Gateway Community Tourism Development of National Parks and Rural Revitalization: Insights from American Experiences and Lessons for China

Shen XingJu Liu Yun

Abstract：On October 12， 2021， at the 15th Summit of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity， President Xi Jinping announced the establishment of Chinas first national parks， including Sanjiangyuan， Giant Panda， Siberian Tiger and Leopard， Hainan Tropical rainforest， and Mount Wuyi. National parks could be considered as an excellent model for ecological environmental protection. The establishment of Chinas national park system arguably is not only a major institutional innovation in the construction of an ecological civilization and a beautiful China but also an important task and goal during the 14th FiveYear Plan period.

As part of national and global heritage， national parks can have a great appeal possibly leading to large numbers of tourists every year. However， the nature of national parks requires that the surrounding communities provide services for tourists that normally can not be offered on the Park grounds. Therefore， a gateway community， which is adjacent to a national park or on the road to it， should take up this function. National parks hence encourage gateway communities and their residents to participate in the tourism industry and provide various services for visitors. In a manner of speaking this may compensate for the community losses caused by the construction of national parks. Therefore， tourism can be regarded as a driver of sustainable development for national parks. The interrelationship between national parks and their gateway communities seems to provide an advantage of shared coordinated development. On the one hand， tourism promotes the mutually beneficial coexistence of national parks and gateway communities， but on the other hand， the question of how to grasp and balance environmental protection with the development of gateway communities is extremely challenging for all countries and regions.

As the inventor of national parks， the United States has taken many effective measures： using tourism services to promote the local economy; keeping sustainability in mind to enhance community attraction; ensuring gateway community participation to contribute to development， in order to enable a good partnership between national parks and local communities. However， it also faces problems such as the singularity ?of the economy， the loss of local residents interests caused by the immigration of outsiders， and various conflicts between different stakeholders. When constructing national parks in China， we should pay attention to putting planning first while strengthening community participation; making full use of the brand value of national parks to realize the valueadded of our business models; integrating local culture to cultivate ?endogenous power; connecting people and their land in order to create a shared and local value; and other measures to establish in China suitable national conditions for national park construction and rural revitalization.

Key Words：national parks; rural revitalization; gateway community; tourism development