa single destination, through the various user group generatedcontent, but also reflects the needs and current ideology of youthin China. 81.68% of microblog users are between 10 and 39 yearsold, about 92.2% have a low income (under RMB5000–USD770 permonth), and the largest user group is students (Chinese Academyof Social Sciences, 2013). Tourism can be a luxury. The popularity

Table 2Microblog distribution.

Content Creator

Tourism organization/business

Individual blogger(incl.tourist)

Tourism relatedorganization/business

Non-tourismbusiness

Other(unidentified)

Total Microblogs 240 (100%) 85 (35.4%) 80 (33.3%) 47 (19.6%) 24 (10.0%) 4 (1.7%)Bundled destination promotion 98 (40.8%) 57 (23.8%) 24 (10.0%) 15 (6.3%) 2 (0.8%) NoneSingle destination promotion/introduction

62 (25.8%) 23 (9.6%) 9 (3.8%) 18 (7.5%) 12 (5.0%) None

Recollection/review 56 (23.3%) None 46 (19.2%) 10 (4.2%) None NoneEvent promotion 13 (5.4%) 3 (1.2%) 2 (0.8%) 2 (0.8%) 8 (3.4%) NoneLocal product 7 (3.0%) 2 (0.8%) 1 (0.5%) 2 (0.8%) 2 (0.8%) NoneOther 4 (1.7%) None None None None 4 (1.7%)

Table 3Categorization of lists/titles by emphasis.

List/Title Emphasis

“The ten best places in China to see canola flower fields” Outstanding resources“The eight best places in China to visit in spring”“The best rice terraces in China”“Museum of Ancient Architecture”“Hometown of Books”“Hometown of Tea”

“Eight towns a girl must visit at least once in a lifetime” Potential market“White-collar's favorite travel destinations”“Best places to visit with lover and close friends”“Arty youth's favorite travel destinations”“Best bird watching destinations in China”“Six Chinese towns for vacationing”“Photographer's Paradise”

“Eight towns one should visit at least once in a lifetime” Authenticity/Estheticism“Ten out-of-the-world views you can't miss”“The most charming eight towns in China”“The last Shangri-La in China”

“Nine must-visit small towns for lovers and close friends” Romanticism“Seven romantic destinations in China”“Ten romantic destinations for couples”







of tourism related content reflects the thirst to travel, to get away,and to escape. The destination lists are not practical destinationreferences or travel suggestions. What users seek in these destina-tions and their elaborate descriptions are expectations, fantasies,and images. Wuyuan is only one of the destinations that satisfypeople's expectations using online discourse.

6. Discussion

Although the concept of a destination image is part of psycho-logical and branding theories, it is useful for examining therepresentations of rurality from sociological and human geographyperspectives. This study considers the affective and cognitivecomponents of destination images and its factual and imaginarydimensions. Expectations are an important aspect of the affectivecomponent of destination images. In tourism discourses, expecta-tions and anticipation is aroused through imagination, which haslong been embedded in the tourism culture (Skinner &Theodossopoulos, 2011). In this study, the tourism imagination isbased on an urban-centric and market-oriented view, whichisolates and romanticizes the rural. The representation of ruraldestinations is influenced by both tourists’ and local people'sexpectations.

Similar to the post-colonial self-orientalism identified in aninternational promotional video of China (Yan & Santos, 2009),Wuyuan is self-portrayed as old, traditional, and change-resistant.A destination's image is based on the cultural and natural featuresof the destination as filtered through tourists' expectations andimagination.

There is a dynamic tension between tourists' imagination andtourism destinations. In tourism, the tourist gaze establishes apower relationship between the “gazer” and the “gazee” (Urry,1992). The tourists' consumption of and interaction with ruralityare dependent on offering rural areas that match tourists' expecta-tions. Tourism is a visual activity (Scarles, 2009). The word“sightseeing” represents a shift towards a visualization of travelthat began about 300 years ago (Adler, 1989), and visual imagesand content are dominant in tourism experiences ranging fromtourism brochures to tourist photography. The tourists' gaze on therural imposes the value of maintaining and negotiating rurallandscapes, especially the “spectacularization” of rural landscapes(Daugstad, 2008). Unlike the Norwegian rural described byDaugstad (2008), the shift from “spectacularization” to a “multi-sensing” rural experience is not observed in the Chinese case. Therural is limited to the presentation of spectacular visual scenes,and the two dominant types of tourist gaze in rural tourism inChina are the romantic gaze and the collective gaze (Cao, 2010).Tourists tend to view rural scenery and landscape as romantic andisolated, whereas rural culture and festivals are more likely to beexperienced collectively to create a celebratory atmosphere. Theonline image of Wuyuan reflects the romantic gaze, with onlylimited content reflecting the collective gaze.

