Exploring the sustainable development of garden tourism with Chinese characteristics
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Upps ala University logot ype
21023
Degree project 15 credits
June 2021
Exploring the sustainable
development of garden tourism
with Chinese characteristics
Mengxue Nie Progr am me nam e (eg Master's Programme in Molecular Biotec hnology Engineering)
Master's Programme in Sustainable Destination
Development Sustainable Nature-Based Destinations
Uppsala University logot ype
Exploring the sustainable development of garden tourism with Chinese
characteristics
Mengxue Nie
Abstract
Both garden ontology and tourists influence garden tourism, and while many countries around
the world have researched garden tourism, China's garden tourism market lacks development.
This study aims to find a sustainable and distinctive development path for garden tourism
development in complementary developed China. This study uses primarily qualitative research
to interview visitors to Chinese garden tourism sites, using visitor experience factors and
international case studies to explore the development of Chinese garden tourism. The study
results show that Chinese gardens are characterized by developing essential elements:
discovering tourism values, increasing infrastructure development, innovative management, and
creating a and connotation of sustainable development. The study project will fill the gap in the
development of garden tourism in China and provide a creative direction for the development of
garden tourism in China.
Faculty of Science and Technology , Upps ala University. Place of publication eg Uppsala/Visby. Supervisor: Name Surname, Subject reader: Name Surname, Examiner: Name Surname
Faculty of Science and Technology
Uppsala University, Place of publication :Visby
Subject reader: Carina Johansson
Examiner: Ulrika Persson-Fischier
Table of Contents
1 Introduction 2
1.1 Garden tourism 2
1.2 Garden tourism in China 3
1.3 Research purpose 7
1.4 Research structure 8
2 Literature review 9
2.1 Origin of garden tourism 9
2.2 The formation of garden tourism 11
2.3 The development of garden tourism 11
2.4 Garden tourism in the UK 12
2.5 The development of garden tourism in China 12
3 Research methodology 15
3.1 Case study theory 15
3.2 Tourism experience theory 16
3.3 Sustainable tourism theory 16
3.4 Types of research 17
3.4.1 Interview method 18
3.4.2 Sampling methods 19
3.4.3 Research ethics 19
3.4.4 Data collection 20
4 Case study 22
4.1 National Garden Scheme (NGS), the UK 22
4.2 Bogor Botanical Gardens (BBG), Indonesia 23
4.3 The Keukenhof Garden, Netherlands 24
4.4 Comprehensive analysis 25
5 Qualitative research analysis 26
5.1 Tourists' factors 29
5.2 Tourism resource factor 31
5.3 Visitor experience 33
5.4 Infrastructure factor 35
6 Chinese garden tourism enhancement strategy 37
6.1 Developing tourism value 38
6.2 Enhancement of infrastructure 38
6.3 Innovative management 39
6.4 Establishing a tourism brand 40
7 Research limitations 41
8 Future prospect 41
9 Conclusion 42
References 44
1
1 Introduction
1.1 Garden tourism
Garden tourism is an essential attraction for many tourism purposes and attracts many
tourists worldwide. Studies have shown that one-third of tourists around the world
visit gardens during their travels (Benfield 2013). The "travel activities and
motivation survey" conducted in the United States in 2007 showed that 2.65 billion
Americans visited botanical gardens in two years (Ontario, 2008). In 2009, visiting
the gardens was one of the top ten activities undertaken by international visitors to
New Zealand, with 519,405 visits recorded (Chang et al. 2008). With the rise in
enthusiasm for garden tourism, the concept of garden tourism has gradually emerged
in recent years, referring to tourism activities where people visit gardens, parks, and
botanical gardens of historical and sightseeing significance (Shapoval et al. 2020).
The WTO defines tourism as: "Tourism is a social, cultural and economic
phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside
their usual environment for personal or business or professional purposes. These
people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or
non-residents), and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which involve
tourism expenditure (Glossary of tourism terms | UNWTO, 2020) .” Garden tourism
can be specified as a form of tourism, whose geographical or thematic destinations are
gardens or parks in their various forms and the types of garden tourism include the
following: Gardens and Historic Places, Garden Tours to hotels, resorts, Malls, and
private and public homes and Gardens, Garden shows and festivals, Specialty Gard
(Benfield 2013). Garden tourism mainly focuses on hundreds of millions of plants,
and most of them promote the theme of caring for plants (Sharpley 2007). As a field
that has gradually become known in recent years, garden tourism lacks specifically
targeted research and global development. Only a few countries, such as the United
Kingdom (Sharpley 2007), Austria (Payer 2013), and Sweden (Hultman and Hall
2
2012), have studied garden tourism as a tourism model, and all have some developed
cases.
Their appearance can usually distinguish gardens and parks. Gardens are usually
private, with most being built in the back or front yard of the homeowner, and are
usually smaller in size; parks are essentially public, located primarily in public areas,
intended for use by the general public, and are usually larger (Marcucci 2000).
Garden tourism is classified as ecotourism which mainly includes sightseeing
exhibitions in parks, historic gardens, and botanical gardens (Israel Petros and Firew
2020). The concept of ecotourism has existed since the 1980s as a form of tourism
that integrates environmental conservation, community participation, and sustainable
development, with outstanding contributions to both socio-economic and
environmental benefits (Wearing & Neil, 2009). Ecotourism needs to meet four
indicators: nature-based, sustainably-managed, conservation supporting, and
environmentally educated (Buckley, 1994).
1.2 Garden tourism in China
The development of Chinese gardens can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty in the
21st century B.C. as a "You (囿)" for the emperor's hunting trips ( Lou Qingxi, 2003a).
