Toward a smarter, sustainable and satisfying life: Exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of Yangtze River Delta

In China's developed regions such as the Yangtze River Delta, Rural revitalization is no longer about poverty alleviation, but aims to build a modern country. Previous studies have confirmed the important role of tourism in rural development, but there is a lack of studies discussing the dimens...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sheling Ye, Lei Shi, Zhen Feng, Gwon Hyuk
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025010850
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850034557028401152
author Sheling Ye
Lei Shi
Zhen Feng
Gwon Hyuk
author_facet Sheling Ye
Lei Shi
Zhen Feng
Gwon Hyuk
author_sort Sheling Ye
collection DOAJ
description In China's developed regions such as the Yangtze River Delta, Rural revitalization is no longer about poverty alleviation, but aims to build a modern country. Previous studies have confirmed the important role of tourism in rural development, but there is a lack of studies discussing the dimensions of smart rural tourism construction and how it empowers a higher level of rural revitalization, which provides a possibility for the application of smart tourism construction in more developed rural areas to achieve a higher level of rural revitalization. Therefore, this study aims to explore how smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the developed rural areas in China. Building upon this, the study focused on the Xuelang area of Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province as the research case. This area has abundant rural tourism resources and technological industries, representing a typical relatively developed rural area in the Yangtze River Delta region. The study interviewed 36 people, who are from local tourism government sectors, tourism businesses, and local villagers. Through the grounded theory method, this study has explored six main categories: Macro Factors, Driving Force, Internal Force, External Force, Empowering Performance, and Ultimate Goals. A theoretical mechanism for smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization was developed with the core category of rural revitalization. This study enriches the research scope of smart tourism destinations, the dimensions of smart rural tourism construction, and reveals the empowering mechanism between these dimensions and rural revitalization in developed rural areas.
format Article
id doaj-art-69e174e58b5e4fef94ebf5fec64f37ac
institution DOAJ
issn 2405-8440
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Heliyon
spelling doaj-art-69e174e58b5e4fef94ebf5fec64f37ac2025-08-20T02:57:47ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402025-03-01116e4270410.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e42704Toward a smarter, sustainable and satisfying life: Exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of Yangtze River DeltaSheling Ye0Lei Shi1Zhen Feng2Gwon Hyuk3School of Culture and Tourism, Wuxi Institute of Technology, 1600 Gaolang Western Road, Wuxi, 214121, Jiangsu, ChinaSchool of Culture and Tourism, Wuxi Institute of Technology, 1600 Gaolang Western Road, Wuxi, 214121, Jiangsu, China; Corresponding author.School of Culture and Tourism, Wuxi Institute of Technology, 1600 Gaolang Western Road, Wuxi, 214121, Jiangsu, ChinaDepartment of Philosophy, Academy of Tourism and Leisure, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang, China; Department of Art Culture and Image, Pusan National University, South KoreaIn China's developed regions such as the Yangtze River Delta, Rural revitalization is no longer about poverty alleviation, but aims to build a modern country. Previous studies have confirmed the important role of tourism in rural development, but there is a lack of studies discussing the dimensions of smart rural tourism construction and how it empowers a higher level of rural revitalization, which provides a possibility for the application of smart tourism construction in more developed rural areas to achieve a higher level of rural revitalization. Therefore, this study aims to explore how smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the developed rural areas in China. Building upon this, the study focused on the Xuelang area of Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province as the research case. This area has abundant rural tourism resources and technological industries, representing a typical relatively developed rural area in the Yangtze River Delta region. The study interviewed 36 people, who are from local tourism government sectors, tourism businesses, and local villagers. Through the grounded theory method, this study has explored six main categories: Macro Factors, Driving Force, Internal Force, External Force, Empowering Performance, and Ultimate Goals. A theoretical mechanism for smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization was developed with the core category of rural revitalization. This study enriches the research scope of smart tourism destinations, the dimensions of smart rural tourism construction, and reveals the empowering mechanism between these dimensions and rural revitalization in developed rural areas.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025010850Smart tourismSmart rural tourism constructionEmpowerRural revitalizationYangtze River Delta area
spellingShingle Sheling Ye
Lei Shi
Zhen Feng
Gwon Hyuk
Toward a smarter, sustainable and satisfying life: Exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of Yangtze River Delta
Heliyon
Smart tourism
Smart rural tourism construction
Empower
Rural revitalization
Yangtze River Delta area
title Toward a smarter, sustainable and satisfying life: Exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of Yangtze River Delta
title_full Toward a smarter, sustainable and satisfying life: Exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of Yangtze River Delta
title_fullStr Toward a smarter, sustainable and satisfying life: Exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of Yangtze River Delta
title_full_unstemmed Toward a smarter, sustainable and satisfying life: Exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of Yangtze River Delta
title_short Toward a smarter, sustainable and satisfying life: Exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of Yangtze River Delta
title_sort toward a smarter sustainable and satisfying life exploring the mechanism of smart rural tourism construction empowering rural revitalization in the area of yangtze river delta
topic Smart tourism
Smart rural tourism construction
Empower
Rural revitalization
Yangtze River Delta area
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025010850
work_keys_str_mv AT shelingye towardasmartersustainableandsatisfyinglifeexploringthemechanismofsmartruraltourismconstructionempoweringruralrevitalizationintheareaofyangtzeriverdelta
AT leishi towardasmartersustainableandsatisfyinglifeexploringthemechanismofsmartruraltourismconstructionempoweringruralrevitalizationintheareaofyangtzeriverdelta
AT zhenfeng towardasmartersustainableandsatisfyinglifeexploringthemechanismofsmartruraltourismconstructionempoweringruralrevitalizationintheareaofyangtzeriverdelta
AT gwonhyuk towardasmartersustainableandsatisfyinglifeexploringthemechanismofsmartruraltourismconstructionempoweringruralrevitalizationintheareaofyangtzeriverdelta