Tourism and new rurality: gentrified space versus co-created place

This study develops a conceptual framework of rural tourism placemaking based on gentrified space in China's desakota villages. It indicates three types of rural tourism placemaking and uncover the underlying power relationships between tourists, local villagers and owners of gentrified premises that shape the varied placemaking. In particular, the present study pinpoints the importance of co-creation in rural tourism placemaking with three stages: physical reconstructing, local participation in tourism, and relational integration between multiple parties. This study indicates that the rural tourism placemaking through co-creation involves a balanced power relationship between multiple parties and transforms the space to a meaningful place that each party can claim and benefit from.