The evaluation of tourism service facilities in Chinese traditional villages based on the living protection concept: theoretical framework and empirical case study

ABSTRACT Balancing heritage protection and tourism development is currently the major challenge in traditional Chinese villages, while the construction of tourism service facilities has substantial effects on both the protection and development of villages. Based on the theoretical framework of the living protection concept, which includes three aspects of protection (villagers, traditional architectures, and culture), this paper proposes an indicator system for evaluating the effects of tourism service facilities on traditional villages. The indicator system contains three dimensions, eight first-level indicators, and 19 second-level indicators. An empirical study of five villages in Zhejiang found limited tourism-related benefits for villagers and a low impact of tourism facilities on rural lives. Multiple advantages exist in the utilization of traditional architecture for tourism service facilities, which should be recommended for future development. The exploitation of cultural heritage is not preferable, and the percentages of different types of facilities need to be controlled to maintain a traditional atmosphere. This study suggests that more attention should be paid to increasing tourists’ expenditure, local tourism involvement, and the utilization of tourism facilities by villagers. More techniques for the reconstruction of traditional buildings are required, and continuous adjustments in the tourism development of traditional villages are also necessary.


Introduction
Rural revitalization determines the balanced socioeconomic development of the entire country. It represents one of the main tasks of the Chinese government and has attracted great attention in the current era. In addition, rapid development and urbanization gradually reconstruct the country's space, lifestyle, and ideology, which may deteriorate Chinese tradition and culture (Shi, Yang, and Beau 2020). Traditional Chinese villages, which are a special type of rural village, carry the historical memory and cultural customs of the Chinese nation and require special attention for their revitalization. Based on the official website of Chinese traditional villages, 1 there are 6,819 traditional villages recognized by the central government, and 363 of them are located in Zhejiang Province. The rapid increase in population mobility and information exchange has had serious effects on traditional villages that are beyond the self-management capacity of those villages. In reality, limited employment opportunities and poor living environments have led to the widespread outflow of young laborers. Thus, many traditional villages have been left devitalized (Shi, Yang, and Beau 2020).

Tourism development of villages
Tourism development offers new opportunities for the revitalization of suitable rural villages. Rural tourism, community-based tourism (CBT), and indigenous tourism are related and well-researched themes that offer a reference for tourism development in traditional Chinese villages. The characteristics and concepts of CBT are similar to those of rural tourism, as they both refer to family-run business with some coordination intended to deliver community benefit, while the application context in which they operate varies a great deal (Seweryn et al. 2020). In previous literature, rural tourism has typically been used in the context of developed nations for larger-scale studies, and CBT has long been used to define similar initiatives in developing nations (Seweryn et al. 2020). Indigenous tourism refers to activities in which indigenous people are directly involved. Indigenous tourism can help preserve ancient cultures and empower indigenous communities. However, it may also impinge on indigenous people's right of self-determination and result in the commodification of indigenous tourism products and other negative impacts (Michelle and Lisa 2016 driven by case study approaches. In future development, more attention should be paid to indigenous stakeholders to support sustainable development (Michelle and Lisa 2016). Tourism development facilitates revitalization of some suitable traditional villages and has become popular in recent years, especially in Zhejiang Province, China (Wu 2016). The tourism development of traditional villages contains common features of rural tourism, CBT, and indigenous tourism.
Balancing heritage protection and tourism development has become a major challenge in traditional villages (Shi and Pei 2020). Economic benefits may encourage profit-seeking development and turn traditional villages from the "lifeworld" of villagers to a "commercial attraction" for tourists, resulting in the decay of traditional culture (Wang and Wang 2020). Tourism service facilities are the main type of construction work in tourism development and refer to the facilities set up to support travel, sightseeing, catering, accommodation, shopping, entertainment, culture, recuperation, and other service needs in scenic areas (Wang, Guo, and Xu 2006). Facilities construction also represents the level of tourism development and is the main communication platform between villagers and tourists (Butler 2006). In past development, problems emerged in relation to commercialization, the disappearance of traditions, low public participation, and villagers' lack of willingness to cooperate. These problems undoubtedly have direct or indirect associations with tourism service facilities. However, limited studies in China have investigated analytical methods for planning tourism service facilities, particularly in the case of traditional villages. Based on the existing atlas of tourism planning in traditional villages, tourism facility planning is controlled and guided by protection laws/ regulations, master planning standards for scenic spots (GB/T50298-2018), and other relevant regulations (such as the regulation of bed-and-breakfasts) and currently lacks theoretical guidance for the planning of tourism service facilities in traditional Chinese villages.

