Social tourism for Chinese rural left-behind children: An instrument for improving their happiness

Social tourism is used as a form of social policy for low income groups in many European countries. In China, large numbers of rural laborers migrate to urban areas in search of better job opportunities due to China's rapid development and urbanization policy. Meanwhile, millions of children have been left behind in rural areas, with a growing number of policies and research examining the physical and mental health problems of those left-behind children. The aim of this research is to empirically examine the function and impact of social tourism for improving the happiness and subjective well-being of Chinese rural left-behind children. Over one-and-a-half years, a series of observations, interviews and questionnaires were conducted with 683 participants (8–15 years old), which included 347 rural left-behind children, and 336 non-left-behind children in four schools of Henan province. From the 347 left-behind children, 60 children were randomly selected to participate in a one-year program of four social tourism activities. This empirical research suggests that social tourism could promote the subjective well-being of left-behind children and improve their happiness significantly with detailed measures. The findings show significant differences between life satisfaction (friendship satisfaction, family satisfaction, academic satisfaction, and environmental satisfaction) and positive and negative emotions of left-behind children and non-left-behind children. After joining in social tourism, the six factors of life satisfaction and the eight factors of the emotional well-being of those left-behind children who participated were also significantly improved. © 2019, © 2019 Asia Pacific Tourism Association.