Abstract

Community-based forest ecotourism is an important livelihood pathway for communities around protected forests, but household agritourism operators often face ecological regulations, seasonal demand and heterogeneous tourist expectations. These conditions increase information asymmetry and make service matching difficult. This study examines how two-way information disclosure affects business performance in community-based forest ecotourism. Drawing on social penetration theory, we test a chained mechanism linking two-way information disclosure to operational performance. Based on 780 valid questionnaires from agritourism operators and core family managers around Giant Panda National Park, China, this study measures information disclosure practices, service responsiveness, operator-side perceptions of tourist responses and self-reported business performance. The results show that seller- and buyer-side information disclosure significantly enhance perceived identification. Seller information disclosure has relatively stable effects on customer orientation, perceived quality and operational performance, whereas buyer information disclosure mainly works through perceived identification. Perceived quality, perceived value and satisfaction act as partial transmission channels. Heterogeneity analysis shows stronger effects among low-income and newly established operators. The findings provide micro-level evidence for reducing expectation mismatch and strengthening sustainable livelihood capacity in forest protected-area communities.

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