Living protection concept and application
In recent years, the concept of living protection has been applied to the protection and development of traditional villages. Living protection emphasizes that development and change occur in heritage over timethat is, it is not static (Wijesuriya 2015). The focus has shifted from preserving the past to how old objects and concepts can be used in the current environment and "continuously given cultural significance in the historical development" (Lv 2016).
This concept comes from the protection of "living heritage" that was proposed by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in 2000. In 2007, the concept of "living protection" was introduced in China for application to the protection of intangible cultural heritage (Wang 2007), while its meaning and connotation have gradually evolved. The "living protection" of intangible cultural heritage emphasizes the following three aspects: 1) promoting people's return to life culture (Fang 2014), protecting indigenous people's activities in regard to acquiring skills, and guiding their subjective choices (Yu 2012, 2) maintaining the authenticity of the heritage based on overall protection (Pu 2009, 3) enhancing the innovative and adaptive changes based on the current development so as to promote sustainable development (Pu 2009).
Since 2014, studies have begun to apply the "living protection" concept to the discipline of architecture, planning, and landscape with most case studies focused on traditional villages and historical blocks (Yan 2014;Song, Xiao, and Zhang 2015;Zhang 2018). Previous studies have put forward different principles and elements of living protection for traditional villages, including strengthening and optimizing public participation, protecting the original spatial patterns and historical cultures, improving modes of protection and management, translating and reconstructing traditional culture, protecting villagers' traditional lifestyle, improving the living environment, exploring new formats and new development models, and encouraging intervention by social parties (Wang 2017;Xu 2016;Zhang 2018;Yan 2014;Song, Xiao, and Zhang 2015). In recent years, living protection has emphasized the comprehensive protection of the villages and has been applied to different aspects of traditional villages, including indigenous people's livelihoods, culture, and architectural heritage (Yan 2014;Wang 2017;Zhang 2018;Song, Xiao, and Zhang 2015;Ouyang and Wang 2017). Because living protection focuses on the utilization and development of heritage in both the current era and the future, it may offer guidance for the tourism industry and the construction of facilities in traditional villages, which also involves the utilization of traditional heritage. However, these studies lack extension to specific implementation paths, and exploring feasible living protection paths for traditional villages based on specific planning and construction subjects is necessary.
The living protection of traditional villages includes three primary protection components: villagers (Lou 2016;Xu 2016), architectural heritage (Liu 2018;Li 2017), and local cultures (Li 2018; Table 1). First, villagers are the inheritors of traditional culture and livelihood as well as the creators and executors of the villages' future development. The protection of villagers refers to keeping villagers in their hometown and ensuring their active participation in local industry development . Second, architectural heritage should be updated and adapted to the current requirements and utilized continuously to avoid abandonment and decay (He 2015). Third, local culture includes local customs, traditional industries, and intangible cultural heritage. The protection of local culture may guarantee the authenticity of traditional villages in future development.
Previous evaluation systems either focused on the evaluation of traditional villages as a whole or focused exclusively on the performance of tourism service facilities (Peng 2012;Zhou, Chen, and Huang 2020). A limited number of studies connected these two closely related subjects and offered theoretical guidance in regard to the planning of tourism service facilities to encourage the living protection of the entire village. Thus, in this study, the two primary research questions are as follows: 1) how can the concept of living protection be applied in the tourism development of traditional villages and the planning of tourism service facilities, and 2) how can the current tourism service facilities be systematically evaluated and analyzed so as to offer reference for the living protection of traditional villages? It is expected that the current study can offer three contributions. First, the connotation and theoretical framework of the living protection concept for traditional villages and tourism service facilities are proposed and clarified. Second, an evaluation and indicator system for tourism service facilities based on the living protection of villages is established. Third, an analytical approach is promoted and demonstrated using a case study of five traditional villages in Zhejiang Province. The results of the analysis can also act as a reference for the living protection of case villages.

