Amid rapid tourism commercialization, ancient towns, serving as shared spaces for both tourism and residential life, are undergoing profound transformation and restructuring. Throughout this process, multiple stakeholders interact and compete over landscapes, giving rise to increasingly visible landscape conflicts. While existing research on landscape conflicts has predominantly focused on natural environments, studies conducted within the context of tourism-driven commercialization remain limited, particularly regarding the identification of conflict characteristics, spatial measurement techniques, evaluation methodologies, and regulatory strategies. Landscapes function as heterogeneous mosaics composed of diverse land use types, acting as composite entities that embody both physical substance and symbolic meaning. Current literature suggests that excessive tourism commercialization triggers negative perceptions and resistance among local residents, driven by cultural transformation, social stress, and environmental degradation. However, these studies tend to prioritize the measurement of physical forms while overlooking residents'interactions within“relational space”and their emotional connections to place. Methodologically, there is a lack of comprehensive quantitative assessments that integrate the objective attributes of landscapes with subjective perceptions, hindering the understanding of complex social and spatial relationships. In terms of data, conventional surveys and statistical methods often fall short in accurately characterizing tourism commercial spaces and their associated impacts. Street-view imagery, in contrast, provides a novel technical pathway for precisely identifying the distribution of tourism commercial spaces and evaluating their landscape effects. Taking Dali Ancient City as a case study, this research integrates multi- source data, including street view imagery, remote sensing data, and qualitative interviews, to quantitatively assess the spatial patterns of tourism commercialization. By incorporating metrics of tourism commercialization intensity and land use susceptibility, a landscape conflict model specific to tourism areas is developed to analyze the spatial characteristics and underlying mechanisms of such conflicts. The findings reveal that: (1) Tourism commercialization in Dali Ancient City is unevenly distributed, exhibiting a“clustereddispersed” spatial pattern that drives landscape differentiation into three distinct types: local, mixed, and leisure. (2) The degree of tourism commercialization serves as the dominant factor influencing the scope and intensity of landscape conflicts, moderated by the spatial structure, resource endowment, and locational conditions of the tourism area, which collectively lead to differentiated spatial distribution patterns of landscape conflicts. Specifically, conflicts in leisure landscapes display a polycentric distribution along street networks, diminishing radially from intersections. Mixed landscapes exhibit block- scale conflict patterns due to spatial superposition effects, while local landscapes show no significant conflict. (3) Through the participation and interaction of multiple actors, tourism commercialization creatively disrupts landscape forms, functions, and meanings. The resulting phenomena of landscape amnesia and landscape restrictions collectively contribute to the emergence of landscape conflicts in tourism destinations. Theoretically, this study advances beyond traditional empirical paradigms in tourism conflict research by constructing a landscape conflict model. Practically, it offers insights for community governance and landscape conflict management, promoting positive interaction between tourism development and local communities. Moreover, the integration of multi-source data expands the methodological scope of tourism commercialization studies and enriches the application of street view imagery in tourism studies.

The development of tourism in China is rooted in the country's macro development strategy since the reform and opening up program. Following this program, China's tourism economy has developed rapidly, and the issue of tourism consumption has attracted much attention. To comprehensively investigate the overall pattern and evolution of China's tourism consumption research under the“new normal”of the Chinese economy, this study identified tourism consumption research literature from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database, systematically reviewed high- quality publications since 1980, and attempted to construct an analytical framework. The findings show that the study of tourism consumption in China is closely related to the national strategic orientation and the development of industrial practice. Taking 1992 and 2009 as pivots, tourism consumption research can be divided into three stages: formative, rapid growth, and deepening. The research topics identified are both continuous and changeable, and the overall research landscape is becoming increasingly standardized and refined. In terms of content, research on China's tourism consumption covers three major themes: First, it focuses on the market characteristics and evolving trends of tourism consumption, with an emphasis on macro-, meso-, and micro-level studies on issues such as the scale and level of tourism consumption, the structure and key business types of tourism consumption, and the behavior and evolving trends of tourism consumption, reflecting the question,“What are the characteristics of tourism consumption.”Second, using tourism consumption as the dependent variable, it has explored various economic and non-economic factors that affect tourism consumption to determine“Why tourism consumption is like this.”Third, using tourism consumption as an independent variable, research has analyzed the value and effects of tourism for individuals, families, and society to address the question, “What are the effects of tourism consumption.”Research has mainly relied on economic theories, but has integrated disciplines such as sociology, psychology, and ecology. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods have been used, but there has been a gradual focus on quantitative empirical research. Overall, research on tourism consumption in China has made unique contributions in confirming and expanding Western theories, integrating multiple theories, and constructing cross- model explanatory frameworks. To some extent, it has also focused on unique local contexts and problems, achieving knowledge spillover from international tourism consumption research. From a practical perspective, vigorously boosting consumption and comprehensively expanding domestic demand have been identified as the top priorities for current economic development. Based on this consideration, efforts to improve the autonomy and scientific nature of research on China's tourism consumption are needed, focused on the following aspects: emphasizing theoretical construction and promoting the localization of research on China's tourism consumption; emphasizing methodological innovation to improve the scientific explanatory power of tourism consumption research; expanding the research objectives and focusing on the tourism consumption phenomenon from the perspective of groups; and expanding research content and promoting the refinement and deepening of tourism consumption research.

