Perceived tourism implicit conflict among community residents and its spatial variation

Tourism can stimulate rural economic development and community sustainability, but it also generates conflicts among local stakeholders. Beyond explicit disputes, tourism-related conflicts include implicit forms such as psychological discomfort, grievances, and rejection behaviors. Existing research has tended to emphasize explicit conflicts and treat residents' experiences as homogeneous, while paying limited attention to the spatial dynamics of implicit conflict. Drawing on core–periphery theory and the relational nature of space, the study asks how residents living in distinct spatial structures within a tourism community (core, expanded, peripheral) perceive implicit conflict and how these perceptions are spatially distributed. It further aims to integrate sociological perspectives on conflict with geographical spatial analysis, addressing a gap in cross-disciplinary approaches. The proposed contribution includes introducing spatial relative deprivation to explain heterogeneous conflict perceptions arising from unequal development and power geometries within tourism spaces.

Conflict can be broadly defined as a process that begins when one party perceives another has negatively affected something they care about, encompassing stages from potential opposition to outcomes. Tourism in rural areas can bring benefits but also produces multi-faceted conflicts among stakeholders over benefit distribution, values, and governance. Tourism conflicts have been categorized into socio-cultural, economic, and environmental types, and span external, intra-community, and tourist–resident conflicts. Prior studies often emphasize explicit conflicts and rely on sociological methods, with fewer works identifying conflict potential spatially. Core–periphery relations, evident at community scales, structure uneven development and power geometries. Traditional distance-based definitions of periphery have evolved alongside transport advances and infrastructure considerations. In China, conservation and development strategies have reshaped internal core–periphery dynamics in ancient towns, often advantaging expanded areas and marginalizing cores and peripheries in different ways. Relative deprivation theory explains negative emotions arising from social comparison and has been used in tourism to understand host attitudes, anti-tourism movements, and rural conflict. However, intensive, systematic applications remain limited, and the spatial dimension of deprivation is under-theorized. This study integrates spatial (in)justice, core–periphery theory, and relative deprivation to examine implicit conflict and proposes the concept of spatial relative deprivation to capture negative emotions linked to spatial comparisons of resources, rights, and opportunities across areas and over time.

Study site: Qingmuchuan Ancient Town, Ningqiang County, Shaanxi Province, China. Tourism began around 2005; the town was rated AAAA in 2014. The historic old street (core) concentrates heritage and tourists but faces building restrictions and limited local revenue. A newer street (expanded area) across the river concentrates stores, restaurants, and accommodations with higher economic reliance on tourism, involving locals and migrants. Peripheral villages (Weijiaba, Nanba, Zhaojiaba, Jinxi) have limited tourist engagement despite natural resources. Based on core–periphery theory, the area was classified into core (old street), expanded (new street), and peripheral (four villages). Pre-research was conducted 18–19 Aug 2020 to refine instruments. A team of nine trained researchers conducted 10 days of onsite data collection beginning 20 Aug 2020. Mixed-methods data collection combined semi-structured interviews and participatory mapping (PPGIS/PM) with paper satellite-image maps (1:4000), stickers, and a questionnaire (demographics; open-ended questions on significant places, dissatisfaction/negative emotions, antagonistic behaviors). Map literacy assistance was provided. Sampling targeted long-term residents or external merchants with ≥5 years in the town, with balanced representation across the three areas, and in-person household interviews. A total of 330 residents participated (103 core, 120 expanded, 107 peripheral). Demographic profile included 171 men, 159 women; majority over age 30; 60.6% had annual household income > RMB 40,000. Data processing: 1) Qualitative analysis: interview recordings were transcribed; NVivo used for open, axial, and selective coding by two independent coders; frequencies and proportions calculated with NVivo/SPSS. 2) Spatial visualization: thematic categories from coding were linked to interview text and field-mapped point data; category codes were assigned to GIS points and added to attribute tables for spatial representation. 3) Kernel density mapping in ArcGIS 10.6 identified spatial agglomeration of conflict with cell size 25 m and search radius 150 m (accounting for placement error and map scale). 4) Standard deviation ellipse (SDE) analysis summarized spatial distribution (gravity center, axes, azimuth) of conflict types across resident groups. Ethical procedures included informed consent, optional recording, pseudonyms, and approval by the university ethics committee.