Literature review of tourism service facilities
Previous studies have largely focused on planning and design principles, site and scale selection, and evaluation methods in regard to tourism service facilities in scenic spots (Zhou 1992(Zhou , 1993a(Zhou , 1993bWang, Xie, and Chen 2019;Lv & Li, 2018). The definition of tourism facilities has become increasingly unified; that is, tourism facilities can be divided into tourism service facilities and infrastructure (Wu 2001; Wang, Guo, and Xu the percentage of indigenous operators to all operators A2: Influence of facilities on villagers' lives B4: Villagers' usage of culturally oriented and public serviceoriented tourism service facilities B5: The degree of noise and privacy interference caused by the operation of tourism service facilities B6: Improvement of the residential environment in a village before and after tourism development and facility construction A3: Facility construction promotes villagers' cultural identity  Wang, Guo, and Xu (2006) first studied tourism service facilities in rural villages and proposed four planning and design guidelines, namely "ecology, practicality, economy, and flexibility." Zhao and Wei (2011) discussed the layout of tourism service facilities in the Tongguan ancient village based on space syntax. It is noted that, in the literature, limited studies have focused on the evaluation of tourism service facilities. Only four Chinese studies have reported similar results. Yang (2007) proposed an evaluation system to assess the ecological characteristics of facilities, while Peng (2012), Lin, Ruan, and Xu (2020)established an indicator system to promote local tourism development. The AHP and expert scoring methods were used for weight identification in the four studies. In general, few studies have investigated tourism service facilities in the context of Chinese traditional villages that require both heritage protection and tourism development. The effects of current tourism service facilities on the cultural heritage sites of traditional villages remain unknown. Further studies are desirable to provide theoretical support and practical reference for the evaluation of tourism service facilities from the perspective of the living protection of villages.

Classification of tourism service facilities
In the context of Chinese traditional villages, typical tourism service facilities can be categorized into three types based on their main functions: business-oriented facilities, culture-oriented facilities, and public serviceoriented facilities. Business-oriented facilities include accommodation facilities, restaurants, snack bars/ bars/teahouses, and retail facilities. Culture-oriented facilities include museums/exhibitions, art studios, and performance venues. Public service-oriented facilities include tourist service centers and tourist toilets. In line with the definition of living protection, this study focuses on the protection of villagers, architectural heritage, and the cultures of traditional villages. It is accepted that different types of facilities have different effects on traditional villages. For instance, culturally oriented facilities enhance the traditional atmosphere inside the village, while excessive business-oriented facilities commercialize villages. Public service-oriented facilities may increase the satisfaction of both visitors and villagers.

Place attachment of villagers
Place attachment is an objective phenomenon of manland relationships in ancient villages and comprises two dimensions: place dependence and place identity (Tang 2011). Time is the primary factor in the formation of residents' place attachment, while economic benefits from the tourism industry in ancient villages affect place dependence (Tang 2011). Zhang and Bao found that a stable and considerable income provided by the community resulted in the backflow of villagers, which happened in Xidi, a traditional village with mature tourism development (Zhang and Bao 2009). Thus, tourism development offers traditional villages a unique opportunity to enhance the place attachment of villagers and trigger the backflow of labor so as to revitalize depleted cultural heritage sites.

Indicator system
This study established a theoretical framework for tourism service facilities with three dimensions based on the concept of living protection: the villagers, architectural heritage, and the local cultures of traditional villages. More detailed indicators are included in each dimension, as shown in Figure 1 . From the perspective of the living protection of traditional villages, the protection of villagers includes A1. economic benefits to villagers; A2. the influence of facilities on villagers' lives; and A3. the promotion of villagers' cultural identity. The protection of architectural heritage includes A4. the percentage of facilities transformed from traditional buildings; A5. the embodiment of a traditional atmosphere through the interior decoration and space form of facilities; and A6. the influence of facility construction on traditional landscape. The protection of local cultures includes A7. the activation and utilization of different types of cultures in tourism development; and A8. the impact of tourism service facilities on the traditional atmosphere of villages.
In general, the theoretical framework includes the following basic characteristics: 1) the evaluation contains both objective conditions and subjective assessments; 2) the evaluation focuses on tourism service facilities and investigates the potential effects of the facilities on the villages, which could offer guidance for planning and policymaking; and 3) the evaluation is based on villages' sustainability rather than on the market laws of the tourism industry.
A weighting system and score calculation were not used in this study for two reasons. First, the area, scale, and condition of different tourism destinations in Chinese rural areas vary significantly, which makes it impossible for one weighting system to be universally applied. As mentioned in two studies, a study's chosen evaluation and weighting system may not be applicable to other locations (Yang 2007;Peng 2012). On the other hand, the purpose of the evaluation is to improve tourism service facilities to encourage local tourism development. Thus, identifying deficiencies is more important than the score calculation of the case study.

