On Ethnic Village Tourism and Rural Development

This paper aims to examine the role and effects of tourism in promoting social and economic development for minority ethnic groups and rural areas within China. The research was conducted through interviews and field observation in Blang ethnic minority of Mangjing village, which is located in south-western China's Yunnan province. Starting with the characteristics of ethnic village tourism, this paper makes a detailed analysis on the tourism development in the ethnic village and concludes that promoting social and economic progress through tourism development in Chinese ethnic areas is the inevitable trend in the new era. The result suggested that the key points for promoting tourism in ethnic villages to promote social development in China are: government guidance and villagers’ participation; entrepreneurship and sharing spirit; Eco-orientation and industrial integration. Finally, this paper also proposes three constructive suggestions for promoting the development of ethnic village tourism in China.