Gaming can be sustainable too! Using Social Representation Theory to examine the moderating effects of tourism diversification on residents' tax paying behavior

Tourism authorities in the Las Vegas region have suggested the diversification of the tourism industry as a strategy to improve the vitality of rural communities outside of the metropolitan area. The present study uses Social Representation Theory as the conceptual basis to test the moderating effects of the various types of proposed tourism development on residents' willingness to pay higher taxes to support such development. A survey of 301 residents in Las Vegas rural communities examined how the factors of economic dependence on tourism, community attachment, and ecocentric attitude towards tourism influence residents' perceptions of tourism's impacts. A higher economic dependence on tourism and higher levels of community attachment led to more favorable perceptions of tourism's economic and social impacts. The economic impacts, in turn, resulted in a willingness to pay higher taxes, irrespective of the type of tourism development proposed by the Las Vegas authorities. The results suggest that rural communities reinforce a hegemonic social representation of tourism in order to characterize the ethos of capitalist urbanism that pervades the economic development discourse. The residents' social construction of tourism has important implications for tourism planners in the region and suggests the adoption of an inclusive tourism diversification strategy that leverages both gaming and alternative tourism.     

Volunteer tourism and the “voluntoured”: the case of Tijuana,Mexico

This paper explores resident attitudes to volunteer tourism in several small communities within Tijuana, Mexico. Social exchange theory has been used to argue that the degree of personal benefit from volunteer tourism would predict residents' perceptions of the impacts of volunteer tourism and support for volunteer tourism planning and for volunteer tourism activities. Survey research of a purposive sample targeted several neighborhoods within Tijuana that were extensively “voluntoured”. Results indicate mixed support for social exchange theory. Implications are discussed concerning the need for volunteer tourism organizations to include a variety of community stakeholders in the volunteer tourism development process.     

Residents' Perceptions Toward the “Chinese Tourists' Wave” in Hong Kong: An Exploratory Study

Mainland China experienced an extraordinary progress in its economy in the past two decades which directly stimulates more outbound travels. Considering the geographical proximity and political ties between Hong Kong and Mainland China, the share of inbound tourists to Hong Kong has been, and will continuously be, largely occupied by Mainland Chinese tourists on an uprising basis. The phenomenon of the “Chinese tourists' wave”, operationalizing as the influx of tourists from Mainland China, has brought tremendous change on Hong Kong's tourism industry, economy and local community. It is, thus, of necessity to understand the perceptions and response toward this phenomenon from local residents' perspective as they are the stakeholders of local tourism. Drawing on the findings from three focus group interviews with 18 Hong Kong residents, three conventional dimensions, namely “Economic”, “Social-cultural” and “Environmental” were identified and discussed to demonstrate the local residents' perceptions toward the impact of “Chinese tourists' wave” phenomenon. Generally, residents tend to recognize the positive economic impacts as well as negative social–cultural and environmental impacts generated from this tourism phenomenon. The recommendations suggested in this study also serve as a reference for tourism authorities concerned to redress the existing problems.     

Residents' perceptions of wine tourism development

Wine trails have been studied insufficiently within the tourism literature despite of their recent rapid development worldwide. In response, this study examines residents' perceptions of wine tourism development in terms of personal benefits and community impacts. It also explores whether residents' socio-demographics and levels of wine enthusiasm, and wine trails' tourism characterization influence residents' perceptions. Following a stratified random sampling procedure, residents living along two wine trails in the Piedmont region of North Carolina (U.S.) were surveyed. Results indicate that residents are neutral in their perceptions of the Piedmont wineries in terms of both personal benefits and community impacts. Residents' socio-demographics and level of wine enthusiasm, as well as the comprehensiveness of wine trails' tourism amenities were significantly associated with residents' perceptions. Results also indicate that personal benefits mediate residents' perceptions of community impacts. In addition to the oretical and methodological contributions, this paper outlines management implications for wine trails.     

