Analysis on the factors and their mechanism influencing rural households' livelihood resilience in mountainous tourist areas based on social-ecological system theory: Taking 18 villages in Enshi Prefecture as cases

The study on the factors and their mechanism influencing rural households' livelihood resilience in mountainous tourist areas is of great significance in sustaining the achievements of poverty alleviation in the region. Based on the theories of social ecological system, this paper revealed the factors influencing rural households' livelihood resilience (LR) in mountainous tourist areas and proposed a set of hypotheses to be empirically examined. Then we examined the hypotheses by using first-hand data collected from 18 tourist villages in Enshi Prefecture which is a typical mountainous area and mixed methods, and explored the influencing mechanism. The results show: Firstly, some factors of family, community and social system significantly influence households' LR. Secondly, the effect of different factors is as follows: livelihood mode (tourism participation)> village altitude> household size> social investment intensity> village cadres' competence. Thirdly these factors affect households' LR following three main mechanisms: ① tourism participation is essential; ②the influence of family, community and society is cascading; ③the relationship among family, community and society is interconnected and dynamic. Finally, ④a three-dimensional optimization path of "endogenous transformation, grass-root governance and social synergy" was proposed to help mountainous tourist areas keep themselves out of poverty.