Analytical process for evaluation results
Constructing an evaluation framework for tourism service facilities has two functions. One is enriching the theory system of sustainable tourism development in traditional Chinese villages. The other is guiding practical work for the planning and reconstruction of tourism service facilities.
A comparative analysis is useful in this study. To date, there are limited standards and research references for the construction and planning of tourism service facilities, particularly in traditional Chinese villages. The situations at the micro-level are complex and diverse. Thus, multiple case studies and comparative analyses are necessary to understand the reality of the general conditions. However, the limited nature of reliable data available for rural areas increases the difficulty of such investigation, which may be the reason for the frequency of single-case studies in relevant literature (Yang 2007;Peng 2012;Lin, Ruan, and Xu 2020).
Generally, case studies contain several traditional villages that have undergone tourism development. After the data collection and fulfilling of each indicator, researchers can analyze the results according to three steps. First, the character of each dimension should be summarized, which helps clarify the overall condition of current tourism development. Second, an analysis should be conducted in each village to understand the real situation. Because each village has its own unique natural, financial, and human resources and policy environment, village-based analysis is necessary. Finally, based on a comparison analysis, the problems of each village are revealed, which offers a reference for future modification. This process is shown in Figure 2.

The introduction of case studies
Five well-known traditional villages in Zhejiang Province, China, that have relatively mature tourism development were selected for case studies: Shen'ao, Dipu, Huanxi, Zhuge, and Xinye. Shen'ao, Dipu, and Huanxi are neighboring villages that belong to Tonglu County. As the first group of 3A scenic villages in Zhejiang Province, the locations of the five villages are shown in Figure 3. The areas of the different villages vary. Zhuge has the largest area, 0.47 km 2 , while Huanxi has the smallest area, 0.21 km 2 . The areas of Xinye, Shen'ao, and Dipu are 0.28 km 2 , 0.33 km 2 , and 0.36 km 2 , respectively. Images from the villages are shown in Figure 4. Figure 5 shows the number of different types of architectural tourism service facilities in the five selected villages. Zhuge has the greatest number of tourism service facilities (93) and culturally oriented facilities (22), while Shen'ao has the lowest number of facilities (32). Huanxi has the greatest number of businessoriented facilities (66). The number of public service facilities is fewer than 10 in all villages.

The stage of tourism development of each villages
The life-cycle stages of the tourism destinations are shown in Figure 6. The characteristics and determining factors of the case villages in regard to their tourism lifecycle stages are clarified in Appendix A. Shen'ao Village is in the development stage, while Dipu and Xinye are in the decline stage. Huanxi Village is in the involvement stage, and Zhuge Village is in the consolidation stage.

Tourism exploitation mode of each village and the main guide of their tourism development
The tourism development of Huanxi and Zhuge is guided by local governments, while Xinye is guided by a private tourism company. There have been management changes in Dipu and Shen'ao during    previous development. Dipu tourism was well developed by the famous Flower Sea. The Dipu Flower Sea was operated and managed by the local government from 2013 to 2016, which was considered the golden development period for this scenic spot. In 2017, a private ourism company took over management and began charging fees for the entrance. Subsequently, the passenger flow decreased significantly. In 2020, management rights were handed over to the local government. The tourism development of Shen'ao began in 2015 and was led by the local government. However, its tourism industry has grown slowly. Thus, the management of tourism in Shen'ao was transferred to a private tourism company in 2019. The determining factors for each village are presented in Appendix B.

Data collection
Based on the indicator system of tourism service facilities, data were collected using an onsite survey and the official archives of each traditional village. During the onsite investigation, 50 to 80 tourists were interviewed about their expenditures in the case villages. At least 20 interviews were conducted in each village to determine the impact of tourism service facilities on villagers' livelihoods and psychology. The villagers were asked to select between varied degrees of evaluation based on their experiences. For instance, interviewed villagers were required to select among three degrees (no interference, moderate interference, and high interference) to represent the interference of the operation of tourism service facilities in their lives.  Scores of 0, 50, and 100 were assigned to the calculation process for quantitative evaluation. Detailed evaluation criteria are provided in Appendix C.
Other relevant information was collected based on interviews with government officials as well as onsite surveys and observation. The investigations were conducted in August 2020 and January 2021 in Shen'ao, Dipu, Huanxi, Zhuge, and Xinye. More detailed information on the data collection methods is provided in Appendix C.