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, around the 6th century, the development of
Chinese gardens reached its heyday, and private gardens flourished, giving rise to
different schools of thought, which gradually became Chinese classical gardens we
see today ( Zhou Weiquan, 1999). Chinese gardens have a unique quality, and
according to Sirén (1950), Chinese gardens are more imaginative and creative, or
rather, more artistic than most gardens in the world, as they are not simple copies of
nature, neither do they simply rely on existing natural scenery or landscape
compositions nor do they transform them on a large scale simply and brutally (Sirén
3
1950). The Chinese people's deep feelings about nature implicitly influenced their
artistic thinking and concepts, which were then expressed through gardens. Chinese
gardens are influenced and conditioned by political, economic, geographical, and
cultural factors and are humanized landscapes, physical landscapes, poetic landscapes,
and even historical landscapes, to which world events, interpersonal encounters,
honor and disgrace, and promotions are attached (Ren, Chao-Wang, 2004).
After the 1950s, many private gardens were handed over to the collective
management of the state, and professional departments were established to manage
them. Furthermore, some gardens also became tourist destinations, open to the public
for tours. After the summer resort of Chengde in Hebei, the classical gardens of
Suzhou and the Summer Palace in Beijing were approved by the World Heritage
Committee for inclusion in the World Heritage List in December 1994, December
1997, and December 1998, respectively, Chinese gardens attracted an increasing
number of tourists (Huang, Chuan-Ling & Cheng, Chun-Wang, 2006). Chinese
gardens are of various styles, and there are four classifications according to the
regions: northern gardens, Jiangnan gardens, Lingnan gardens, and Sichuanese garden.
The northern gardens are mostly royal gardens and monastery gardens with a standard
layout, showing the royal atmosphere, represented by the Summer Palace and the
Chengde Summer Resort. The gardens in Jiangnan are mainly private gardens, with
Suzhou as the representative city having such world-renowned classical gardens as
the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Master of Nets Garden, whose gardens
have unique and diverse architectural forms, artificial mountains, artificial water
features, and carefully arranged flowers and plants, making the style here unique and
garden tourism has become the city's calling card (Qin Su & Shuwei Qian, 2012).
Suzhou received 2.487 million visitors during the Chinese New Year holiday in 2021
(Suzhou City Receives 2.487 Million Visitors - Suzhou Municipal People's
Government, n.d.). The Lingnan gardens are located in southern China's Guangdong
4Province and are represented by the Qinghui Garden and the Keyuan, which have a
more humid and warm climate and are designed in a combination of garden and
architecture; the Sichuanese gardens amous for the Du Fu Cottage and most of them
in a more natural and tranquil style (Lou Qingxi 2003).
Figure 1: The Water Heart Pavilion at Chengde Summer Resort, Hebei, China (Official
website of Chengde Summer Resort, Retrieved from:
https://www.bishushanzhuang.com.cn/index.php/Scenic/spot_view/id/193.html)
5Figure 2: Taihu Stones in the Liuyuan Garden, Suzhou, China (Official website of Liuyuan,
Retrieved from: http://www.gardenly.com/index.php)
Figure 3: Panoramic view of Ke Yuan, Dongguan, China (Official website of Ke Yuan,
Retrieved from: https://www.dgkeyuan.org/)
6Figure 4: Water view of Du Fu Cottage, Chengdu, China ((Official website of Ke Yuan,
Retrieved from: http://www.cddfct.com/index.php)
1.3 Research purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore sustainable development paths for the Chinese
garden tourism sector that are distinctly Chinese. This study investigates one main
subject: garden; in this study, I choose to interpret the development of garden tourism
from the perspective of the visitor experience. Furthermore, the following questions
are the main ones that the authors want to address:
How to develop Chinese garden tourism with Chinese characteristics?
This question also includes the following two questions:
How to apply the advanced cases from around the world to the development of
garden tourism in China?
How can the concept of sustainability be integrated into the development of garden
tourism?
7This study will focus on the lesser-known aspect of Chinese garden tourism, in which
the motivations and behavioral patterns of Chinese tourists in their tourism practices
are explored in-depth, and their views and ideas are analyzed. Such research will
provide a new direction to solve problems for the development of China's tourism
industry.
1.4 Research structure
The diagrams illustrate the thinking behind this study, and the logical framework of
the study is divided into three parts: problem formulation, problem analysis, and
problem-solving (Figure 5). The first part focuses on the creation of the problem and
why I chose this research subject. The second part of the problem analysis section
focuses on approaching the research subject using two research methods, each
independent of the other, to analyze Chinese garden tourism from different
dimensions. The final problem section will have three different interpretative aspects.
Garden tourism in China has both landscape and cultural heritage values, two
qualities that this study aims to preserve and emphasize, in addition to the concept of
sustainability in the development of garden tourism in China.
8Figure 5: Study structure
2 Literature review
2.1 Origin of garden tourism
The concept of garden tourism emerged relatively late, and the earliest relevant
research appeared for the study of landscapes. As the earliest country where gardens
9were developed, scholars in England conducted research on how to create attractive
gardens as early as the 17th century, and although gardens at that time were only for
the enjoyment of the wealthy, they also represented the enlightenment of people about
garden tourism (Hunt and Willis 1988). The emergence of the study of garden visitors
only signifies the origin of garden tourism research. In his 2003 study, Connell
surveyed the characteristics, behaviors, and motivations of 546 visitors to 13 gardens
in the United Kingdom. Based on the empirical findings, the discussion concluded
that people's motivations for participating in garden tourism are leisure purposes,
recreational purposes, and learning purposes; the way of visitation has changed with
historical changes (Connell 2004). In Connell's 2005 study, private owners of the UK
gardens were surveyed to examine the temporal and spatial changes they experienced
in managing garden tourism projects. The findings show that the rise of garden
tourism in contemporary Britain represents an evolution of a form of leisure tourism
entrenched in the traditional tourism market, with more and more private gardens
occupying the tourism market and tourists playing an essential role in the evolution as
an important element (Connell 2005). However, Connell's study is limited to the UK,
and it also provides a theoretical basis for the development of garden tourism.
Another academic direction of garden tourism is the study of garden management.
