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Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective

Dan Jin, Zhanar Nurgazina, Ruotong Liu, Kei Wei Chia, Erose Sthapit, Brian Garrod Orcid Logo

Tourism Planning & Development

Swansea University Author: Brian Garrod Orcid Logo

Abstract

Local governments in Hainan Island, China, have been observed to make decisions about the development of tourism real estate that seem to conflict with their broader sustainable tourism development goals. The purpose of this study is to apply public choice theory to: (i) identify the drivers of loca...

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Published in: Tourism Planning & Development
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa72134
first_indexed 2026-06-22T09:40:19Z
last_indexed 2026-06-23T04:31:18Z
id cronfa72134
recordtype SURis
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spelling 2026-06-22T10:40:17.9321396 v2 72134 2026-06-22 Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective 4f81981d78ed3082b232463da24d1bb9 0000-0002-5468-6816 Brian Garrod Brian Garrod true false 2026-06-22 CBAE Local governments in Hainan Island, China, have been observed to make decisions about the development of tourism real estate that seem to conflict with their broader sustainable tourism development goals. The purpose of this study is to apply public choice theory to: (i) identify the drivers of local government decision-making with respect to the development of tourism real estate, and (ii) explore the apparent misalignment between their real-estate development decisions and broader sustainable tourism objectives. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 12 real-estate developers and three provincial officials. The resulting data were then subjected to thematic analysis. The analysis revealed two main drivers of decision making: the duality of national policies that simultaneously encourage the expansion of tourism real estate and the application of strict, albeit weakly enforced, real-estate regulations; and the reliance of local governments on land sales, performance evaluations based on GDP growth and political cycles encourage the prioritization of the real-estate development and rent-seeking behaviors. These findings reinforce the view that local governments behave as rational economic actors by balancing public obligations and self-interest. The result is that real-estate speculations tend to be privileged over sustainable tourism development. Journal Article Tourism Planning & Development 0 0 0 0001-01-01 COLLEGE NANME Management School COLLEGE CODE CBAE Swansea University Not Required 2026-06-22T10:40:17.9321396 2026-06-22T10:35:13.0924446 School of Management Business Dan Jin 1 Zhanar Nurgazina 2 Ruotong Liu 3 Kei Wei Chia 4 Erose Sthapit 5 Brian Garrod 0000-0002-5468-6816 6
title Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective
spellingShingle Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective
Brian Garrod
title_short Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective
title_full Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective
title_fullStr Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective
title_full_unstemmed Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective
title_sort Exploring local government behaviors towards the sustainable development of tourism real estate in Hainan Island: A public choice theory perspective
author_id_str_mv 4f81981d78ed3082b232463da24d1bb9
author_id_fullname_str_mv 4f81981d78ed3082b232463da24d1bb9_***_Brian Garrod
author Brian Garrod
author2 Dan Jin
Zhanar Nurgazina
Ruotong Liu
Kei Wei Chia
Erose Sthapit
Brian Garrod
format Journal article
container_title Tourism Planning & Development
institution Swansea University
college_str School of Management
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id schoolofmanagement
hierarchy_top_title School of Management
hierarchy_parent_id schoolofmanagement
hierarchy_parent_title School of Management
department_str Business{{{_:::_}}}School of Management{{{_:::_}}}Business
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Local governments in Hainan Island, China, have been observed to make decisions about the development of tourism real estate that seem to conflict with their broader sustainable tourism development goals. The purpose of this study is to apply public choice theory to: (i) identify the drivers of local government decision-making with respect to the development of tourism real estate, and (ii) explore the apparent misalignment between their real-estate development decisions and broader sustainable tourism objectives. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 12 real-estate developers and three provincial officials. The resulting data were then subjected to thematic analysis. The analysis revealed two main drivers of decision making: the duality of national policies that simultaneously encourage the expansion of tourism real estate and the application of strict, albeit weakly enforced, real-estate regulations; and the reliance of local governments on land sales, performance evaluations based on GDP growth and political cycles encourage the prioritization of the real-estate development and rent-seeking behaviors. These findings reinforce the view that local governments behave as rational economic actors by balancing public obligations and self-interest. The result is that real-estate speculations tend to be privileged over sustainable tourism development.
published_date 0001-01-01T05:31:18Z
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score 11.110258

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