City Image and Perceived Tourism Impact: Evidence from Port Louis,Mauritius

Research suggests that the images residents hold about their community influence the political support for tourism. Yet, few researchers have investigated the image that local residents have of their own area. Borrowing from the existing literature on place image and residents' perceptions of tourism impacts, a theoretical model incorporating these two lines of research is developed and tested using data collected from residents of the city of Port Louis, Mauritius. It proposes four city image attributes as the independent constructs influencing residents' perceptions toward the overall impact of tourism development. These include social attributes, transport attributes, government services attributes, and shopping attributes. Overall impact of tourism development is considered to be a determinant of the level of support for the industry. Results of the structural equation modeling analysis indicate that residents' perceived levels of shopping attributes, transport attributes, and social attributes of the city influence their level of support for the tourism industry. The hypothesis relating transport attributes to overall impacts of tourism was not supported. The study provides some important considerations for local planners attempting to make tourism more supportive in the city.     

Host perceptions of tourism: A review of the research

It has long been recognised that it is incumbent on those responsible for the planning of tourism to seek to optimise the well-being of local residents whilst minimising the costs of tourism development.It is not surprising, therefore, that academic attention has long been paid to the social impacts of tourism in general and to the understanding of host communities' perceptions of tourism and its impacts in particular. Nevertheless, despite the significant volume and increasing scope of the research, the extent to which understanding of residents' perceptions of tourism has been enhanced remains uncertain. Thus, the purpose of this Progress Review is to explore critically the development of the research into residents' perceptions of tourism. Highlighting key themes and trends in the literature, it identifies a number of limitations in the research, including a narrow case study base, a dependence on quantitative methods, a focus on perceptions as opposed to responses, and the exclusion of the tourist from the majority of the research. Consequently, it argues for a multidimensional approach to the research.     

An Examination of Changes in Residents' Perceptions of Tourism Impacts Over Time: The Impact of Residents' Socio-demographic Characteristics

This study investigates whether there has been a change in residents' perceptions of various tourism impacts over time and the impact of residents' socio-demographic characteristics on those changes. A survey of local residents (n?=?732 in 2004 and n?=?590 in 2009) was carried out for collecting the data for this study which was then followed by focus groups, conducted in 2012, consisting of academics, local residents and the tourism experts to validate the outcome from the survey. The results suggest that there has been significant increase in the level of agreement of the Sunshine Coast residents during this period on some of the tourism impacts such as job creation, attracting more investment, providing more business for local people and more cultural exchange between tourists and residents. The results also suggest that there is a significant decline in their perceptions of tourism negatively affecting the way of living of local residents and likelihood of residents suffering from living in a tourism destination. The residents also feel that there will be a decline in parks and other recreational areas for local residents with growth in tourism. The study also found that demographic variables such as age, gender, income, education and occupation are likely to influence residents' perceptions of tourism impact over time. Implications for future tourism development plans for the region are discussed.     

Exploring Factors Influencing Residents' Satisfaction with Tourism Development in Poverty-Stricken Areas: A Case Study of Five Poor Villages in China

As one of the key stakeholders in tourism development, residents' satisfaction with tourism development (RSTD) has an important effect on the alleviation of poverty. Despite its great significance, only limited research had been conducted by researchers to explore factors influencing RSTD in poor regions. To fill the void, this study built the proposed model of RSTD in poverty-stricken areas by structural equation modeling technique. The results indicated that (1) six key influencing factors, namely, perceived benefits of tourism development, perceived costs of tourism development, residents' participation in tourism development, distribution of personal benefits from tourism, residents' expectations for tourism development, and community attachment, were proved to be the antecedents of RSTD in poverty-stricken areas. (2) According to path coefficients between constructs, “distribution of personal benefits from tourism” was the most significant antecedent of RSTD in poverty-stricken regions. Furthermore, “residents’ participation in tourism development” also need to be paid more attention.     

Residents' support for tourism development: The role of residents' place image and perceived tourism impacts

Drawing on the triple bottom line approach for tourism impacts (economic, socio-cultural and environmental) and adopting a non-forced approach for measuring residents' perception of these impacts, this study explores the role of residents' place image in shaping their support for tourism development. The tested model proposes that residents' place image affects their perceptions of tourism impacts and in turn their support for tourism development. The results stress the need for a more flexible and resident-oriented measurement of tourism impacts, revealing that more favorable perceptions of the economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts lead to greater support. Moreover, while residents' place image has been largely neglected by tourism development studies, the findings of this study reveal its significance in shaping residents' perception of tourism impacts as well as their level of support. The practical implications of the findings for tourism planning and development are also discussed.     