Visiting cultural heritage sites enables tourists to acquire historical knowledge, appreciate cultural diversity, and deepen their cultural awareness. Being moved, as a unique affective state, plays a significant role in shaping heritage tourism experiences and enhancing historical and cultural influence. This study adopts the World Cultural Heritage Site Mogao Grottoes, as a case study. Compared with other heritage and landscape typologies, the Mogao Grottoes exhibit distinctive characteristics in ecological context, landscape manifestation, and intrinsic value. This uniqueness renders it an exemplary case study for investigating the mechanisms of tourist being moved—a phenomenon encompassing both awe toward its artistic grandeur and profound admiration for its guardians' dedication. From the perspective of affect theory, online text analysis and photo-elicitation interviews are conducted to examine the mechanism of tourists being moved. In detail, this study explores the initial reason, appraisal patterns, immediate reaction, and result of tourist being moved. The results are revealed by constructing grounded theory. Research has found that the initial reason for being moved mainly includes cultural emotion and challenges in space, both of which together constitute the prior foundation of the appraisal patterns of being moved. Being moved can be divided into instinctive being moved and deep being moved. The specific manifestation of the appraisal patterns of instinctive being moved is that tourists immerse themselves in the Mogao Grottoes, forming a embodied context construction. Being on-site satisfies tourists'lasting wishes. While deep being moved are reflected in the multi-level alternation and linkage of physical and mental experiences in the moment of presence, mainly triggered by the impact of spectacular landscapes, the impact of creation and protection, returning to self and reflections on life. Therein, well- known characters and landscapes complement each other in the Mogao Grottoes. The impact of spectacular landscapes, as well as the impact of humans'creation and protection, greatly intensifies tourists'affect. Meanwhile, the physiological and psychological reactions are also evident. The impact and value of being moved are specifically reflected in value for money, with honor, awakening mission, and emotional attachment, containing positive thoughts and behavioral tendencies. Cultural heritage sites constitute an affect-device driven by automatic consciousness that inspires tourists being moved, and the experience of tourists being moved in heritage tourism becomes a significant affect-practice.This study provides theoretical reference and practical implications for heritage sites to create a touching atmosphere for tourists. Cultural heritage sites need to focus on the production of affect- elements, trigger, cultivate, and protect the being moved of tourists, stimulate their strong emotional recognition, and achieve the goal of tourists , acceptance, sharing, memory inheritance, and dissemination of cultural heritage values. In practice, heritage site mangers can fully utilize the positive social function of being moved.

With the widespread application of artificial intelligence and service robot technology in the tourism industry, tourism service models are undergoing a profound transformation from traditional interpersonal services to human-machine collaborative services. In the hospitality service industry, in which experience is a key characteristic, collaboration between service robots and frontline human staff plays a crucial role in service interactions. In new scenarios involving human- machine joint participation in the service process, tourists'trust in“hybrid”service systems has become a key psychological mechanism influencing their acceptance and evaluation of such services, and constitutes an important research topic of increasing concern.
On the basis of interdependence theory, the current study focused on three key human- machine collaboration cues in tourism service scenarios: (1) Co-presence mode cues (simultaneous presence vs. sequential presence), revealing the impact of human-machine co-occurrence or alternating participation on the interaction structure during the service process; (2) Coordination information cues (presence vs. absence), emphasizing whether effective communication and information consistency are achieved between humans and machines; and (3) Supervisory cues (human employee vs. robot employee), reflecting the perception of service control and dominant roles. This study proposes that these cues influence tourists'perception of the smoothness and cohesion of the human- machine team process, thereby affecting their level of trust in the entire human-robot collaborative service system.
