Interaction between Hosts and Guests of Rural Tourism in Northeast China Based on Symbolic Interaction Theory

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School of Business Administration, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan 114051, China

1 Introduction

Rural tourism is a type of tourism which takes countryside as tourist destination, attracting tourists through special natural and cultural landscape of countryside, combining agriculture and tourism, to satisfy demands of tourists for leisure, knowledge and returning to nature. At the call of revitalizing the old industrial base in Northeast China, and developing the economy of Northeast China, the working and living pressure of residents in Northeast China is constantly increasing, while the population expansion, traffic congestion, environmental pollution, and resource shortage also stimulate people to relieve pressure and make self adjustment through rural tourism. At present, most of the researches on rural tourism remain at the development situations, models, and strategies of rural tourism, while there are few researches about the evolution of the relationship between tourists and local residents, and the effects of interaction between hosts and guests on the social and cultural changes of the destination. In this study, from the perspective of the symbolic interaction theory, we explored the interactive relationship between hosts and guests in rural tourism, to provide some references for development of rural tourism in Northeast China.

2 Manifestation of interactive relationship between hosts and guests in rural tourism

Rural tourism is a new type of tourism that takes the cultural characteristics of countryside as a tourist attraction. It is necessary to take into account the interests of the hosts and guests of rural tourism and seek a reasonable and sustainable development model.

Local villagers have realized that it is feasible to undertake commercial activities through exploring and utilizing rural characteristic culture. In this process, there will be contacts and communication with urban tourists. In order to demonstrate and propagate local unique culture for guests, hosts usually have to play many roles. Therefore, there may be conflicts of roles between local residents and tourists. With the development of tourism, the interaction between local residents and tourists gradually evolve from original social, cultural and psychological interactions to the interaction in economic benefits. However, scholars often focus on changes in the role of hosts in receiving tourists, while neglect the two-way interpersonal relationship hidden in their role, the multiple roles of local residents in different stages of commercialization of tourist destinations, and conflicts and free transformation of multiple roles.

3 Design of the study

3.1SurveymethodsBased on the comprehensive field survey, combining theoretical and empirical researches, and through field interview of tourism workers, we studied current development situations of rural tourism of Northeast China, and obtained the first-hand data of the interaction between hosts and guests of rural tourism in Northeast China. In this study, we selected the tourist destination Yuzhangmen Resort in Qianshan District, Anshan City of Liaoning Province. This destination has profound characteristics of rural tourism in Northeast China. This resort is a large and famous rural tourism resort with excellent environment in Northeast China. Besides, close to the national 5A-level scenic spot Qianshan, numerous tourists come because of respect for the fame. Thus, it is very intuitive and convenient here to study the relationship between hosts and guests.

Situated in Qianshan District of Anshan City, Liaoning Province, Yuzhangmen Resort is only 26.5 km from Qianshan Scenic Spot. The whole resort adopts the design of pavilions, terraces and open halls linked by common mountains and rivers, including barbecue courtyard with similar size and characteristics of Mongolian tribes, farm picking garden with deep countryside style. There are dining rooms for tourists, and indoor buildings adopt wooden structure with primitive style. We carried out a five-day personal survey in Yuzhangmen Resort from October 1st to October 5th, 2017. During the survey, we went deep into the resort and carried out an in-depth interview and field observation. In order to obtain the most real information and most intuitive feeling of different roles, we went deep into Yuzhangmen Resort, and played three roles (tourists, service staff, and researchers), and obtained micro scene of interaction between hosts and guests in Yuzhangmen Resort. Through extensive observation, experiment and survey of the research objects, it is able to more directly obtain the interaction between local residents and tourists. During the survey, we played the role of service staff to get close to the interaction site and made participant observation. In the process of field survey, we interviewed a total of five people, including three tourists, one management person, and one service staff, the interview time was more than 6 h. We carried out a systematic observation of the study area and made detailed observation records.

3.2Researchfindings

3.2.1Recommendations of farm dishes: manifestation of leading position of hosts. Tasting farm-style cuisine is an essential part of rural tourism of tourists. In order to find authentic farm dishes, tourists usually select famous rural scenic spots like Yuzhangmen Resort. According to our survey, when tourists enter such resort, hosts will actively recommend their cuisine to tourists. At this time, the service staff will have the initiative to select types of farm dishes. In other words, hosts (bosses of restaurants) will have the dominance in the choice of farm dishes. This manifests the leading position of hosts in the interaction between hosts and guests.