The book Public Garden Management, published in 2011, is one of the first garden
management books to appear. However, it focuses mainly on management and
planning with botanical gardens and other plant-based gardens and does not cover the
research of tourists (Rakow and Lee 2011). Other scholars have compiled a list of
garden types, citing the potential and unique characteristics of different types of
gardens as tourism (Paiva et al. 2020). Understanding the origins and development of
garden tourism can help me sort out a logical, intellectual framework for the
theoretical knowledge covered in this study.
102.2 The formation of garden tourism
In the book "garden tourism" published in 2013, the authors present the limited
previous research on the academic field of garden tourism. The book devotes ten
chapters to an in-depth discussion of the elements of the development, definition,
practice, limitations, management, and future trends of garden tourism worldwide,
which provides an excellent theoretical basis for the study of garden tourism (Benfield
2013). My research will define and classify garden tourism with reference to
Benfiled's theory.
2.3 The development of garden tourism
According to Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), there are more
than 3,712 botanic gardens worldwide, not including a large number of private
gardens (EPIC n.d.). Due to social and geographical conditions, the distribution of
gardens globally is unequal, with the majority of gardens in North America, East Asia,
and Europe, and garden tourism with a historical background flourishing in even
weeks and East Asia; in Europe, there are 424 botanic gardens in the European Union,
the majority in mainland Europe(Benfield 2013). The Netherlands has a
well-developed garden tourism industry, with garden plant cultivation techniques that
serve garden tourism. The country is home to the oldest tulip gardens in the world, as
well as garden plants that are exported all over the world (Gothein 2014). There are
156 public gardens in Germany and a large number of private gardens(Anon n.d.).
The Baroque court gardens of the 18th and late 19th centuries are representative of the
design style (Gothein 2014). Italy has the most significant number of gardens per
capita in Europe, and many of them are major attractions for international visitors
(Hunt 1996). Europe has a history of garden tourism and some of the best examples
will be used as case studies for this research. Garden tourism worldwide has its
11unique development model due to its geographical and cultural environment, and
some successful development experiences are worth learning.
2.4 Garden tourism in the UK
In the United Kingdom, one of the earliest countries to develop the garden tourism
industry, the garden tourism industry has developed most extensively. In the twentieth
century, the National Garden Scheme (NGS) created a more regulated development
policy for the development of the garden tourism wild in the UK (Strategic Plan
2021-2025, 2020). The development of garden tourism in the UK towards detail and
privatization has been most sophisticated in the study of small private gardens in the
UK, which discusses the characteristics and motivations of garden owners and tourists
in search of new directions for developing private garden tourism (Lipovská 2013).
This research suggests that visiting small private gardens can satisfy both interests in
gardens and family outings, enriching the destination options for locals and tourists
(Čakovská 2018). Garden tourism in the UK also plays a positive role in community
building and the community charity sector (Shapoval et al. 2020). In heritage
conservation, garden tourism can contribute to urban development by targeting and
positioning gardens for new planning and management, as well as to local cultural and
natural heritage conservation and raising awareness of the value of gardens
(Czyńska-Podolska, 2014). The UK gardens, which have a more mature experience of
developing garden tourism, will be studied in detail as a case study for this research.
2.5 The development of garden tourism in China
China is home to 55 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the highest number in the world
alongside Italy, two of which are garden sites: the Classical Gardens of Suzhou and
Chengde Mountain Resort (Centre n.d.). The Classical Gardens of Suzhou include
eight famous private gardens in Suzhou: Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering
12Garden, Master of the Nets Garden, and the Garden of the Nets. Garden, Master of the
Nets Garden, Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty, Couple's Retreat Garden,
Garden of Cultivation, Great, Suzhou now has over 60 historic gardens and 19
gardens open to the public, all of which are protected by the state (Henderson 2012).
Suzhou is genuinely the 'capital of Chinese gardens' because of its location in the
Yangtze River delta, which has been prosperous since ancient times due to its flat
terrain, dense water network, and warm climate. Suzhou gardens began to take shape
in the Song Dynasty (11th century) and reached their heyday in the Qing Dynasty
(19th century) (Zhou Weiquan 2003). The Chengde Summer Resort is located 225
kilometers northeast of Beijing in Chengde, which was once the summer residence of
the Qing dynasty royal family (Centre n.d.). To showcase the vast size and political
centrality of the Qing dynasty, The Chengde Summer Resort is a collection of gardens
from all regions of China, as well as temples in the Tibetan, Xinjiang, and Mongolian
styles, making it a masterpiece of Chinese gardening and architecture (Zhou Weiquan
2003). Due to the hot summer weather in Beijing, the emperor stayed here for a long
time, and many important political, military, national and diplomatic affairs of state
were dealt with here, even becoming the second political center of China in the mid
and late Qing dynasty (Xiaowei 2011)
.
13Figure 5: Humble Administrator's Garden, Suzhou, China (Official website of the Humble
Administrator's Garden, Retrieved from: http://www.szzzy.cn/En)
Figure 6: The water view at Chengde Summer Resort, Hebei, China (Official website of
Chengde Summer Resort, Retrieved from:
https://www.bishushanzhuang.com.cn/index.php/Scenic/spot_view/id/193.html)
Although China has many garden tourism resources and a long history, there are still
significant problems such as lack of brand characteristics of tourism products and
tourism projects, weak conditions of garden tourism supporting facilities, similar
forms of artificial landscapes, and insufficient local humanistic and cultural heritage
in the development of the garden tourism model in China; this country needs to
explore the innovative development model of garden tourism (Xia, 2016). In China,
the most representative classical gardens are characterized by a focus on natural and
cultural features and regional characteristics. However, the lack of innovative ideas
and the lack of integration with urban planning development, China's garden tourism
development in this area also has much room for research (Jiang et al. 2009). These
studies indicate that garden tourism research has great potential in this developing
14country. Based on the recognition of the unique cultural connotations of classical
Chinese gardens, some Chinese scholars are now proposing the concepts of fully
exploring their historical and cultural connotations in garden tourism development,
advocating cultural tourism, establishing tourism interpretation systems, creating
landscapes, and improving the artistic quality of tour guides, as well as promoting
sustainable destination development (Huang & Cheng 2006; Cheng et al. 2013). Some
scholars have also applied the concept of sustainable tourism destinations to the
development of garden tourism. For example, the sustainable perspective is applied to
determine the sustainable development status of classical gardens, and sustainable
development strategies are proposed for the tourism development of the famous
UNESCO heritage site of Suzhou, one of the representatives of Chinese gardens.