Preliminary experiment and four studies with a total of 1362 participants indicated that allowing tourists to observe coordinated cues of human- robot collaboration during the service process can strengthen their perception of service process fluency and team cohesion, thereby enhancing their perceived trust in the service team. Regarding tourists'interactions with offline service robots and human employees, the results revealed that simultaneous co- presence, compared with sequential copresence, significantly positively impacted tourists'perception of service process fluency, team cohesion, and trust perception. The results suggested that interactions between co- presence cues and coordination cues strengthen tourists'trust perception.
The current findings enrich current theoretical understandings of team collaboration structure perception in human- robot collaboration trust research and expand related knowledge of trust construction mechanisms. Additionally, the results may have practical applications for tourism enterprises seeking to provide trust-optimized collaborative design strategies when building intelligent service systems, enhancing tourists'service acceptance and satisfaction.

Tourists'perception and experience of time has emerged as a significant topic in tourism research. Much of the existing literature, however, continues to treat time as an external, quantifiable resource, rather than as a dimension actively sensed and endowed with meaning by tourists themselves. Focusing on trekking, a highly embodied and time- sensitive form of tourism, this study adopts a qualitative approach to explore how trekking tourists perceive time across different phases of their journey, and how this process reconfigures their understanding of time in everyday life.
Drawing on 39 online trekking narratives and in-depth interviews with 13 participants, this research employs a grounded theory methodology with iterative coding to identify key temporal constructs and to build an empirically based analytical framework. Findings reveal that trekking tourists'time perception follows a five-stage dynamic model, processing from pre-trip weighing and planning to posttrip review and reconstruction, rather than a simple linear“before-during-after”sequence.
Throughout these stages, trekker experience is shaped by the shifting interplay between two temporal frameworks: instrumental time, rooted in modern, scheduled and efficiency-oriented time use, emphasizing control and optimization; and experiential time , anchored in embodied presence and immersion, aligned with bodily rhythms and natural cycles. The evolving relationship between these frameworks forms what this paper terms a“scissors-gap”structure. Subjectively, fluctuations in time perception reflect the dynamic psychological tension between instrumental and experiential time.
Empirically, the analysis illustrates how trekkers willingly invest preparatory effort in exchange for anticipated experiential fulfillment. On the trail, they temporarily suspend daily temporal structures, allowing bodily rhythms to synchronize with environmental cadences. Post- trip, they reassess both trekking time and ordinary time through memory, comparison and reflection.
On this basis, the study adopts existential temporal experience to describe the integrative outcome of these cycles. The significance of trekking lies not only in offering a temporary escape from everyday time pressure, but in guiding tourists from a state of tension between instrumental and experiential time towards a more unified and reflexive stance on time. Rather than rejecting instrumental, trekkers learn to recognize its limits and move more consciously between different temporal logics, ultimately cultivating a sense of time subjectivity.
Overall, the study provides a fresh perspective on the essence of tourist experience and contemporary time- related anxiety. Although centered on trekking tourists, the instrumental-experiential time framework also sheds light on the temporal dynamics of other tourist types navigating efficiency demands and experiential pursuits. The findings further suggest that tourism planning and design should consider not only spatial arrangements, but also the creation of temporal conditions that encourage slowing down and reflection, rather than compressing activities into limited time.

Generative artificial intelligence in travel itinerary planning faces a cognitive- behavioral gap, where high user satisfaction coexists with low sustained usage rates. Traditional technology adoption models fail to explain this paradox due to their neglect of dynamic human-AI collaboration, particularly their inability to capture users, complete decision-making chains from solution generation to multi-round adjustments. To address this issue, this study proposes a dual-stage task-fit framework of “functional fit-adjustment feasibility”, integrating theoretical constructs and empirical analysis of 605 valid questionnaires to reveal the formation mechanism of continuance intention. In the generation stage, the quality of AI- generated solutions (encompassing completeness, accuracy, and relevance) constitutes the core driver of functional fit, while technological risks (e.g., content hallucination from algorithmic flaws, trust crises from explainability gaps) significantly inhibit it; users, technical familiarity buffers these negative effects by forming a critical cognitive protective barrier through cognitive attribution optimization and compensatory strategy activation. In the adjustment stage, operational fluency (manifested in response agility, interface intuitiveness, and error tolerance) empowers adjustment feasibility, with its effects amplified by users' fine- tuning capabilities (e.g., prompt refinement and feedback interpretation). However, emotional drain and cognitive load arising from revision processes emerge as substantial constraints, particularly triggering behavioral discontinuation when time costs exceed tolerance thresholds, leading to the termination of itinerary refinement processes.
