1. Introduction
Over time, cities develop characteristic urban communities through their unique cultural histories, such as Beijing’s hutong culture, Shanghai’s “lane” culture, and Chengdu’s “alley” culture. These specifically reflect the city’s geographical environment, living customs, historical heritage, and become the main source of attraction for tourists [
1]. Communities are the basic unit where tourists could experience different lifestyles and material products [
2]. Urban community tourism (UCT) is a form of tourism showcasing the local culture of an urban community. Following the emergence of tourist infrastructure, an urban community will typically evolve into a tourism community, i.e., a tourism area that provides accommodations, dining, shopping, and other living conditions for both tourists and local residents within the urban district. In this kind of community, the long-accumulated characteristic culture is usually the main attraction [
3]. UCT plays a key role in the inheritance and development of urban culture. It is conducive to promoting the renewal of community infrastructure and basic services, improving the living environment, thereby realizing the sustainable development of urban tourism.
Previous research on community tourism has focused on rural areas [
4,
5], including local residents’ attitudes toward community tourism [
6], community participation [
4], the impact of tourism on the community [
7], and the planning of community tourism [
8]. Specifically, research into local residents’ attitudes toward tourism has mainly focused on the content of their perceptions [
9], the process of attitude assessment [
10], and the changes of their attitude over time [
11]. Residents are more concerned about community public service and the environment [
12]. Community participation is often investigated through research into the participation of residents, tourists, government, and enterprises [
13]. Studies have shown that the positive drivers of community participation include expected gains, emotional attachment to the community, collaborative planning, altruism, and optimism towards conflict resolution [
14]. These factors involve individual residents [
15], corporate entities [
16], and the environment [
17]. The impact of tourism on the community is mainly reflected in economic, cultural, and environmental aspects [
18]. Community tourism has promoted the local economy [
19], better exhibited the local culture [
20], increased the number of facilities [
21], and led to greater environmental protection [
20]. Nevertheless, it has also brought some negative impacts such as raising the cost of living [
22], the crime rate [
23], and the natural and cultural resource degradation [
24]. Research on community tourism planning has investigated the stakeholders’ participation in tourism planning and community integration [
8]. Tourism planning should take full account of local traditions and residents [
8]. To sum up, scholars have carried out detailed and in-depth research on community tourism from different perspectives, but the research on UCT is still less, which cannot meet the practical needs.
In China, research into UCT has developed along several lines: (1) The classification of UCT, which specifically can be divided into cultural, artistic, ecological, and learning types from the perspective of resources. Alternatively, UCT can be classified as leisure, sightseeing, and participatory types [
25,
26] according to tourists’ own purposes. (2) The impact of tourism on urban communities. There are always trade-offs: tourism can increase local employment [
27] and promote the inheritance of local characteristic cultures [
27], but it may also threaten these cultures [
28]. (3) The development model of UCT. Li proposed the protective tourism utilization model for historical and cultural urban communities [
29]. Cao summarized three development models of Shanghai’s UCT, including the community-enterprise combination model, government-community interaction model, and government-enterprise cooperation model [
30]. (4) The influencing factors of UCT development (UCTD). Cao pointed out that tourist demand, tourist supply, and urban tourism space respectively affect the market direction, product development, and spatial layout of UCTD in Shanghai [
30]. Tan proposed that community architecture, built environment, community culture, and supporting facilities may influence UCTD [
25].
In summary, the research on UCT has mainly focused on the definition of concepts [
31], the classification and development model [
30], and the impact of tourism on urban communities [
27]. In terms of the influencing factors of UCTD, some studies have attempted qualitative analysis from the perspective of community resources and environment, while few articles have combined case studies to evaluate and analyze. Therefore, the focus and purpose of this study is to uncover which factors can determine whether urban communities can be developed as tourism areas and how these factors promote UCTD. Taking Beijing as the case site, a questionnaire survey and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method were adopted to identify the influencing factors and mechanism of UCTD. The findings of this study will help policy makers and tourism developers to make suitable policy decisions and development plans for sustainable UCTD.
