Evaluating sustainability of cultural festival tourism: From the perspective of ecological niche
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Date
2021
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Publisher
Elservier
Abstract
Cultural festivals symbolize cultural identities and serve as a carrier of national emotions. Evaluating the sustainability
of cultural festivals tourism has long presented challenges for festival organizers and attendees. Based
on the ecological niche theory, this paper presents a theoretical framework including the environment, resources,
demands, and spatiotemporal niches to establish an evaluation system to analyze the sustainability of cultural
festival tourism. Using an analytic hierarchy process, the sustainability of the Lantern Festival in 34 regions of
China was empirically assessed. Results indicate that the environmental niche has the greatest impact on the
sustainability of cultural festival tourism, and local government support plays a key role in sustainable festival
development. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed based on the results.
Description
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 48 (2021) 191–199
Keywords
Cultural festivals; Cultural festival tourism; Ecological niche; Sustainability; Analytic hierarchy process (AHP); Lantern festival