Evaluation of Farmers’ Livelihood Vulnerability in Border Rural Tourism Destination and Its Influencing Factors—Take Tumen City, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, as an Example

Rural tourism is one of the important measures used to realize the rural revitalization strategy in China. At the same time, the “action of prospering the border and enriching the people” is a crucial link in driving the economic development of border areas. With the continuous improvement of the G331 section of the Jilin Line, the development of rural tourism along the border has been accelerated. Therefore, reducing the livelihood vulnerability of farmers is conducive to promoting the rural revitalization strategy in China and consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation and difficulties in tackling them. This paper takes Tumen City, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, as the sample area; takes Mapai Village, Bailong Village, Hexi Village, Liangshui Village, and Tingyan Village as the research objects; obtains survey data for 224 households through on-the-spot investigation; constructs an evaluation index system for farmers’ livelihood vulnerability in border rural tourist destinations based on the sustainable livelihood theory and the analysis framework of “exposure–sensitivity–adaptability”; calculates farmers’ livelihood vulnerability in this research area by the entropy method and the comprehensive index method; and classifies different villages’ and farmers’ livelihood vulnerability by the natural breakpoint method. By using the multiple linear regression method, this paper analyzes the factors influencing farmers’ livelihood vulnerability in border rural tourist destinations. The results show the following: (1) The overall livelihood vulnerability of farmers is negative, indicating that farmers have a certain ability to resist external risks, but the livelihood vulnerability of some investigated villages is positive, indicating that farmers’ ability to resist external risks is weak, which is closely related to village geographical environment, tourism market environment, family characteristics, and other factors. (2) The livelihood vulnerability of villages with relatively perfect tourism formats is low, which shows that tourism can effectively reduce the livelihood vulnerability of farmers to a certain extent. (3) The household head’s education level, the total price of agricultural machinery, annual income, the ability to borrow money, family size, the number of disabled people, and other factors have a significant influence on the livelihood vulnerability of farmers.