These attempts and studies prove the great potential of Chinese garden tourism
development (Su & Qian, 2012). However, they also neglect the study of tourists as
tourism, and there is very little literature in Chinese sources that focuses on tourists'
behavior as Connell did. Chinese gardens are the vehicle for the development of
Chinese garden tourism and are precisely the critical element in exploring distinctive
paths. Understanding the development of Chinese gardens and their stylistic
characteristics is a prerequisite for this study.
3 Research methodology
3.1 Case study theory
According to Bhattacherjee（2012), a case study is a type of empirical research that
examines a current ongoing phenomenon without detaching it from the context in
which it is being shown and where the boundaries between the phenomenon to be
studied and its environmental context are not very clear. There are three uses of case
studies: descriptive or causal case studies, descriptive case studies, and exploratory
15case studies, which do not formulate hypotheses and are used in contexts when
causality is not apparent enough and causality is complex and variable, aiming to
maximize understanding of the social or psychological sphere of life. In this study, the
process of seeking new directions for the development of already existing Chinese
garden tourism and discovering its new tourism value is exploratory and is an
exploratory case study.
3.2 Tourism experience theory
Tourism experience research first began in the 1960s and has developed several
perspectives. in this study, I favor the B Joseph Pine and Gilmore‘s view (1998) that
as an experience in which the good feelings that arise in one's consciousness when
one reaches a particular level of emotional, physical, intellectual, or even spirituality
are engaged in a personalized way. According to my research, the tourism experience
is an attitude and feeling of the individual in the course of the journey, based on
which an emotional experience is formed. This "feeling" includes the cognition,
attitude, and experience of the tour through the interaction between the tourist's own
internal factors and the objective factors in the process of tourism, in contact with all
the factors in the journey. In my study, tourism experience is defined as the sum of
various relationships arising from the active participation of tourists in various
activities or events.
3.3 Sustainable tourism theory
Achieving sustainable development in tourism destinations is one of the objectives
that this study aims to contribute to. The definition of sustainable tourism
development can be summarized in three ways: firstly, it is the idea that sustainable
tourism development can meet the needs of current visitors and destination residents
16while maintaining and enhancing future development opportunities; secondly, it is the
definition given by the World Tourism Organization, which refers to meeting
economic, social and aesthetic needs while maintaining cultural and ecological
integrity, and which provides livelihoods for today's hosts and visitors, while
protecting and enhancing the interests of future generations and providing them with
the same opportunities (Swarbrooke 1999). It also protects and enhances the interests
of, and provides opportunities for, future generations to do the same. The main
objective of sustainable tourism development in Chinese gardens is to maintain a
balance between heritage conservation, communities, tourists, and the environment.
3.4 Types of research
In the case study section, a SWOT analysis is used. The three cases will be put
together for a comprehensive comparison. The various internal strengths, weaknesses,
and external opportunities and threats that are closely related to the subject of the
study are listed and arranged in a matrix and then analyzed systematically, matching
the various factors with each other to draw a series of conclusions (Gürel and Tat
2017). This approach allows for a comprehensive, systematic, and accurate study of
the scenario in which the research is conducted, and the results of the study can be
used as a reference for the development of a Chinese garden tourism strategy.
This study also adopts a qualitative research method in which the interviewer interacts
with the interviewee to ask in-depth questions about the interview subject concerning
the purpose of the research. The advantage of this research method is that the
information obtained is more authentic. This study applies the in-depth interview
method to some of the visitors who have visited the Chinese gardens to find out the
actual state of their tourism experience in the gardens, to find out the factors that
affect their tourism experience, and to understand their insights on the development of
Chinese garden tourism.
173.4.1 Interview method
The interview is a process of data collection in the space of listening and discussion, a
research conversation that seeks to understand the world from the subject's point of
view as much as possible and make sense of their experiences through the exchange
of verbal perspectives (Crabtree and Miller 1999). The current study was not able to
conduct fieldwork and field interviews in the field due to geographical constraints,
and conversations with the participants were conducted almost exclusively based on
memories and past experiences; therefore, the interview format was a semi-structured
interview. A semi-structured interview is an interview with a rough outline of
questions based on a few key subjects and keywords (Schmidt 2004) (Table 1). The
interviewer has the flexibility to make the necessary adjustments according to the
actual situation at the time of the interview. There are no specific requirements as to
the way and order of questions, the way the interviewee answers, how the interview is
recorded and the time and place of the interview, etc.(Whiting 2008). The interviewer
is flexible according to the situation. This mode of interviewing allows the interview
to be divided into more relaxed and to obtain the most intuitive feelings of the
respondents.
Table 1. Outline of the semi-structured interview
Feature Variables Key words
Travel Locations Countries, regions
Travel Dates Seasons, holidays
Demographic Elements Place of residence, language, cultural
backgrounds
Travel Preferences Mode of travel, travel time, mode of
arrival, accommodation, travel
companions, experiences, preferred travel
resources, access to destination
18information
Travel Motivations Personalities, needs
Tourism Advice Bad experience, the unadaptable parts
3.4.2 Sampling methods
Sampling is the method of including subjects or research units of the target population
in a research project, and a reasonable sample will better demonstrate the credibility
of my findings (Bhattacherjee 2012). When the case study and qualitative research
methods have been identified for this study and the primary data source is in-depth
interviews, the next step is selecting suitable interviewees for the sample. The criteria
for selecting the subjects were that their interpretation would help us understand the
link between the individual tourist experience and the direction of garden tourism in
China. The sample for this study was not selected based on the sociological, statistical
significance of the general population but because of their representative experience
and knowledge. The selection of the sample to participate in this interview was
carried out by purposive sampling. Firstly, I posted information about the volunteers
for the interviews via social media such as Instagram and Facebook and marked the
requirements that the volunteers should have: previous experience of visiting gardens
for tourism purposes; knowledge of Chinese gardens; and willingness to be
interviewed privately on a one-to-one basis. There were no restrictions on the
nationality, gender, age, or residence of the sample.