Local reactions to mass tourism and community tourism development in Macau

By 2014, it became apparent that a popular debate was emerging in many destinations about the “annoyances” felt by local residents in the face of an upsurge in inbound tourism. This study investigates residents’ attitudes toward mass tourism and tourism development in Macau. It comprises an examination of three emotional solidarity factors of residents’ perceptions of the contribution of tourism to the community and the community's experiences of so-called “annoyances” from tourists that may ultimately influence residents’ attitudes toward community tourism development. The results of this study reveal that three emotional solidarity factors play different roles in influencing residents’ attitudes about community tourism and community tourism development. The theoretical contributions, as well as implications, are discussed and future research opportunities are proposed.     

Conflict and agreement in stakeholder attitudes: residents’ and hotel managers’ views of tourism impacts and forest-related tourism development

This paper probes differences in attitudes toward tourism impacts between two leading stakeholder groups in tourism, local residents and the managers of tourism facilities. It uses case study surveys of residents and managers in Belek, Antalya, Turkey. Differences in attitudes across seven main areas are investigated, including the positive and negative economic outcomes of tourism; positive and negative sociocultural impacts; negative environmental impacts; views on further tourism development, and benefits and problems related to forested land close to destinations. The results reveal that some attitudes are held in common – especially positive attitudes including tourism's benefits in creating jobs and income. Differences were mostly observed not in the direction but in the strength of opinion. The most significant differences were found in managers' beliefs that tourism's environmental and social impacts were few, while residents were extremely negative about those impacts. Differences of attitudes on the future use of forestland headed the list of all differences between managers and residents. Divergent loyalties were revealed. Managers supported their business and employers; local people supported their local area. The need for further research, including the role of perhaps distant “moral stakeholders”, and for more comprehensive understanding, and more sustainable outcomes, are highlighted.     

Urban Residents' Perceptions of Environmental Impacts

This article examines urban residents' perceptions of environmental impacts in the city of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The study vies to contribute to knowledge concerning how citizens in Tennessee view tourism and its impact on the environment. A mail survey was administered to 400 registered voters. Factor analysis, Cramer's V statistical measures of association, chi-square tests, and Spearman correlation coefficients were employed for the analysis and interpretation of the data. Tests and associations support three hypotheses; residents' perceptions of the impact of tourism are influenced by employment status and short-term residency. Greater lengths of residency, age, and annual income do not influence residents' perceptions.     

Urban vs. rural destinations: Residents’ perceptions,community participation and support for tourism development

This paper investigates and compares the effects of residents' perceptions of the impacts of tourism on community participation and support for tourism development across urban and rural world heritage sites (WHSs). Partial least squares – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), has been employed to perform the analysis. The results reveal significant differences between the effects of residents' perceptions and community participation on support for tourism development in urban and rural destinations. However, the findings did not support any differences between the effects of positive perceptions on community participation, and the indirect effects of negative perceptions on support for tourism development. This study makes a significant theoretical contribution to the urban and rural tourism and residents’ perceptions literature by comparing rural and urban WHSs residents. Furthermore, this study has a number of practical implications for the local authorities of rural and urban WHSs.     

Effects of emotional solidarity and tourism-related stress on residents' quality of life

This study explores how residents' lives are influenced by their emotional and psychological responses to tourism development. In particular, we propose that residents' emotional solidarity with tourists and perceived tourism-related stress significantly affect individuals' quality of life (QoL) within their community. Findings reveal that the relationship between residents' emotional solidarity with tourists and perceptions of QoL are mediated by perceived tourism-related stress. Though the research connecting residents' emotional and psychological responses to tourism and their QoL continues to grow within the tourism literature, this work marks a new research direction that establishes connections among residents' emotional solidarity, stress, and QoL, using an integrated model. By focusing on the emotional and psychological aspects of tourism impacts rather than tangible ones, this study provides alternative perspectives to the existing QoL literature. Findings further expand the nomological network of tourism and the QoL research paradigm and inform tourism development policy.     

Perceived Social Impacts of Tourism by Residents in the OTOP Tourism Village,Thailand

This study aims to investigate the impacts of tourism development at Baan Tawai, the first OTOP Tourism Village in Thailand, and to examine the relationship between demographic factors and Baan Tawai residents' perceptions of the social impacts of tourism development. Data were collected using questionnaires. The finding is that the residents positively perceive social impacts in term of job creation for women in the village. Additionally, they do not see any social changes brought in by tourism and do not think that tourism leads to an increase in prostitution, vandalism, burglary, or drug abuse.     

