How Events Empower the Countryside: A Study of Rural Household Livelihoods in Traditional Villages of Ethnic Mountainous Areas Influenced by Guizhou’s “Village Super League”

As an emerging sports tourism event, Guizhou’s “Village Super League” injects new vitality into the optimization of human–land relationships and the development of household livelihoods in traditional villages of ethnic mountainous regions. Studying five affected traditional tourism villages from an “event–actor–capital” perspective using mixed methods, this research finds the following: (1) The composite average score of household livelihood capital is 0.3177, indicating a medium–low level, which suggests that households’ livelihood structure still requires significant enhancement despite the tourism boost from the “Village Super League”. (2) There is an imbalance in development among the villages. The livelihoods of households under the influence of the “Village Super League” exhibit distinct characteristics, being “driven by external flows, led by social capital, supported by the material foundation, and coordinated with other forms of capital.” (3) The evolution of household livelihoods follows a pathway of “event-driven supplementation, endogenous renewal of actors, capital integration and synergy.” By constructing shared event memory markers, the livelihoods of villages at different stages of tourism development demonstrate differentiated dynamic mechanisms. The findings deepen the theoretical understanding of livelihoods in traditional villages under event-driven development. Consequently, this study recommends that policymakers and community stewards channel transient social capital and external flows into durable physical and financial assets to ensure livelihood sustainability beyond the initial event boom.