3.4.3 Research ethics
There are two fundamental ethical principles for social science data collection:
voluntary participation in research and the other is avoiding harm to participants
(Babbie 2010). The ethical issues faced by this study focused on three main aspects:
first, when approaching potential respondents, it is essential to inform them of the
19purpose of the interview and the possible existence of information collection
involving personal privacy, and therefore, to obtain their consent before conducting a
formal interview. Second, during the data collection process, the interview process
should be informed that the entire interview needs to be recorded, and the
interviewee's consent should be obtained before using the recording device. When
recording, the recording device also needs to be placed in a conspicuous place, while
the interview can be ended immediately if the interviewee refuses to answer questions
or wants to withdraw from the interview. Finally, for privacy reasons, personal
information such as the names of interviewees was withheld, and pseudonyms were
used to present the research process and findings for privacy reasons.
3.4.4 Data collection
The interview data was collected in April 2021, and for the criteria of the number of
participants, Dukes (1984) stated that the number of interviewees should include 3, 5,
and 10 subjects. Subsequently, scholars have expanded this number, with Kvale (1996)
suggesting that the number of interviewees should be in the range of 5-25. Based on
this criterion, I limited the number of respondents to 10. After a week of sample
selection and a two-week interview process, I obtained a total of eight valid sample
interviews (Table 2). Three of them were permanent residents of China within five
years, three were from European countries outside Sweden, and two respondents were
from Sweden. Not all of the respondents had been to China, but all had experience of
visiting Chinese gardens.
Table 2. respondent profile
Respondent Resident Interview Interview Visited Visited
Length Location Chinese other forms
gardens of gardens
20Joyce Suzhou ， 35 mins Online Yes Yes
China interview
Leon Ghuangzhou, 28 mins Online Yes Yes
interview
China
Sally Birmingham, 42 mins Online Yes Yes
United interview
Kingdom
Jim Bayern 33 mins Online Yes Yes
Nürnberg, interview
Germany
Penny Uppsala, 29 mins Offline Yes Yes
Sweden Interview
Han Chengdu, 35 mins Online Yes No
interview
Sichuan
Adam Stockholm, 45 mins Offline No Yes
Sweden Interview
Dora Delft, 40mins Online Yes Yes
Netherlands interview
Of the interview data collected, five interviews were in English, and three were in
Chinese, for which I translated into English. All interviews used in this study were
de-colloquialized, and where the language was unclear, I double-checked with the
interviewees to ensure that the meaning was correct before using the original text. In
transcribing the interviews, I have followed the principle of truthful recording, and the
theories and cases mentioned by the interviewees will be understood and added to in
21conjunction with the information. All quotations in this study are marked at the end of
the quotation regarding the respondent from whom the quotation was taken, with the
underlined parts being those that I felt were more relevant to highlight the central
idea.
4 Case study
4.1 National Garden Scheme (NGS), the UK
In the context of the UK, where gardens often play the role of everyday spaces
dependent on the home, the National Garden Scheme (NGS) is the basis for
exploratory research into garden tourism in the UK, with a focus on promoting small
private gardens for families in suburban or rural settings that are open to the public
(Lipovská 2013). This program has enhanced the social ethos of sharing the joys of
gardening and has positively affected promoting community tourism and suburban
tourism. Home gardens in the UK play an important role in leisure and enjoyment
(Bhatti and Church 2004). Gardening is the most popular outdoor activity in the UK,
and the industry absorbs millions of the UK workforce (Evans 2001). The importance
of horticulture in the UK has also led to the development of garden tourism in this
country.
NGS, a charitable trust established in 1927, has developed a model that is not unlike
ordinary management; NGS has a mutually beneficial relationship with garden
owners, who receive help in maintaining and operating their gardens with the help of
a professional charity, and NGS markets and promotes the gardens to increase the
number of visitors and the profits from renting out their gardens. NGS raises
charitable funds through garden tours, the proceeds of which are invested in the
operation of charities such as Queen's Institute Marie Curie Cancer Care, Crossroads
Care; Help the Hospices, and Macmillan Cancer Support (Scheme 2012). In 2019,
22NGS had a total income of £4.6 million, with over 3,700 small private gardens
benefiting from this and over one million visitors taking garden tours. Many Chinese
gardens are private gardens, and the NGS operating model has created a new and
mutually beneficial pathway for the tourism development of small private gardens,
which is highly desirable.
4.2 Bogor Botanical Gardens (BBG), Indonesia
Bogor Botanical Gardens (BBG) is located in the center of Bogor, Indonesia. It covers
87 hectares and has 13,983 species of plants and animals, and is a famous center for
agricultural and horticultural research, the oldest botanical garden in Southeast Asia,
and one of the famous heritage tourism sites in Indonesia (Levelink, Mawdsley, and
Rijnberg 1996). The botanical garden has survived for centuries in an urban
environment, and BBG provides an excellent example of the development of
management of urban botanical gardens for reasons closely related to the
development of sustainable tourism development strategies for the park.