Indicators for evaluation of tourism service facilities based on the living protection of the village
Based on the theoretical framework, a threedimensional index system with eight first-level indicators and 19 second-level indicators was established to evaluate tourism service facilities (Table 1). Generally, a first-level indicator is evaluated using multiple second-level indicators. Tourists' expenditures, tourism-related household income, and villagers' tourism involvement are used to evaluate the economic benefits that the facilities bring to the villagers. Villagers' usage of tourism facilities, the degree of interference, and the improvement of the residential environment are used to assess the influence of facilities on villagers' lives. The number and percentage of traditional buildings being utilized as tourism facilities as well as the percentage of facilities that rely on traditional buildings are presented to describe the utilization of traditional buildings as facilities. The percentage of new facilities with coordinated scales and the percentage of businessoriented facilities with coordinated facades are used to evaluate the influence of facilities' construction on traditional landscapes. The activation and utilization of intangible cultural heritage, traditional agricultures/handicrafts, and local traditions are used to evaluate A7. the activation and utilization of different types of cultures in tourism development. Finally, the proportion of culturally oriented and businessoriented facilities, the suitability of the total number and scale of facilities, and the richness of facility types are used to evaluate A8. the impact of tourism service facilities on the traditional atmosphere of a village.

Evaluation
The evaluation criteria are presented in Appendix C. Tourists' expenditures were categorized into five ranges (<7.75; 7.75-31; 31-62; 62-93; >93; Unit: US dollars). As for the villagers' participation in operating tourism service facilities, both the number and the percentage of villager operators relative to all operators were collected for evaluation. The usage of cultural and public service tourism service facilities was categorized into three standards: low, moderate, and high. The original responses regarding the interference of facilities to villagers, the improvement of the residential environment, and the improvement of villagers' cultural identity were also divided into three levels. The suitability of the total number and scale of facilities were evaluated by scores assigned by the seven members of the research team (a score of 0 represents not suitable, and a score of 100 represents perfectly suitable). The richness of facilities was represented by the percentage of the facilities' types to the total number of facility types.

Analysis
After the evaluation, a three-step analysis was conducted. First, the characteristics of the three dimensions were summarized to determine the effects of current facility construction on the living protection of traditional villagers, architectural heritage, and local traditions. Second, by combining other background information regarding the case villages, the characteristics of facility construction and tourism development were determined for each village. Third, common problems of case villages were elucidated, and potential political and planning strategies were explored for the future improvement of traditional villages in similar situations.

Evaluation results
The results are presented in Table 2. The economic benefits for villagers from the tourism industry are not satisfactory overall because of low passenger flow, low expenditure on the part of visitors, or low tourism involvement. The utilization of tourism facilities by villagers is unsatisfactory, while current interference is low overall because of limited tourism activities. Villagers in Shen'ao, Huanxi, and Xinye villages do not experienced substantial improvement in their cultural identity after tourism development, while perceived improvements in living conditions vary.
Zhuge and Shen'ao best utilize traditional buildings as facilities that are also coordinated with the traditional atmosphere, while Huanxi has the worst situation, with only two traditional buildings being utilized as tourism service facilities and only 13.4% of facilities having coordinated interior decoration and space form. The worst village in terms of exterior coordination is Dipu, which requires further improvement.
Only two to six traditions/cultural elements were utilized in the tourism service facilities of the case villages. Shen'ao and Zhuge had the highest percentage of culture-oriented facilities and the lowest percentage of business-oriented facilities, while Xinye, Huanxi, and Dipu had the highest percentage (over 77%) of business-oriented facilities and a relatively low percentage of culturally oriented facilities (below 12%). The suitability of the total number and scale of the facilities was satisfactory in all case villages. The richness of facility types was satisfactory in all case villages except for Huanxi.

Explanation of results based on the actual condition of case villages
The real conditions of each village help explain the evaluation results, which are outlined below.

Shen'ao
Many villagers in Shen'ao move to the town center, and current tourism development cannot attract them to move back, which results in low public participation and unsatisfactory economic income from the tourism industry. Due to the governments' efforts to rent and sublease, the conditions of the protection and utilization of traditional buildings are satisfactory overall. Because most tourism facilities rely on traditional villages, tourism facilities in Shen'ao are coordinated with the traditional atmosphere. As the artists and the themes of their works are selected to coordinate with the theme of traditional culture before signing a contract, the existence of their studios greatly increases the number and percentage of culturally oriented facilities.

Dipu
The passenger flow in Dipu has decreased significantly since 2017, when the scenic spots related to the Flower Sea began to charge fees for entrance. In addition, Dipu lacks effective cooperation and coordination between indigenous and foreign operators; thus, conflicts occur on occasion. These issues restrict the development of tourism in Dipu. The decoration of tourism facilities, both interior and exterior, is unsatisfactory because many tourism service facilities rely on newly built houses, as shown in Figure 7 . Because Dipu has experienced the peak of its tourism development, the construction of tourism service facilities is relatively mature. As a result, the richness and suitability of the total number and scale of facilities were satisfactory overall. However, the limited number of cultureoriented facilities has a negative impact on the traditional atmosphere.