Coding yielded 2,221 coded segments across four conflict types and 18 subcategories. Management conflict had the highest number of coded instances, encompassing poor public services, lack of integrated planning, constrained lives and livelihoods, anomie of public authority, and absence of government regulation. Across areas, all groups reported shortages of medical equipment/staff. Core-area residents most strongly perceived constraints on housing/livelihoods and issues with public authority; expanded-area residents most emphasized absence of government regulation. Economic conflict focused on unequal benefit distribution, rising costs, unregulated competition, constrained commercial activities, and widening wealth gaps. Core and peripheral residents stressed uneven commercial investment and inequality; peripheral residents perceived the starkest wealth gaps and marginalization. Environmental conflict included overcrowding, noise, garbage, water pollution, and incongruous greening. Expanded-area residents were most sensitive to environmental issues within their residential spaces (notably unruly sightseeing tricycle use and parking); peripheral residents noted water pollution locally and overcrowding on the new street; core residents emphasized linear overcrowding/noise along the old street. Cultural conflict centered on erosion of local distinctiveness, over-commercialization, inadequate heritage protection, and degeneration of local folkways. Core residents highlighted authenticity loss (e.g., 'fake Old Town'); peripheral residents stressed value shifts toward profit and loss of traditional sociality. Spatial patterns (SDE): All three groups showed similar NW–SE orientation with rotation ~82–86°. Spatial extent of mapped conflict increased with distance from the tourism core: core 0.48 km², expanded 0.76 km², peripheral 0.89 km²; gravity centers shifted westward with increasing dispersion from core to periphery. Vertical dispersion (YStdDist): core 241.37 m (most concentrated), expanded 347.83 m, peripheral 359.05 m (most dispersed). Hotspots: management conflict widely distributed across old/new streets, public service facilities, and administrative entities; economic hotspots clustered at Xiaobaiyang Supermarket and Qingmuchuan Farmers’ Market; environmental hotspots internal to residential areas (expanded area concentrated in new street); cultural hotspots concentrated at heritage/tourist landmarks in core/expanded areas. Internality vs externality: Each group mapped conflicts within their residential areas (internality) while also mapping conflicts beyond them across the ancient town (externality), with expanded-area mappings showing strongest internality and peripheral-area mappings showing greatest externality.

The study bridges sociological and geographical paradigms by spatially visualizing qualitative perceptions of implicit conflict, enabling community participation and management insights. Findings confirm that management conflict—reflecting structural deficiencies such as backward public services and lack of coordinated planning—is a primary concern across areas, consistent with structural rural–urban imbalances and marginalization under externally driven development. Differences across spatial structures align with core–periphery dynamics: core residents experience livelihood and housing constraints under conservation regimes; expanded areas focus on governance issues and market competition; peripheral residents experience economic exclusion and cultural loss despite bearing externalities of tourism. The coexistence of internality ('conflict just in my backyard') and externality indicates residents’ attention to both immediate living spaces and broader community-scale issues, complicating simple assumptions about purely self-interested NIMBY attitudes. To explain heterogeneous perceptions under uneven development, the study advances spatial relative deprivation: negative emotions arising from spatial comparisons of resources, services, and opportunities across areas and over time. This concept foregrounds the dynamically constructed nature of tourism space and power geometries in shaping conflict, complementing benefit-distribution explanations. Policy implications include prioritizing intrinsic and micro-scale community values; innovating spatial planning from functional zoning toward community-based ecological network planning (e.g., greenways linking core and periphery); and establishing diversified spatial compensation tailored to area types (monetary/in-kind for core, intellectual/consulting for expanded, policy/employment support for periphery).

Implicit tourism conflict in rural ancient town settings is multi-dimensional—management, economic, environmental, and cultural—and varies by spatial structure within the community. Management conflict is prioritized by all resident groups, while specific concerns diverge: expanded-area residents emphasize regulatory absence and market competition; peripheral residents emphasize wealth gaps and degeneration of folkways; core residents emphasize constraints on living space and authenticity loss. Spatially, perceived conflicts show both internality within residential areas and externality across the entire town, with expanded-area mappings most internal and peripheral-area mappings most external. The study proposes spatial relative deprivation to explain how spatially uneven development and power geometries generate negative emotions and implicit conflict. Methodologically, combining grounded theory with GIS-based PPGIS provides a spatially explicit lens on qualitative conflict data to inform planning and management. Future research should refine participatory mapping precision, bolster map literacy, and incorporate perspectives of governments, enterprises, and visitors to widen the analytical framework.

Paper-based PPGIS precision is limited: when locations are too detailed for fixed-scale maps, participants may mark generalized areas, introducing digitization error; future studies should combine online and paper PPGIS for accuracy and efficiency. Validity is affected by varying map literacy; improved instructions and map preparation are needed. The analysis focuses on community residents; future work should include other stakeholders (local government, tourism enterprises, visitors) to broaden conflict analysis.