In hengky and kikvidze's survey of the BBG, the investigators used quantitative
research to collect people's perceptions of the park's sustainable management
development. The survey results show that the park has achieved sustainability in
terms of non-destructive resources and a focus on visitor satisfaction (Hengky and
Kikvidze 2018). However, the sustainable tourism management of the park still has
many shortcomings, mainly in the management of the garden landscape environment,
followed by the contradiction between the living environment of flora and fauna and
the gradual urbanization of Indonesia (Hotimah, Wirutomo, and Alikodra 2015).The
sustainable tourism development of BBG represents the problems and contributions of
a developing Asian country with a similar background to China, especially in the
23development of a long history of garden tourism and the maintenance of flora and
fauna diversity.
4.3 The Keukenhof Garden, Netherlands
The Keukenhof Garden (Image 7) are located in Lisse in the Netherlands and are
famous for their tulip planting, known as the 'most beautiful spring garden in the
world.'
The Keukenhof Garden dated back to the 15th century and have initially been an
annex to Keukenhof Castle, before being redesigned in the 19th century by landscape
architect Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher in the English garden style.
Local flower merchants decided to open it to the public as a display garden for their
spring-flowering bulbs export program. After 73 years of development, the
Keukenhof Garden have become a famous tourist attraction in the Netherlands.
The best feature of the gardens is their seasonality. Each year the gardens are only
open for eight weeks from the end of March to May when the flowering bulbs are at
their peak. The short opening time has prompted the officials and operators to move
towards more careful management (Ma Lingna and Zhou Wuzhong 2012). There are
two main elements to its success: the first is the unique tourism resources. The park is
rich in floral resources, with over 100 varieties of tulips alone, with beautiful and
practical plant varieties, while the landscape designers design the landscape of the site
according to the opening times and shapes of the flowers, which allows visitors to
enjoy a different landscape every day of the week (Kowatch 2016). The second is the
combination of distinctive cultures. The park has several themed gardens, such as
nature gardens, music gardens, water gardens, and various gardens designed
according to the different needs of the visitors; in addition, the park also incorporates
Dutch regional specialties windmills and wooden shoemaking (Ma Lingna and Zhou
Wuzhong 2012). These activities and the landscape combine to make the park unique.
24The Keukenhof Garden is responsible for the tulips becoming an icon of the
Netherlands today. The success of this case is a reference for helping Chinese garden
tourism to find its own identity.
4.4 Comprehensive analysis
Each of the three cases has its own characteristics, and Table 3 presents a SWOT
analysis of the three cases. From the analysis, it can be seen that the successful cases
have their uniqueness. In the case of NGS, because it includes many small gardens,
there is an opportunity for visitors to find a nearby destination. Both the BBG and the
Keukenhof garden have a unique botanical landscape, which is more distinctive than
traditional botanical gardens, and it is not easy to find similar cases. As each case is in
a different situation, they also have their own flaws and threats, which can also be
found in the development of Chinese garden tourism, such as small scale and the
threat of urbanization. These cases have responded to the crisis, and the direction to
find new opportunities can provide problem-solving ideas for the developing Chinese
gardens.
Table 3: SWOT analysis of three cases
255 Qualitative research analysis
For the collected interview data, I used Otter.ai. Software to transcribe the audio
content textually. As this interview is semi-structured and not all of the conversations
will be used in the study, I have manually purified the content of the interviews. In
Table 4, I have collated the key response information from each interviewee and listed
the gardens covered in the conversation separately. As can be seen from Table 3, six
respondents shared two or more garden visit experiences, and five respondents shared
their experiences of visiting Chinese gardens and excursions other than Chinese
gardens, respectively, with each respondent expressing satisfaction and suggestions
for their garden tour experiences.
Table 3. Summary of Interviews
Respondent Summary of the interview Gardens Mentioned
26Joyce Coming from Suzhou, she is very familiar with the Master of the Nets
local gardens. Garden（Suzhou. China)
Since she was a child, she visited the gardens with Botaniska Garden
her family and brought friends with her. (Gothenburg, Sweden)
Thinks that Suzhou gardens do an excellent job of
heritage conservation and landscape maintenance
and that the gardens have impacted the city's culture.
She believes that there is a lack of management in
the Suzhou gardens, such as illegal ticket sellers.
Leon He is from Guangzhou and loves to travel. Summer Palace
(Beijing, China)
He recently visited the Summer Palace with his
mother and found it to be magnificent because of the
integration of many forms of landscape elements.
He felt that the Chinese gardens lacked accessibility
facilities, such as lifts.
He prefers national parks, which are dominated by
natural beauty, to visiting gardens.
Sally She is a Chinese living in Manchester, has visited Woodthorpe Grange
many English gardens, and once lived in Sichuan, Park (Nottingham,
China. England)
When she visits gardens, she pays more attention to
the plants in the garden and how they fit together.
She thinks the biggest drawback of garden tourism
is the lack of infrastructures like cafes, restaurants,
27and toilets.
Jim He is a German who had traveled to China and had Palais des Beaux-Arts
visited many Chinese gardens. (Vienna, Austria)
He believes that Chinese gardens possess a subtle Nymphenburg Palace
beauty that is most different from European gardens. (Munich, Germany)
Du Fu Thatched
Cottage (Chengdu,
China)
Penny She is an immigrant living Uppsala, and she is not Linnaeus Garden
familiar with Swedish. (Uppsala, Sweden)
She enjoyed visiting the gardens but struggled with Palais des Beaux-Arts
the lack of English descriptions of many of the sites (Vienna, Austria)
and the fact that long outdoor excursions can reduce
Presidential Palace
the visitor experience.
(Nanjing, China)
Han He is from China and is very familiar with Chinese Humble Administrator's
culture. Garden (Shuzhou,
China)
He believes that the beauty of Chinese gardens is
inseparable from Chinese poetry and historical Baotu Spring
events. (Jinan,China)
He pointed out the lack of infrastructure in the
development of Chinese garden tourism.
Adam He has not been to China but has visited Chinese Chinese Garden
Enchoen (Tottori,
gardens in countries outside of China. Japan)
He loves the beauty of Chinese gardens combined Palace of Versailles
28with modern architecture. (Paris, France)
Central Park (New
What he finds most attractive about Chinese gardens York, USA)
is their uniqueness.
