**5. Discussions**

Rather than the traditional discussion of households [1–5,17] and students [20,23,24], this study extends the understanding of energy literacy from the perspective of ethnic residents and discusses the changes in energy literacy in remote ethnic villages in the context of tourism development. Previous studies of energy literacy have tended to discuss the relationships between knowledge, attitudes, and behavior [6,19–21], focusing on the synchrony perspectives [22–25], with less understanding of energy literacy from diachronic perspectives along with the changing external environment. This study examines how the energy literacy of ethnic minority residents has changed during the development of tourism and the main reason for the changes. In contrast to previous studies that have considered ethnic minorities as a vulnerable group in terms of energy use [3], this study empirically demonstrates that tourism development in ethnic minority areas may also contribute to the transformation of residents from a vulnerable group in terms of energy use to a more energy literate group, thus contributing to the sustainability of tourism.

This study also deepens the understanding of the implications of such changes for local tourism sustainability from a cross-disciplinary perspective and enriches empirical research to better promote energy conservation and sustainable tourism development in ethnic areas. In addition, classical literature on energy and tourism has tended to discuss the impact of energy resources as tourism attractions [8,9,42,43] or aim to improve tourists' energy literacy through tourism [2,10,45], yet how residents influence tourists' energy behavior remains unclear. Our research extends the understanding that an increase in residents' energy literacy can also lead to an increase in visitors' energy behavior. Furthermore, beyond the traditional relationship of host and guest in ethnic tourism research [16], we find that increased energy literacy among residents can also contribute to the structure of energy use and infrastructure development in tourist destinations, which further enhances the understanding of how energy literacy can influence the sustainable development of tourist destinations.
