Chinese national parks: Differences, resource use and tourism product portfolios

This paper has three purposes. First, it briefly describes some of the economic and cultural features of Chinese national parks that distinguish them from their counterparts in locations such as Europe, even while underlying similarities exist. Second, drawing on these differences it reports research into the efficiency of use of their resources by applying the technique, data envelopment analysis, to data made available for 136 national parks. Third, building on the results it identifies the role of external economies of scale in affecting resource usage and argues that being part of a portfolio of wider tourism locations is a means of improving resource usage. Such conclusions reinforce the role of Chinese national parks in rural economic regeneration through tourism, which arguably has as much importance in Chinese thinking as do issues of environmental protection. Thus tensions exist as to the role of national parks in China, and in their subsequent management.