The two-stage synergy realizes value conversion through task fit, wherein functional fit provides the initial quality foundation for solution optimization and adjustment feasibility ensures the sustainability of iterative refinement. Together, both factors drive continuance intention through the full mediation of task fit. This mechanism clarifies that users, recognition of technical capabilities must be translated into task- level efficacy perceptions — the assessment of“whether this tool can genuinely assist in completing ideal itinerary planning”— to bridge the cognitive-behavioral gap.
The theoretical contributions manifest as three breakthroughs. First, the innovative construction of a dynamic human- AI collaboration model redefines users as active adjusters rather than passive recipients, thereby transcending the limitation of static scenarios inherent in traditional task-technology fit theory; second, the established risk-partitioning framework distinguishes between technologyinherent risks (requiring algorithmic iteration) and interaction-process risks (requiring human-centered design optimization), outlining differential mitigation paths; third, empirical validation confirms the pivotal role of task fit, revealing that technical attributes must be evaluated through the lens of taskefficacy to be transformed into behavioral intentions, thereby establishing a new paradigm for generative AI adoption research.
Based on these findings, the researchers propose synergistic development pathways across three dimensions. At the technological level, platforms should construct dynamic knowledge graphs to enhance information accuracy, develop spatiotemporal logic algorithms to ensure itinerary coherence, and introduce intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces to reduce the cognitive burden of revisions. At the user level, efforts should focus on attribution training to reshape perceptions of technological risks, building a repository of compensation strategies to bolster risk-response capabilities, and providing specialized fine- tuning training to improve operational efficacy. At the regulatory level, it is advised to certify algorithm credibility to standardize foundational technological risks, set emotional load circuit-breaker standards to manage adjustment- derived risks, and establish proximity- based resource matching mechanisms to enhance decision support. This framework provides a theoretical foundation and practical guidelines for scaling generative AI in itinerary planning scenarios. Future research could explore cross- generational user comparisons, validate thresholds across diverse scenarios, examine mechanism evolution through technological iterations, and particularly investigate how multimodal interactions reshape operational fluency.

With the deepening integration of culture and tourism, evaluating integration performance through the lens of tourist experience has become a key research issue. From a demand-side perspective, this study constructs a measurement framework for cultural and tourism integration based on the concept of cultural atmosphere and introduces a large language model (LLM)-assisted content analysis method. Using large-scale online reviews from 29 representative scenic spots within China's newly established National Cultural and Tourism Integration Demonstration Zones as empirical cases, the study quantitatively measures their integration levels along three experiential dimensions—physical, emotional, and spiritual—identifies integration types, and verifies the theoretical validity and methodological robustness of the proposed framework. The results show that: 1) Cultural atmosphere measurement provides an effective theoretical approach for analyzing and evaluating demand- side integration outcomes, and the LLM- assisted content analysis method demonstrates strong reliability in assessing integration levels. The overall integration performance of these scenic spots exhibits significant dispersion: the mean composite score is moderate, with a wide gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring scenic spots. High-scoring scenic spots typically display balanced profiles across physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions, whereas lower-scoring ones tend to overemphasize physical sensations while lagging in emotional resonance and spiritual identification. Verification with tourist ratings and platform scores confirms that the derived indicators track perceived quality more closely than a generic sentiment baseline. 2) The cultural atmosphere measurement effectively distinguishes four integration types with distinct structural characteristics among the scenic spots—high cultural atmosphere, high emotional experience, high physical experience, and low cultural atmosphere. High cultural atmosphere types achieve balanced and high- level performance by combining effective narrative design with value communication, thereby converting cultural display into emotional resonance and identity recognition. High emotional experience types pair strong storytelling with deep content development, producing closely aligned emotional and spiritual responses grounded in rich heritage resources. High physical experience types excel in sensory participation but often fall short of elevating sensations into enduring meanings due to weaker narrative transformation. Low cultural atmosphere types underperform across all dimensions. 3) Resource endowments emphasized by supply-side assessments are foundational yet insufficient to produce a strong cultural atmosphere on the demand side. Differences in heritage value levels do not directly correspond to tourists'perceived atmosphere or its subdimensions. Scenic spots with prominent historical and cultural value can still register muted atmosphere when interpretation is insufficient or communication channels are ineffective; conversely, scenic spots with modest endowments can cultivate salient cultural atmosphere through innovative storytelling, localized displays, and clear value transmission. Theoretically, this study substantiates cultural atmosphere as a demand- side measurement framework for culture-tourism integration, demonstrates its feasibility and applicability at the micro level, and helps reorient integration research from supply-side resource inventories to demand-side experience-oriented logics. Methodologically, it establishes an LLM-driven, review-based evaluation framework that converts large-scale user-generated content into multidimensional, interpretable indicators. At the same time, it provides strategic guidance for public authorities and destination managers in promoting the deep integration and coordinated development of culture and tourism.

