Evaluating sustainability of cultural festival tourism: From the perspective of ecological niche

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.