Bergianska trädgården
(Stockholm, Sweden)
Dora She is a graduate student in landscape architecture Keukenhof Park (Lisse,
and is very knowledgeable about gardens. The Netherlands)
She believes that the historic gardens do not meet Fa Xi Temple
the needs of contemporary visitors and that the (Hangzhou, China)
gardens need to make changes.
5.1 Tourists' factors
Garden tourism is different from traditional tourism because it is not as evident as a
natural landscape that can be awe-inspiring or as a cultural heritage that needs to be
understood in a rich cultural background. As a combination of landscape and cultural
tourism, the visitor's factors in visiting the garden will also have a relatively
significant impact on the quality of tourism. First of all, tourists must have the ability
to appreciate the natural landscape. Chinese gardens mostly use natural topography in
gardening and emphasize the natural beauty in gardening techniques (Wang Wei &
Liu Yang, 2012), which also requires tourists to distinguish this beauty from
untouched natural scenery.
When I visit gardens, I like to focus on the plant configuration and whether
the flowers in the place look good or not. I especially want to visit gardens in
the spring. There are many small gardens in the city where I live filled with
29tulips in the spring, and this natural and colorful feeling makes me feel full
of life (Sally).
Gardens appeal to a specific group of people and the quest for beauty and vibrancy.
The Chinese gardens and some Japanese gardens I have visited have a
stunning landscape, such as small bridges and flowing water and trees of all
kinds of shapes and sizes. In fact, these (landscape elements) can also be
seen in the ordinary countryside, but in Chinese gardens will give me a more
refined atmosphere impact, just like a lovely painting (Jim).
The elements of the garden can be varied to meet the different psychological needs of
the people. For both respondents, what attracted them to the gardens was different,
suggesting that the gardens are unique and that this uniqueness meets the needs of a
diverse group of people.
Gardens, especially Chinese gardens, usually have a long history and rich cultural
connotations, and in the book Shuo Yuan (Chen, Cong-Zhou & Chen, Jian-Xing, 1984)
had this to say about the unique cultural connotations of Chinese gardens: "Chinese
gardens are a comprehensive artwork made of a combination of architecture,
landscape, flowers, and trees, rich in poetry and painting." Visitors with a certain level
of cultural literacy will help them better understand the beauty of gardens.
In 2020 I visited the Jinan Baotu, there's a very famous historic garden
landscape, called "玉树流飞（Yu Shu Liu Fie, means jade trees flowing
fly）." This name from the poem describing the landscape of the spring here.
I really like this mood... Although it may seem silly to others, this is just a
pond with a spring, but if you look at the poem, as a flowing jade tree, it
seems to be in heaven (Han).
For some people who love Chinese culture, a visit to the gardens can help them to
immerse themselves in it.
30A person's personality (psychological) traits can have a more critical impact on the
quality of the visitor's experience. Introverts and extroverts differ in their travel
behavior, with introverts preferring familiar, formal, low-activity tours and extroverts
preferring high-activity, unexplored areas for exploratory travel (Plog 1974). Most
Chinese gardens are rich in Chinese cultural heritage, and for Chinese people, this
familiarity will allow them to understand the visit well, but because of this, tourists
who have never been to China or who are unfamiliar with Chinese culture will have
little opportunity to visit the area and will spend little effort to understand it.
I love eastern culture, but I have never had the chance to China. I only
visited several Chinese-style gardens in Tokyo. I enjoy the old atmosphere
scenery in the city, and sometimes the contrast of seeing some old buildings
in the modern jungles is striking to me... I like the imagination and implicit
of Eastern culture, and the process of exploring something different was
delightful for me (Adam).
The distinctiveness of Chinese gardens can satisfy the curiosity of some visitors.
People have their familiar cultural backgrounds, and Chinese gardens attract visitors
from non-Chinese cultural backgrounds, which is a direction for their tourism
development.
5.2 Tourism resource factor
In the beginning, Chinese gardens were always built for private enjoyment, and
gardens were often part of private homes, with few gardens open to the public.
Through the transformation of modern times, private gardens have gradually been
opened to the public, viewing Chinese garden tourism as a tourism product, and part
of its appeal is often its artistic value and the aesthetic value it brings to people.
Artistic aesthetics is the main content of tourism aesthetics, and from the essence of
tourism, tourists experience the practical process of "cultural aesthetics" and "cultural
31comparison," and aesthetic value is one of the primary functions pursued by classical
Chinese gardens (Lou, Qingxi, 2003). Chinese garden tourism products have the
commonalities of general tourism products, but their core resource factors are the key
to attracting and improving the quality of tourists' tourism experience. These core
resource factors include the uniqueness of the gardens, the participatory nature of the
gardens, the landscape design of the gardens and the historical and cultural richness of
the gardens, and other complex factors. The pursuit of unique things is the nature of
human beings; whether it is exploring the universe and space or the tracking of the
underwater world of the deep sea, all reflect the nature of people to pursue strange and
unique things. This nature is more evident in the process of people visiting and
visiting a scenic spot (whether natural or humanistic), people to a new unknown place,
always want to explore and experience those cultural customs and other attractions
that are different from their daily environment. Garden is a tourism product with
strong regional characteristics, and its artistic uniqueness has a close relationship with
the quality of people's experience (Li Huailan, 2004).
When my friends come to Suzhou to see me, I always take them to gardens
because it is the calling card of my hometown... The most impressive
experience I ever remembered was Wang Shi Yuan garden. This garden is
famous for beautiful lakes and rockeries. They are all small and delicate, like
a French meal, using natural elements to create artificial stuff in a beautiful
way. We all thought it was beautiful and perfect for taking some instagram
photos (Joyce).
Chinese gardens have a unique shape that is more about the variation in form than the
typical layout, a poetic expression of the landscape.