Huanxi
Tourism development in Huanxi has high public participation. All facilities are run by villagers. Huanxi is close to Shen'ao and Dipu and bears the accommodation function in the higher-level scenic spots of local ancient villages so that the majority of the tourism service facilities are B&Bs that rely on newly built houses. The majority of ancient buildings are privately owned residences or remain dilapidated, which makes them difficult to utilize. In addition, the current economic development of villages still relies on secondary industries. All of these factors may result in little improvement in the cultural identity of the villagers. The special function of Huanxi also results in the low utilization of traditional buildings, high percentage of business-oriented facilities, limited number of culturally oriented facilities, and low coordination of tourism facilities with a traditional atmosphere.

Zhuge
Zhuge Village has the best protection for its villagers, which accords with the results of a previous study that concluded that Zhuge villagers were satisfied overall with the economic participation of the tourism industry (Liu 2017;Hou 2017). The conditions of Zhuge are also the best in terms of architectural heritage and culture among the five case villages. Because indigenous people still live in the village, local traditions and culture are well preserved. Some traditional handicrafts have been further developed as tourism products. Zhuge villagers report limited improvement of their living conditions, likely because the improvement primarily happened at the beginning of the tourism development process, which was 26 years prior.

Xinye
Xinye was developed and is operated by a foreign private tourism company. From 2014 to 2016, media exposure increased the passenger flow to Xinye. Thereafter, the passenger flow decreased to 1/3, which greatly decreased the economic benefits of the villager operators. Many villagers open B&Bs based on their newly built residences, which are not coordinated with the traditional atmosphere (Figure 8). In addition, the limited number of culture-oriented facilities has a negative impact on the traditional village atmosphere.

Problem identification
The tourism industry of traditional villages brought limited economic benefits for indigenous people, which may not build strong place attachment for local villagers. In addition, villagers may move away for better job opportunities and living conditions. Currently, tourism facilities are only used for tourist reception, which is a waste of resources as they are not utilized by community members to improve their living conditions. From the perspective of living protection, villagers are the masters of the village. Tourism exploitation should not develop facilities that isolate villagers. Currently, despite that these culturally oriented facilities, such as museums, exhibitions, and art studios, do not refuse entry to indigenous people, villagers feel bored and awkward entering them because they think that the facilities were built for tourists rather than for them. Notably, the utilization of traditional buildings has positive effects on not only heritage protection but also the maintenance of a traditional atmosphere. However, this is highly dependent on the organization of local governments to recover property rights and repair traditional buildings, and some case villages in this study failed to do so. The number and percentage of culture-oriented and business-oriented facilities should be controlled for a better traditional atmosphere inside the village. Finally, the utilization of cultures is still unsatisfactory in terms of the number and degree of exploitation. Cultural facilities offering deepexperience activities are limited.

Strategies
From the perspective of the living protection of traditional villages, high passenger flow is discouraged to avoid exceeding the reception capacity of tourism facilities, which may destroy the traditional atmosphere and peaceful rural lifestyle. Thus, the improvement of visitors' expenditures and public involvement are efficient methods to protect the economic benefits of indigenous people. Visitors' expenditures are closely related to their length of stay in villages; long stays will lead to more catering and accommodation expenditures. Deep cultural experiential activities have been proposed for tourism service facilities, such as making plangi (Figure 9), learning about traditional snacks, and making wooden crafts ( Figure 10). These new functions of tourism facilities will also create more job opportunities. To improve public involvement in the village community, more preferential policies could be developed to encourage local villagers to become involved in tourism, such as encouraging foreign investors to hire indigenous people in their stores. In addition, training courses should be offered for indigenous people by local governments or tourism operators to make them more qualified for tourism reception services. As indicated in previous literature, poor socioeconomic conditions are related to a lack of skills and knowledge required for tourism (Saayman and Giampiccoli 2016).
To improve villagers' utilization of tourism facilities and thus the living conditions of village communities, public activities should be considered during such facilities' design process. For instance, by implementing seating and entertainment facilities, culturally oriented facilities may become popular as leisure venues for indigenous people during off-seasons. Third, previous studies discerned that effectively solving the conflicts and contradictions of different parties is the key factor for the sustainability of tourism development (Chen 2012). Based on the comparison analysis, the local government was determined to play the key role for coordination, not only among different parties but also between heritage and investors. For instance, traditional buildings in Huanxi are still privately owned; thus, it will remain difficult to activate and utilize them. If the local government can rent or buy old houses, it will improve efficiency for future tourism exploitation as they can sublease those houses to investors. Thus, the coordination work of local governments should be considered in future tourism development.
Finally, continuous attention is necessary from the perspective of living protection. Tourist exploitation of traditional villages is complicated by a higher number of stakeholders, restrictions, and higher requirements. In addition, the tourism market is changing over time, which brings more challenges to these tourism destinations. Traditional villages should carefully employ a suitable exploitation mode of their tourism development and make adjustments according to the actual situation during the development process (Li 2013). A good example is Shen'ao Village, which changed its exploitation management from the local government to a private tourism company and invited young artists to set up studios inside the village. Shen' ao's development track is a good showcase of the gentrification of villages, which could be beneficial for local economic and heritage protection with suitable control (Zhang and Wang 2017). Another good example is Huanxi, which is near Shen'ao Village. As their traditional resources cannot compete with Shen'ao, Huanxi is in an inferior position in regard to tourism development. However, Huanxi changed  its tourist attraction from traditional buildings to high-quality and inexpensive accommodation facilities, which successfully expanded its tourism market.