4. Impact Mechanism Analysis
4.1. Influence Paths of Cultural Atmosphere
Cultural themes and institutions can influence visitors’ perception of the cultural atmosphere through community features and cultural events. The frequency of cultural activities and residents’ willingness to participate influence the interaction between host and guest. The common cultural characteristic of Nanluoguxiang, Shichahai, and Dashilan is the old Beijing hutong culture, while each area also has its cultural atmosphere. The shops in Nanluoguxiang showcase Chinese cultural creativity. Shichahai has a unique urban leisure culture and bar culture and has also produced the Houhai music culture in more recent times. Dashilan’s time-honored business culture has a centuries-long history, which has great appeal for tourists. The 798 Art District has the characteristics of post-modern art and culture. Sanlitun has succeeded in creating an atmosphere conducive to fashion and bar culture. However, the overdevelopment of modern commercial functions such as shopping and dining is further resulting in the disappearance of the cultural authenticity of historical communities. Therefore, the cultural atmosphere and built environment of Sanlitun were evaluated relatively poorly, indicating that cultural atmosphere would influence UCTD through cultural authenticity of communities.
4.2. Impact Paths of the Built Environment
The impact of the built environment on UCTD is mainly mediated through tourists’ pursuit of architectural authenticity. The ornamental value, the scenic integrity, and the abundance of distinctive buildings affect the cultural profile of an urban area, thereby influencing the authenticity of tourists’ experiences of the community as a built-up area. Among the five cases, Shichahai’s built environment was highly rated, because the existing historical buildings are complete and well-preserved, and the authenticity of the experience is thus high. Next were Nanluoguxiang and Dashilan, both of which have many historical and cultural buildings. The 798 Art District’s and Sanlitun’s built environment scores were both relatively low, indicating that the Bauhaus architectural style in the former and the embassy district and characteristic commercial buildings of Taikoo Li in the latter are less attractive than traditional historical buildings.
4.3. Influence Paths of Location Conditions
The traffic accessibility of a tourism community and the surrounding tourism environment affect the UCTD through the tourists’ reachability perception. Traffic accessibility is a locational advantage of a community. The atmosphere of the surrounding tourism environment affects both the community and the surrounding tourism space. Among the five cases, Dashilan had the best geographical location, being located in the city center. It has advantages in both traffic accessibility and the surrounding tourism environment. Shichahai and Nanluoguxiang have similar geographical locations and therefore close scores. Sanlitun has advantages in terms of traffic accessibility and the surrounding tourism environment, while the 798 Art District is far from the city center and lacks well-known tourist attractions.
4.4. Impact Paths of Specialty Shops
The degree of influence of specialty shops on UCT is second only to the cultural atmosphere and the built environment. Specialty shops can meet the conventional “shopping” needs of tourists. However, to fulfill tourists’ “search for newness and difference,” a store’s “specialty” is particularly important. A community’s score on the longevity and popularity of stores mainly refers to the brand power of old-fashioned stores. Generally, established shops have a deep cultural heritage and are associated with historical stories, which make them a tourist attraction in their own right. A high diversity of store types can meet the diversified travel needs of tourist shopping. The appreciation and experience of specialty goods can provide a unique product purchase experience. In terms of both the longevity and popularity of the stores and the diversity of store types, Dashilan’s centuries-old specialty shops are the most distinctive. In other cases, certainly, they also have their own characteristics.
4.5. Impact Paths of Community Participation
A tourism community is based first on the residential needs of the community residents and second on the tourism service. The life of community residents is part of the community culture. For example, residents who are engaged in the human rickshaw business serve as “explainers” of the community culture. Community managers’ and government’s willingness to support UCTD promote tourism through stakeholder coordination. Merchants in the 798 Art District are both creators of the artistic atmosphere and participants. Most residents of Nanluoguxiang, Shichahai, Dashilan, and Sanlitun indirectly participate in community tourism through house leasing. Specifically, residents in these areas typically work outside of the community where they live, in contrast to rural communities where residents can directly participate in the operation of the tourism community. In addition, although the community residents in these districts have a negative attitude toward direct participation, the community managers are actively willing to support UCTD, which keeps the balance among the stakeholders.
In general, these influencing factors ultimately affect UCTD through demand for authentic travel experiences, reachability perception, travel shopping demand, and stakeholder coordination (
Figure 8).