Abstract: Rural tourism in China has made a significant progress with the support of various levels of government. However, the past government-led development model has overlooked the construction of destination brands, resulting in severe homogenization of rural tourism products, making it increasingly challenging to meet the diverse and personalized needs of tourists. To address these issues, many regions are exploring market-oriented approaches by introducing operational companies to lead destination brand construction, promoting the development of rural tourism industry. Drawing from brand asset theory, destination brand enhancement requires simultaneous improvements in brand image, perceived quality, and experience. While introducing operational companies can support the construction of destination brand image, relying solely on them cannot simultaneously enhance brand perceived quality and promotion. Advancing rural tourism destination brand enhancement requires establishing stable cooperation between operational companies and local rural tourism product providers, involving them jointly in the construction of the destination brand. To achieve this, local governments often implement subsidy policies to encourage the participation of operational companies and local rural tourism enterprises in destination brand construction. However, sustained improvement in rural tourism destination brand relies on the autonomous participation of operational companies and local enterprises, rather than prolonged high subsidies and management costs by the government.
Therefore, this study aims to investigate the strategic choices of operational companies, local rural tourism enterprises, and local governments by employing evolutionary game theory. By analyzing the factors and basic pathways influencing rural tourism destination brand enhancement through model solving and numerical simulation, the study provides practical insights for higher-level governments to promote the enhancement of rural tourism destination brands. The research findings indicate that the promotion of rural tourism destination brand enhancement can be divided into three stages: The infancy stage, where local governments introduce subsidy policies to encourage participation but face limited enthusiasm from operational companies and local enterprises; The growth stage, where local governments refine policies, leading to increased involvement of operational companies and local enterprises in destination brand construction; And the maturity stage, where even without government subsidies, operational companies and local enterprises continue to participate, entering a self-sustaining cycle of destination brand construction. The strategic choices of stakeholders in rural tourism destination brand construction are influenced by factors such as local government fiscal budgets, subsidy levels, additional revenue for local governments, and cooperative benefits between operational companies and local rural tourism enterprises. Increasing subsidy levels by local governments facilitates the transition from the infancy stage to the growth stage of rural tourism destination brand construction. Maintaining subsidy levels ensures the continued participation of operational companies and local enterprises in brand construction. Once the brand effect of rural tourism destination is fully realized, compressing local government budgets helps transition to the maturity stage of brand construction. Furthermore, enhancing cooperative benefits between operational companies and local rural tourism enterprises can prolong the maturity stage of rural tourism destination brand enhancement.
To promote rural tourism destination brand construction, higher-level governments should urge local governments to strengthen market intervention in the initial stage. As the promotion of rural tourism destination brands enters the growth stage, the higher-level government can timely guide local governments to gradually withdraw from market intervention by shrinking their fiscal budgets.

Key words: rural tourism; brand enhancement; scenic area operation; evolutionary game

摘要： 引进专业运营主体,以推进目的地品牌化发展,对于突破乡村旅游业的同质化困境具有重要意义。研究聚焦于市场化运营下,乡村旅游目的地的品牌提升问题,基于品牌资产理论构建了运营公司、地方政府和本地乡村旅游业态的三方演化博弈模型,并通过模型求解和数值仿真,分析了乡村旅游目的地品牌提升的影响因素和基本路径。结果表明,地方政府提高补贴和奖励力度有助于推动乡村旅游目的地的品牌提升工作,从政府单方面参与的幼稚期步入三方共同参与的成长期。在目的地品牌效应充分发挥之后,上级政府调整对地方政府的补贴和奖励政策有助于引导地方政府逐步退出市场干预,进而推动乡村旅游目的地品牌提升进入运营公司和本地乡村旅游业态自主参与的成熟期,而延长乡村旅游目的地的品牌提升成熟期的关键,在于健全并维系二者间的互惠机制。

关键词: 乡村旅游, 品牌提升, 景区运营, 乡村运营, 演化博弈