Research on the Measurement and Promotion Strategy of Farmers’ Livelihood Capital in Rural Tourism Areas

The rapid development of rural tourism has profoundly reshaped the structure and function of farmers’ livelihood capital, making the improvement of livelihood capital quality a key issue for government governance in the context of rural revitalization. Taking 14 rural tourism villages in one district and four counties of southeastern Chongqing as the case area, this study constructs a livelihood capital measurement system adapted to the rural tourism context based on 1,982 valid questionnaires, and uses the entropy method to quantitatively measure farmers’ human capital, resource capital, physical capital, financial capital, and social capital. The empirical results show that farmers’ human capital and resource capital are relatively high, constituting superior capital, while physical capital, financial capital, and social capital are relatively low, becoming constraints on improving livelihood quality. The diversity of rural tourism development, the vulnerability and complexity of farmers’ livelihoods, and the limited capacity for expressing farmers’ needs collectively determine the necessity of government intervention in improving farmers’ livelihood capital. Accordingly, this study proposes that local governments should actively guide the tourism-oriented transformation of superior capital by strengthening skills training and resource activation, vigorously promote the external introduction of inferior capital by improving physical infrastructure, financial support, and social network development, and facilitate the transformation of government governance from single administrative management to a coordinated and responsive governance model, establishing a policy identification and evaluation mechanism based on farmers’ actual needs, so as to achieve a positive interaction between rural tourism development and the sustainable improvement of farmers’ livelihoods.