nature reserves in China since the early 90s. Of those that have developed
tourism, 15.9% have more than 100,000 visits annually. It is estimated
that the total number of visits in 1995 was about 2.5 million, and
that the annual income generated was about US$ 63 million (CNCMB
1998). In the past few years, the number of nature reserve tourists has
increased rapidly as a result of national economic growth. In some nature
reserves from 1995 to 1998 the average increase in the rate of tourists
was 87.8%, while during the same period the increase in all forms
of tourists nationwide was 37.0% for foreign and 10.3% for domestic
(Li and Han 2001), indicating that nature reserve tourism is developing
more rapidly than others.
Local community participation in ecotourism to date in China has
been poor owing to various constraints, and the economic benefit
gained has thus been limited. Of the reserves that have developed tourism,
in 1997 only 10.7% were benefiting more than half of the local
families and about 22.7% never brought any economic benefit to local
communities (CNCMB 1998). Because of this poor background of
local participation, the Jiuzhaigou Biosphere Reserve case is an interesting
subject for research.
Case