Methodology for evaluating tourism service facilities
In recent years, protection and rural tourism in traditional villages have attracted increasing attention. However, few studies have focused on practical methods for tourism planning based on the living protection of the village. The planning of tourism service facilities, which has a great impact on both tourism development and heritage protection, is an entry point for the sustainable development of traditional villages. When compared to other evaluation frameworks for tourism service facilities that focus on economic performance and tourists' satisfaction (Lin, Ruan, and Xu 2020), the concept of living protection is more suitable for traditional villages as tourism destinations for two reasons. First, the protection of indigenous people is more important than high profitability for the tourism industry based on the sustainability of traditional villages with significant cultural and historical value. Traditional villages as tourism destinations are a good place to advertise traditional and rural cultures rather than being impacted by the preferences of citizens. Second, living protection, which focuses on long-term construction, is suitable for sustainable tourism development in traditional villages.
Based on investigation and documentation data, this paper establishes an analytical framework and conducts a qualitative evaluation of the living protection of tourism service facilities. Notably, no official data are currently available for the tourism development of traditional villages. First, the operation of business tourism facilities has great flexibility and is controlled by the market, and the habit of not asking for invoices during transactions in rural areas makes it difficult to calculate turnover. Second, awareness of quantitative statistical analysis is still minimal among rural governments, and data are typically scarce in rural China.

Lifecycle stage of each tourism destination
The lifecycle theory of tourism destinations has been debated in previous studies because it is not generally applicable to all tourism destinations (Yu 1997;Cheng 2007). In this study, the lifecycle stage of each village helps explain some aspects of the evaluation results. First, the evaluation results of Huanxi match the involvement stage of tourism development. For instance, there are high contacts between visitors and locals in Huanxi; moreover, tourism services primarily provided by indigenous people (high tourism involvement of Huanxi villagers), organization in tourist travel arrangements, and a B&B alliance also emerged. Second, the number of exploited cultures in villages with mature tourism development (Zhuge and Dipu) is greater than that of villages in the involvement stage (Huanxi). Third, the richness and suitability of tourism service facilities in villages with mature tourism development (Zhuge, Xinye, and Dipu) are better than those of villages in the involvement stage (Huanxi).

Tourism exploitation mode and the primary guide of tourism development
Based on the analysis, different exploitation modes and the primary guide of tourism development may have different effects on the construction of tourism service facilities from the perspective of living protection. For instance, Shen'ao's tourism exploitation mode is unique. A limited number of villagers, particularly young villagers, live in the village, leading to a lack of a suitable labor force and talented people in regard to the tourism exploitation of the village at first. Thus, the private tourism company invited talented youth, which revitalized Shen'ao. These talented people set up art studios to increase the percentage of culturally oriented tourism service facilities. As such, the development mode of Shen'ao offers a valuable reference for villages with similar conditions in which the village was devitalized prior to tourism development. However, the tourism involvement of villagers is still limited at present, which demands special attention in the future from the perspective of living protection. The tourism development of Huanxi and Zhuge shows a similar trend. The tourism development of the two villages is managed by local governments who view the benefit to villagers as important. Thus, Huanxi and Zhuge have high villager involvement. The third type of tourism development was observed in Dipu and Xinye. The unusual media exposure during their previous development attempts greatly accelerated the tourism development process of these two villages. It also greatly aroused enthusiasm for indigenous tourism participation. However, unsustainability is a major issue for this type of development, and revitalizing tourism development remains the primary challenge.