The strong demand for resort tourism in China shows trends toward diversification and personalization. For example, the transformation of rural tourism foci from sightseeing to resort- style experiences has become a crucial pathway for upgrading rural tourism and innovative developments in rural tourism destinations. This transformation has made resortification one of the primary characteristics of China's rural tourism landscape. Following the effective implementation of relevant policies, increasingly abundant resources, continuous innovation in themed activities, and gradual improvements in tourism facilities, rural areas are steadily becoming key locations for resort tourism development. First, this paper reviews the evolution of resort tourism both domestically and internationally. Through a comparative analysis of the cultural connotations and resource foundations of mainstream resort tourism products, this paper identifies rural resort tourism as a significant trend in China. Second, at the theoretical level, the connotations and characteristics of this shift from sightseeing to resort-style experiences can be explained using the push-pull theory of travel motivation. This paper summarizes the practical carriers of resortification in rural areas, including regional landscapes, ecological environments, tourism facilities, tourism formats, and festival events. Following practical developments, six representative types of resort activities were identified in rural tourism: folk culture, pastoral farming, health and wellness, sports and leisure, natural ecology, and light- luxury lifestyles. Finally, considering research gaps in the academic literature, this paper proposes four key future research directions: constructing a theoretical framework for rural tourism resortification, exploring its relationship with rural human- land interactions, studying its role in rural revitalization, and investigating its connections with urban- rural integration at the county level. This paper aims to provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the development of rural resort tourism, to draw greater academic attention to this emerging phenomenon, and offers practical insights for the transformation and upgrading of rural tourism in China.

With the acceleration of urbanization and the emergence of new educational demands, nature education camps have become important educational spaces that promote the connection between humans and nature. Compared to the rapid market development, geographical research on this educational landscape remains limited, and a deeper understanding is needed regarding the geographical drivers, processes, and effects of nature education camp construction. This study conducts a case study on a typical nature education camp in the suburbs of Guangzhou. Utilizing qualitative research methods such as participatory observation and semi- structured interviews, and incorporating field theory, the study interprets the driving forces, processes, experiential effects, and conflicting mechanisms in the construction of the local field of the camp. The findings reveal that: 1) Urban parents, imaginations of nature are the core driving force behind the formation of the camp,s local field; 2) The construction of nature camps is characterized by its procedural, dynamic, and relational (material) nature, formed through the integration of human and non- human actors, structured and unstructured knowledge, and elements based on rural location and locality; 3) Students participating in camp activities gain a certain degree of autonomy and develop deeper subject cognition; 4) The organizational seriousness of camp courses, element limitations, and advocacy for public welfare often face challenges due to their economic and product attributes, leading to identity conflicts within the field and resulting in field instability. This study theoretically responds to current research hotspots in rural eco- tourism and nature education, expands the understanding of the human- nature relationship characteristics of nature education camps with multiple functions such as education and tourism, and provides a geographical theoretical perspective and empirical solution for nature education research. Practically, it also offers empirical references for the construction and development of nature education camps and other integrated products combining“nature + tourism + education.”