Rural imaginaries coexist with the rural gaze. The tourismimaginaries seen in this case study are different from Chronis'original conceptualizations (2012). He categorizes the stages oftourism imaginaries as commercial staging, refiguration, andideological reinforcement. In this study of rural destination imageand rurality, the tourism imaginaries are based on the idea ofidyllic rurality, which is then refigured into nostalgia, tranquility,authenticity, and romanticism. It is unclear whether rural imagin-aries lead to ideological reinforcement. There are some ideologicalreflections in the emotional constructs of rural imaginaries, fromthe perspectives of the tourists, the destination society, andChinese culture in general. For example, the destination imageoften idealizes the destination for marketing purposes and tends

to be evasive about negative issues (Santos, 2004). Wuyuan'sconnection with celebrities, renowned names and stories, andsignificant historical events are underlined in the reward theme ofthe destination image. Historically controversial stories, however,do not appear at all. This phenomenon can also be explained byChina's collective Confucian culture and the practice of saving face,which reveals only the positive aspects of a place or an individual.In terms of the tourist market, the “rural complex” is well-entrenched, as people seek nostalgic rural experiences.

Rural localities include landscapes, cultural and historical sites,and practical events that are related to rural society and people'slives. However the romantic, nostalgic, and authentic rural tourismdestination is constructed by selecting marketable localities thatpresent a rural idyll, which is the essence of rural imaginaries.Consequently, rural destinations are represented by both theiractual and idyllic characteristics, together with a pragmatic butimaginative tourism culture. These representations reveal anintertwined and paired rurality that is unchanged and changed,quiet and noisy, and extraordinary and ordinary. It is worth notingwhat is left out of these images and representations. The culturalrepresentations are positively related to the friendliness andhospitality of local people, which appears significantly in theinformal representations, but not in formal promotional materials.Local people, local lifestyle, and the existential experience ofvisiting the rural (Sharpley, 2008) are not represented in theonline destination image. Food and other local specialty productsappear to be significant attributes in the destination's image, butthey are not representative in the destination's overall image andidentity. This result is consistent with previous studies (Lin et al.,2011).

7. Conclusions

This study is a qualitative case study of an online destinationimage. The attributes of the destination image are identified andconnections are made to the concept of rurality and tourismimaginaries. The image of rurality, as represented in tourismimagery and discourse, appears to be ideally positive and market-oriented. The research findings add weight to the concept of theglobalized rural idyll, which includes natural wonders, romanticism,authenticity, and nostalgia as core elements (Bell, 2006), andreintroduce the concept of the rural gaze in tourism studies(Abram, 2003). To an extent, the findings can be generalized andapplied to other geographical contexts of rural/cultural tourism.The theoretical contribution of this study lies in qualitativelyexamining a destination image and offering an integrative andinterdisciplinary perspective on destination identity and represen-tation. It also contributes to the literature on tourism imaginariesand provides unique interpretations of rurality within the tourismfield. This is also the first study to use microblogs to examine therepresentation of a destination on social networking sites.

The findings have implications for marketing and managementprofessionals, as the Internet's marketing function should not beneglected and issues in destination management appear in onlineinformation sharing. Wuyuan's tourist activities are described inmany places; locality driven and interactive activities are rare. Thehorizontal image of Wuyuan offers a wide range of general resourcesand activities rather than activities aimed at niche markets. Com-pared to the economic approaches taken by rural tourism developersin developed countries, innovation and creativity are fairly weak inthe Chinese rural tourism. Specific, diverse, and creative destinationdescriptions are needed. Rural landscapes, lifestyles, history, andculture need to be creatively represented using methods that do notrest solely on visual components, which may cause esthetic fatigue.The discrepancy between the formal and informal representations of







Wuyuan not only indicates a gap in rural imaginaries, but alsosuggests new ways of managing tourist experiences and the effect oftourism on local residents. The destination image, from a marketingperspective, seems to be congruent with the destination's identity.But destination marketers need to carefully design the image to bestrepresent residents' and visitors' experience (Hunter, 2012). Thesuccessful destination image of the Chinese countryside needs tobe maintained through strategic planning of tourist activities andvisitor management on site.

8. Limitations

This study has several limitations. Focusing on one destinationrestricts the generalizability of the study's results. However, theuse of multiple sources of online data ensures that the results aretransferable. Future studies can examine multiple rural destina-tions and compare rural areas in different continents. Futureresearch focusing on representations of rurality from the perspec-tives of local people, tourism organizations, and tourists andsimilar research from other geographical locations are recom-mended. This study only collected data in Chinese and fromChinese websites. Rural tourism in China is largely domestic(Su, 2011), however, Chinese rural areas have the potential toattract more international tourists if appropriately developed andmanaged, inviting future research on the Chinese rural destinationimage from an international perspective. Future research shouldalso include more social networking sites.

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