Number of traditional buildings
The number of traditional buildings may affect their utilization as tourism service facilities. As shown in Table 3, Shen'ao and Zhuge have the greatest number of traditional buildings at are over 200. Their utilization of traditional buildings as tourism service facilities is also the best among the five case villages. Additionally, a higher percentage of the tourism service facilities in Shen'ao and Zhuge rely on traditional buildings. Huanxi has the lowest number of traditional buildings, while the percentages of utilization of and facilities in traditional buildings were also the lowest among the five villages.

Reference for the construction of tourism service facilities at cultural heritage sites
The study also offers a reference for tourism destinations of different types of cultural heritage sites around the world. First, more attention should be paid to the overall effects of tourism service facilities. Evaluations of the effects at set intervals are necessary to make adjustments. First, the ratios of culture-oriented and commercial-oriented facilities should be controlled to guarantee the traditional atmosphere of the cultural heritage site. Second, tourism formats incorporating creation and deep experiences are vital to the quality of tourism services and need to be carefully designed.
In addition, the condition of the tourism involvement of indigenous people requires special attention from the living protection perspective. Without professional knowledge and skills, indigenous investors are disadvantaged, compared to foreign investors. To avoid potential conflicts, tourism plans and schemes are of great importance to achieve all-win development, for instance, introducing a limited number of upscale tourism facilities to market the village and training indigenous people for major tourism reception. The utilization of traditional architecture for tourism service facilities has many advantages, but it may be a challenging task in practice. In addition to the coordination of property rights, more effort should be made regarding the technology and design of transformation. Ancient buildings may not be suitable for tourist reception in terms of heat and sound insulation, lighting, or aeration. In addition, different tourism service facilities may have different requirements for spatial characteristics and costs, which requires further investigation.

Connecting relevant tourism-related theories to facility construction
This study proposes an indicator system that connects theory and construction work in tourism development. Thus, the analytical methods of the study help extend tourism-related theories to spatial construction and establish an interdisciplinary research platform.
Moreover, the research complements existing studies of small-scale rural tourism initiatives or rural tourism development, which are scarce (Seweryn et al. 2020;Yang et al. 2021). Five case studies are included, and comparisons are made to decrease the subjectivity of the analysis (Gascón 2013).
Adapting to the trend of indigenous involvement in research on indigenous tourism (Henry et al. 2002), this study considers the benefits of indigenous involvement in terms of economic income and usage of facility resources and includes them in the indicator system to evaluate the performance of tourism facilities. The study found unsatisfactory local involvement and facility usage in traditional villages; thus, this factor requires further improvement.

Conclusions
The concept of living protection emphasizes the development, change, and utilization of heritage. This concept can serve as a reference for the substantivity of traditional villages with tourism development. Tourism service facilities have substantial effects on both the protection and development of traditional villages, offering an interesting target for investigation and reconstruction. This study establishes an indicator system to evaluate tourism service facilities based on the living protection concept and, more importantly, offers guidance for future construction. The evaluation system includes three protection dimensions, eight firstlevel indicators, and 19 second-level indicators. In addition, the analytical process of the character summary of each dimension and each village as well as comparison analysis were promoted for practical work.
In accordance with the connotation and framework, five case villages in Zhejiang Province, China, were evaluated. The results revealed the following: 1) the economic benefit received by villagers from the tourism industry is limited; 2) the current operation of facilities does not bother the lives of villagers, while the improvements of local residential environments are significant; 3) the conditions of the utilization of traditional buildings vary in different villages, while such utilization helps enhance the traditional atmosphere of the village; and 4) the five case villages exploit cultures in tourism development to varying degrees, and Zhuge is the best among the five. As such, further improvements are suggested, including 1) encouraging long stays of tourists using deep cultural experiential activities, 2) encouraging public involvement through preferential strategies and training, 3) promoting facility usage by community members by considering their public activities during the design stages, 4)valuing the coordination work of local governments and promoting the utilization of traditional buildings as tourism service facilities, and 5) paying continuous attention to the tourism exploitation of traditional villages and making suitable adjustments.
Nevertheless, this is a preliminary study of tourism service facilities in traditional villages. Due to the deficiency of micro-scope data (village-level scale) and difficulty of onsite survey, only five case villages were investigated, and they cannot reveal all of the characteristics of tourism service facilities in traditional villages of Zhejiang Province. Because there is no threshold for specific indicators, the results might be biased by the size of the dataset. To improve generalizability, more case studies should be included in the project for a comprehensive understanding. In addition, current synchronic analyses may neglect historical problems. For instance, it is difficult to know how different types of tourism service facilities have emerged and closed down in the past. Dischronic analysis may provide extra information and patternsfor facility construction, which offers further reference for the living protection of the entire village.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).  (11) Onsite observation