In the process of hosts recommending dishes to tourists, there is an intangible induction and control. Any kind of right must rely on effective means of expressing the right. The most objective form of naked rights, namely, tangible coercion, shows its function in the form of an inducement to the audience. In the study, we found that after tourists enter a new destination, they usually do not know the customs and foods of the destination, then service staffs of the restaurants will play a significant role. During the whole process of selecting dishes, we found that there is a benefit-driving when tourist service staff recommending traveling products. The high management Mr. Wang described the usual scene when a tourist arrives at a restaurant:

When tourists arrive at the restaurant, they will generally ask about the special dishes of the restaurant, while most dishes recommended by service staff are those with high profit, some dishes have profit even up to 80%, in which service staff will obtain a large portion of commission.

From these, it can be seen that the control rights are owned by hosts of the destination. Such control rights are directly manifested in the process of hosts recommending their dishes. In this process, hosts not only satisfy demands of tourists, but also obtain higher profits, so as to realize their leading position in the process of interaction.

3.2.2Contradiction and conflict: manifestation of tourist status. According to the symbolic interaction theory, the society is made up of the interaction between people, and occurrence of various social phenomena can only be explained through the interaction between individuals. The host-guest relationship involves more or less sales behavior, which may affect the enthusiasm of the hosts to tourists, and accordingly affecting the service quality of the hosts. When some tourists are more sensitive to commercial interests and host services during their travels, they may be less satisfied with host services. This can be understood as contradiction between hosts and guests. For the sake of benefit, tourism workers did not provide proper services for tourists, tourists would believe that their status is attacked, then there may be conflict. In the field survey, we encountered a typical case:

During having dishes, tourists found a fly in the dishes and made complaints to the management. The management first apologized to the tourists, then offered a 20% discount on the meal, and promised to provide two free dishes and offer a discount of 20% on all dishes when tourists arrive in the next time. The solution of the management showed due respect for tourists’ feeling, they were comforted psychologically, then they forgave the host for this unhappy experience. After the event, we interviewed the management person Mr. Yu, he said that in such case, if tourists refuse to make payment, they have to accept, because once tourists make complaints or report to competent authorities, we will be punished more seriously. Through this case, it can be found that the contradiction or conflict between hosts and guests is not implacable. In such contradiction or conflict, hosts have some concern, thus tourists hold the control right.

3.2.3Friendly development in collision and communication: collision and running-in between tourists and hosts.

According to the classic workHostsandGuests:AnthropologyofTourismwritten by Smith, there is inevitable contradiction between hosts and tourists in the process of their interaction, and the relationship between tourists and hosts is an essential topic in the study of anthropology of tourism[5]. In our study, we found that most tourists will follow a popular concept that "a guest must do as his host does". For example, in our interview, the tourist Mr. Zhang said, "I would like to respect local customs and culture, I have no idea of offending or violating the intention or taboo of local residents; conversely, I expect to appreciate local customs and characteristic culture, I am willing to comply with customs together with local residents". This is an active compromise of tourists for respecting local customs of hosts. On the other hand, in the side of tourists, they provide quality service as much as possible, to obtain more and more repeat tourists. This is a win-win situation for local residents and tourists.

In summary, in rural tourism, the contradiction between local residents and tourists is not irreconcilable. Active compromise made by tourists and communication with hosts are good approaches for handling the contradiction between hosts and guests. In the collision and communication of the culture between both parties, the host-guest relationship will develop to a stable and harmonious direction.

4 Conclusions

The process and model of interaction between hosts and guests are major parts of this study. In this study, we firstly introduced the importance of the relationship between hosts and guests in the tourism process. When tourists enter a destination, the interaction with hosts is very necessary. In the second part, we explained that the interaction between hosts and guests of the rural tourism from the micro level, and discussed the macro and micro process of the interaction between hosts and guests. Combined with actual situations of rural tourism in Northeast China, we analyzed the interaction and contradiction between local residents and tourists. In Northeast China, the rural tourism is mainly manifested as agritainment. We defined the hosts (local residents) and guests (tourists) in the rural tourism. Hosts are mainly local tourism workers that providing tourism infrastructure, while tourists are mainly individual and family tourists. In this process, the most important factor determining the communication behavior is the economic factor. When traveling in rural areas, most tourists are relatively conservative and rational in purchasing special local products. The enthusiasm of tourism workers to tourists depends on whether tourists provide satisfactory purchase for hosts.

The study on the interaction between hosts and guests of tourism is a comprehensive and complicated research topic. In line with the field of rural tourism, to realize vigorous development of rural tourism in Northeast China, it is recommended to make effort to create communication opportunities, and expand market of tourist sources, rather than attracting tourists only from surrounding cities. In addition, it is recommended to stimulate the awareness of hosts for interaction with tourists, improve the satisfaction, loyalty and repeat visit of tourists, optimize the interaction effect between hosts and tourists, attach great importance to equality of hosts and guests as subjects and objects, and give equal consideration to benefits of tourists and hosts, so as to obtain excellent host-guest interaction effect, and promote sustainable development of rural tourism in Northeast China.

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