ABSTRACT
This case study from Hainan Province in China provides an example of ethnic tourism which is succeeding in respecting the indigenous culture and involving the local population in collaboration with other stakeholders. A qualitative research study was undertaken to understand stakeholder relationships in ethnic tourism development in the Bing Lang Gu tourism area. Research methods employed included appreciative inquiry interviews, personal observations, and content analysis of documents. Five key stakeholder groups were interviewed: governments, tourism businesses, visitors, ethnic communities, and labor. Grounded theory analysis of the qualitative data led to the construction of an emergent human-centered theory of tourism development.