The current literature supports the significant value of“love”in tourism destination marketing. In the practice of tourism destination management, a key challenge is how to entice tourists to fall in love with and maintain long-term emotional bonds with a destination. While the research topic of love has garnered considerable attention in sociology, psychology, and marketing, it has not been fully explored in the tourism context. The place attachment theory in cultural geography and tourism geography defines the relationship between tourists and destinations as an emotional attachment, assuming that tourists are satisfied with the destination. The“destination love”concept proposed in this paper is a more inclusive emotional construct, encompassing differentiated emotions composed of intimacy, passion, and commitment, reflecting diverse emotional possibilities in tourist-destination interactions. The theoretical assumption of destination love posits that destinations have certain imperfections, and tourists are not fully satisfied with them. Based on Sternberg's triangular theory of love, this paper expands the research perspective from idealized destinations to imperfect ones, further examining destination types based on differences in emotional levels and human- place relationships rooted in destination imperfections. The findings indicate that“destination love”, as a structured emotion, comprises three dimensions: intimacy, passion, and commitment. These three dimensions interact to form different types of love experiences between tourists and destinations, including consummate love, infatuated love, companionate love, liking, and companionship love, corresponding to five tourist types: long-term destination enthusiasts, sightseers, repeat vacationers, organized group tourists, and short- term destination enthusiasts. The manifestation of these three dimensions exhibits significant differences among different tourist types. For example, organized group tourists exhibit “intimacy without passion or commitment” repeat vacationers show“intimacy and commitment without passion”, while long-term destination enthusiasts perfectly embody all three dimensions. The construct of destination love proposed in this study, on the one hand, addresses the theoretical limitation of attachment as the dominant emotion in research on tourist- destination interactions. On the other hand, it resonates with the destination types anchored by place attachment theory-love for distant places and love for hometowns jointly constitute a complete emotional interpretation of humans'everydaylife world and tourism world. The aforementioned conclusions provide practical implications for improving destination imperfections, developing differentiated emotional products, and predicting the quality of tourist-destination relationships.

Rural tourism has become a vital vehicle for advancing rural revitalisation, offering new economic opportunities and fostering community development. Within this context, educational tourism has emerged as a distinctive mode of engagement that enables local residents to participate not only as service providers but also as knowledge agents. However, the pathways through which rural residents engage with educational tourism remain varied and uneven. This study investigates the differentiated forms of participation among rural residents, examining how willingness, capability, and structural barriers interact to shape engagement outcomes. Drawing on a case study of Danxia Mountain in Guangdong province, China, this research employs non-participant observation and semistructured interviews to explore residents'knowledge empowerment trajectories and the challenges they face. Findings reveal a four-part typology based on the intersection of willingness and capability: 1) Active participants—residents with strong willingness and high capacity, often situated at the centre of local knowledge networks and actively involved in structured learning and tourism activities; 2) Strategic selectors—residents with high capability but limited willingness, whose participation is often driven by external incentives and may shift over time depending on perceived benefits; 3) Potential transformers—willing individuals with limited capacity, whose engagement remains fragile due to lack of training, support, or access to resources; and 4) Passive bystanders—residents with low willingness and capacity, often marginalised in community initiatives and reliant on peripheral sources of information. The study identifies multiple barriers that reinforce participation disparities and limit upward mobility across typological categories. These include restricted market opportunities, the accumulation of advantage among early adopters (first- mover effects), gaps in institutional support for training and mentorship, and the misalignment between policy frameworks and grassroots community development. Psychological constraints, such as low self- efficacy and risk aversion, further exacerbate disengagement. Without sustained support and targeted interventions, educational tourism risks reproducing inequality rather than serving as a platform for inclusive development. By introducing a two- dimensional typological framework based on residents'knowledge absorption willingness and knowledge acquisition capability , this study offers a nuanced lens for understanding the dynamic transitions and structural constraints within community- based tourism participation. It unpacks the“black box”of knowledge empowerment, revealing how learning pathways, participation trajectories, and role transformations are mediated by both internal motivations and external systems. The findings underscore the need for multilevel policy innovation, equitable resource distribution, and context- sensitive support mechanisms to enhance community inclusion. Educational tourism, if not coupled with sustained knowledge-building and capacity development, may fail to integrate residents into the core of tourism networks and undermine long-term participatory resilience. This study contributes significantly to the academic understanding of educational tourism by illuminating the differentiated, dynamic, and multi- scalar nature of rural residents'participation. It moves beyond homogenised views of community engagement by offering a nuanced typological framework that captures the heterogeneity in residents'willingness and capabilities to engage in tourism- related knowledge acquisition and transformation. Through this framework, the study reveals how individuals occupy and transition between different participatory roles—ranging from active participants to passive bystanders—based on shifting internal motivations, evolving capabilities, and changing external conditions such as institutional support and market structures.