Exploring Residents' Perceptions of the Social Impacts of Tourism on the Sunshine Coast,Australia

ABSTRACT

This study identified residents' perceptions of major social impacts from tourism and their social concerns. A survey of households on the Sunshine Coast region covering the hinterland residential, hinterland high tourist activity, coastal residential and coastal high tourist activity areas of the three shires (Caloundra City Council, Maroochy Shire and Noosa Shire) was carried out to assess residents' perceptions of social impacts. Altogether 732 responses were received. Based on the perceptions of the respondents, the survey results suggest that if rates of resident perceptions are aligned with actual impact, tourism has the highest impact on traffic congestion. Residents perceived that the opportunity to meet people from other regions of the world provides a valuable experience for respondents to better understand their culture and society. The study also found a number of significant correlations between residents' concerns and tourism impact variables. It revealed that the principal area of concern was the lack of capacity of roads and transportation followed by perceived negative impacts on the surrounding environment and crime related incidents.     

Tourist development and host–guest interaction: An economic exchange theory

Theoretical research on the impacts of tourism has a discernible bias towards residents’ perceptions. To understand the evolution and dynamics of tourism, residents’ perceptions have to be analyzed as part of an exchange process involving both residents and tourists. A conceptual framework of host–guest relations is required. This paper presents an economic model that builds on evidence that tourism involves the meeting of two populations. Their interactions and experiences influence their attitudes and opinions. This causes structural changes in individual preferences that affect residents’ perceptions of tourism and tourists’ willingness to pay. To interpret this process we use the Edgeworth Box, representing the “exchange” in terms of “resource-space” against income.     

Residents' perceptions of the environmental impacts of tourism in the Lake Bosomtwe Basin,Ghana

This study investigates residents' perceptions of tourism's physical impacts in the Lake Bosomtwe Basin in Ghana. Data were based on a resident survey conducted in the basin in January 2006. Residents perceived both positive and negative impacts of tourism development, but were more inclined to the positive side. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the district assemblies in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism should start managing the impacts, and also educate the local population on the dangers of underestimating the negative impacts of tourism on the environment.     

Evidence of a low-carbon tourism paradigm?

The global tourism industry has benefited from exceptional growth; however, a number of challenges have the potential to seriously undermine the industry's future aspirations. This research uses social representation theory to understand how the social group of tourism experts makes sense of the phenomena of “tourism growth”, “low-carbon tourism”, “peak oil” and “risks for tourism”, and whether representations are indicative of different underlying paradigms. A total of 101 experts from various tourism professions and key demographics were interviewed using the free associations method. The findings reveal distinct representations of the four phenomena, but also significant linkages between them, in particular in relation to the global economy, transportation, energy supply and sustainability. Further, whilst experts appear grounded in the Dominant Social Paradigm of consumerism and neoliberal capitalism, there is evidence of alternative views that question some of the fundamental assumptions of the growth paradigm. In particular, when asked about low-carbon tourism and peak oil, experts advanced associations that indicated an Alternative Paradigm. A broader paradigm shift originating from within tourism, however, alone is unlikely.     

Does Airbnb impact non-hosting Residents' quality of life? Comparing media discourse with empirical evidence

In addition to disrupting the hotel industry, Airbnb has been portrayed in the media as significantly diminishing the quality of life of residents in neighborhoods where it is available. There is little empirical research to support such rhetoric, particularly as provided by the residents themselves. To address this gap, the present study uses the social exchange theory framework to develop and test two alternative models of residents' attitudes towards Airbnb. Findings indicate that residents are generally positive towards Airbnb, perceiving higher positive than negative impacts. Moreover, those residents who possess more knowledge of Airbnb, engage more with their communities, and perceive potential benefits from Airbnb also perceive higher positive impacts, while the need for regulation serves as the key determinant of residents' perceptions of Airbnb's negative impacts. The positive impacts, in turn, have a stronger direct effect on residents' support for Airbnb, and tourism more generally, than the dampening effect of Airbnb's negative impacts. Quality of life was not found to have a significant mediating effect on these relationships, a finding that contradicts previous discourse and opens up avenues for future research on the role of this important construct.