I have been to Bergianska trädgården in Stockholm many times, and I was
impressed by a small Chinese garden in this garden, and I still remember the
structures... I don't really think the design is the best, but it's really refreshing
32to see such an exotic garden in Sweden, and if I mention China, or Asia, the
first image that comes to my mind is Bergianska (Adam).
The imagery and landscape elements of the Chinese garden are a figurative expression
of Chinese culture, where culture and tourism are combined in garden tourism. Both
respondents had an experience of the culture during their visit to the Chinese Garden.
The influence of traditional Chinese culture rooted in the landscape expression of
Chinese gardens is such that visiting the gardens has a more complex cultural impact
on the visitor than mere words and pictures.
5.3 Visitor experience
Most Chinese gardens have a long history and are characterized by heritage tourism,
and there is a problem of authenticity in the tourism of intangible cultural heritage. As
a tour for tourists to visit intangible cultural heritage, tourists will prefer those
authentic intangible cultural heritage from the bottom of their hearts. They will have
some resistance and loss of psychology to that intangible cultural heritage "made" to
meet the needs of tourists, just like ordinary customers (tourists) buying a product (If
a customer (tourist) buys a product (a tour of intangible cultural heritage) if the
product is a fake (intangible cultural heritage may be "made" for the development of
local tourism), the customer's psychology at this time is most likely challenging to
accept the reality. As intangible cultural heritage, gardens that retain a high level of
authenticity can positively affect the quality of the tourist experience.
The most recent Chinese garden I visited was the Summer Palace, a very
famous classical royal garden. The design of this garden is very special. He
combined all the elements of the Chinese landscape from the south to the
north. One of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty wanted to celebrate his
mother's birthday by condensing the entire country's gardens and giving
33them to his mother as a gift. I also went with my mother on this trip. With
these buildings and trees that have not changed in the last hundred years, I
could appreciate what the garden owner wanted to convey to his mother, and
the person also gave me the feeling of empathy (Leo).
Chinese gardens as historical landscapes, it is crucial to preserve the cultural
authenticity for cultural protection, which will deepen the impression of tourists and
give them a sense of being there.
In the era of the experience economy, experience consumption is more reflected in the
active participation degree of consumers, and the active participation degree of
tourists in the process of experience is important, which is an important symbol to
measure the quality of a kind of tourism products ( Pine and Gilmore 1998). The
garden is mainly landscape, and tourists play the role of visitors. Garden tourism
operators increase interactive resources with a high degree of participation, which has
positive significance for improving tourists' visitor experience. The garden tourism
operators increase the interactive resources with high participation, which has positive
significance for improving tourists' visitor experience.
I really like the gardens around some palaces, like the Messe Frankfurt in
Vienna... Such gardens are not a separate attraction, but part of the palace.
After visiting the castle and then walking around the gardens outdoors, it
does have a relaxing and different feeling, like an after-dinner dessert... I
also remember the maze of hedges in the garden, which was fun to wander
through. (Jim)
Apart from the artificial stones, there are few interactive attractions in Chinese
gardens. And in the need for heritage conservation, many garden features are
forbidden to be touched, which affects the experience of many visitors.
345.4 Infrastructure factor
The infrastructure factors of the garden tourist site include (Benfield 2013):
the facilities of the food and accommodation conditions of the tourist site,
the accessibility of the roads,
the completeness of the facilities such as parking at the tourist site, and
public transportation.
The function of eating, living, and traveling is evident in the supporting facilities of
the garden. Most of the garden attractions are enclosed areas, and whether or not they
can provide visitors with quality accommodation and catering services will have a
bearing on the quality of their travel experience. On the issue of hotels, Han said this:
I was very unhappy with my trip to Suzhou. There's one Suzhou garden is so
well known and visited by so many people every day, that if you want to
have a quality visit, then you have to go in the morning when it first opens.
To get there early enough, I had to book a hotel close to the gardens, but
most of the garden sites are located in the center of town, and the hotels in
these places are too expensive and have few options. I don't think such a
splurge was in my travel plans. (Han)
The smallness of Chinese gardens can sometimes be a drawback - as most of them are
in the center of town, space is tight, and they can easily be packed with visitors.
I visited Fa Xi Temple in Hangzhou; there's a temple garden inside. The
biggest impression I got from this place, besides its uniqueness, was the lack
of infrastructure. I think this is not just a problem with this one garden,
because many of the gardens in China are developed from the private
35gardens in the past. During the landscape design process in the past, the
designers didn't consider the possibility of opening to the public, such as
setting up more toilets, cafes and so on. As the park gradually opened to the
public, the scope gradually expanded, but infrastructure construction did not
keep up, but these facilities determine the visitor experience. In addition, in
the Netherlands I also found that there are only one or two toilets in a large
garden, either hidden or not open to the public (Dora).
In addition to restaurants, restrooms, and other facilities that every visitor will use,
some unreasonable phenomena are widespread, including Chinese gardens and most
European gardens.
The infrastructural problems that exist in gardens have been accentuated by the
modernization of society. The experiences of both respondents took place in areas that
are well urbanized, where modern urban design and traditional gardens are at odds,
and such challenges are worthy of attention for both garden designers and managers.
A high-quality service level creates a good environment and atmosphere for garden
tourism and lays the foundation for improving visitors' experience quality. In this
research, I believe that the range of services in garden tourism places includes garden
background interpretation services, service staff's work ethic, and good garden
management. For tourists, visiting gardens can sometimes pray for learning
knowledge in addition to relaxation, but many gardens neglect interpretation services
or have some impersonal services.
The city I live in (Uppsala) has a very famous garden, Linnaeus Garden, but
I didn't enjoy visiting it because I couldn't understand a lot of it. There are
actually many signboards in the garden and there is guide service, but very
little in English. As an immigrant who doesn't speak Swedish very well,
reading all this long text is challenging, and I would have liked more
languages for each attraction and then more clear presentations(penny).
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