THE CONSEQUENCES OF EXCESSIVE EXPLOITATION OF DESTINATIONS Case Study: The Famous World Heritage Site Jiuzhai Valley in Sichuan Province China

Abstract

In the tourism field, the expense of travel is rising because the amount of tourists is growing every year. In the beginning promoting development of the tourism industry and driving related economic development was a positive phenomenon but the negative side obviously appeared at the same time. However, everything has its limitation. People want to get benefits from tourism, but they might not be aware of the fact that they are gaining unfair advantages from it and this situation is getting worse. Sichuan is the most important scenic area in China, which has both the world nature and culture heritage sites. Jiuzhai Valley was listed on the UNESCO "World Natural Heritage List" and “Man and Biosphere” protection network. The purpose of this thesis was to present how excessive exploitation leads to terrible con-sequences now and in the near future if nothing is done when the destinations face this situation. Making an effort to research certain problem-solving strategies is quite essential, as some awful consequences have appeared at many popular tourism destinations. The protection policy and sustainable tourism projects should be made to prevent this tendency from worsening. The qualitative research method was used for this thesis. A case study and an analysis of texts were the data collection of the thesis. The case study was based on descriptive research and evaluative research; the analysis of texts includes tourism articles and official magazines as well as the official materials adopted from the Sichuan tourism administration. The outcome of the research was thoroughly evaluated and analyzed, and raised doubts about current ways of actions in Jiuzhai Valley, outlined the existing serious problems and provided some constructive suggestions and ideas for helping to make new policy actions.