Emotional responses toward Tourism Performing Arts Development: A comparison of urban and rural residents in China

In contrast to the substantial work on resident perceptions toward tourism development, relatively little is known about residents' emotional responses. By applying cognitive appraisal theory, this study aims to identify the causes and consequences of resident emotions toward Tourism Performing Arts (TPA) developments across urban and rural communities. Based on a quota sampling method, surveys of 438 and 435 residents were undertaken in two typical urban (Hangzhou) and rural (Yangshuo) TPA destinations in China. Results revealed that rural residents reported a higher intensity of positive emotions and were more supportive towards TPA development. Positive emotions (i.e., happy, loving and grateful) for rural and urban residents were elicited by outcome desirability, fairness, and coping potential whereas negative emotions were generated differently. Complex emotions, rather than specific emotions were found to be related behavioral intentions towards TPA development. Findings suggest targeted strategies such as promoting TPA in urban communities and offering preferential local access for rural communities.     

Segmenting residents based on emotional reactions to tourism performing arts development

To identify residents’ heterogeneity beyond a perception lens, this research seeks to cluster urban and rural residents based on their emotions, commitment and behavioral intentions toward tourism performing arts (TPA) development. A survey comprising 438 urban and 435 rural respondents was collected in Hangzhou and Yangshuo, China. A two-step cluster analysis revealed that residents’ length of residence and birthplace were the most significant model predicators. Different cluster profiles labeled as “enthusiasts”, “committed supporters”, “appraisers” and “critics” were identified. Findings provide targeted strategies to cultivate resident commitment and reduce hostility toward TPA development in different types of communities.     

Role of trust,emotions and event attachment on residents' attitudes toward tourism

This study examines the effects of residents' trust in government and their emotions toward an event on their perceptions of potential impacts and their support. This study also examines the moderating role of event attachment on the strength of relationships between residents' trust in government and their impacts perceptions, emotional responses, and as well as their support based on social exchange theory and cognitive appraisal theory. Findings clearly indicate that residents' support is a function of both cognitive and affective assessment of perceived impacts. Trust in government influences directly residents' support and indirectly through perceived impacts and experienced emotions toward an event. Findings further suggest that level of event attachment moderates the effects of trust on residents’ perceptions of impacts, their emotions, as well as on their support.     

The influence of place identity on perceived tourism impacts

This study aims to investigate if local residents’ senses of place identity could affect their attitudes toward tourism. Deploying a survey on urban residents in a Midwest state in the USA, the present study finds place-based self-esteem and self-efficacy affect residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts and support for tourism. While tourism literature suggests social exchange theory to be a useful tool in predicting resident perceptions and attitudes from the perspective of the quality of social exchange of resources (i.e. depending on getting more or losing more), this study adds a new perspective in gauging resident perceptions and attitudes by utilizing place identity theory as a theoretical underpinning instead. This study recommends that place identity theory and social exchange theory complement each other and be both utilized in assessing resident attitudes toward tourism development.     

Sustainable tourism development and residents’ perceptions in World Heritage Site destinations

Set in Malaysia’s Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site (WHS), this paper uses stakeholder theory to explore the heterogeneity of positive and negative perceptions among residents and their effects on residents’ support for and participation in sustainable tourism development. Data from 221 completed questionnaire surveys revealed heterogeneous negative perceptions across residents’ age, level of education and economic involvement in tourism. Moreover, residents’ positive perceptions had a positive effect on their support for and participation in tourism development. This study contributes to the resident perception literature by using stakeholder theory to conceptualise the heterogeneity of residents’ perceptions and by examining the effects of those perceptions on their support for and participation in tourism development in a rural WHS destination in the developing world. Furthermore, the findings of this study have practical implications for local authorities aiming to improve residents’ support and participation in tourism planning for sustaining tourism development.     

Facial expressions versus words: Unlocking complex emotional responses of residents toward tourists

Tourism as an emotional sphere, researchers' efforts on emotions lag behind the fruitful achievements of psychology, in both methods and theories. Tourism studies on emotion mostly rely on self-reports only, thus limiting the understanding to explicitly expressed emotions. This study aims to compare residents' emotional responses toward tourists expressed implicitly (through facial expressions) and explicitly (through self-reports), and interpret identified discrepancies by exploring the psychological mechanism behind the two expression channels. Using self-developed video vignettes as triggers, Hong Kong residents’ facial expressions during watching and self-reported emotions after watching the videos were recorded. Through a comprehensive comparison, desires-derived and stereotypes-elicited emotional responses of residents toward tourists were distinguished. Facial expressions conveyed more desires-derived emotions like happiness, sadness, and anger, whereas self-reports emphasized stereotypes-elicited emotions, particularly disgust. A dual-process model of emotion formation was proposed to interpret the emotional expressive discrepancies, thereby enhancing the theorization of tourism studies on emotion.     

Residents’ place image: a meaningful psychographic variable for tourism segmentation?

ABSTRACT

While there has been a considerable body of research on tourists’ place image, there remains limited attention on residents’ place image, specifically, in relation to its segmentation utility. This study seeks to address this oversight by a) clustering the local residents based on the image held of a tourism place, and b) exploring the extent to which the identified image-based resident clusters share similar (dissimilar) demographic characteristics and attitude towards tourism development. Empirical analysis was based on a sample of 481 residents of a Greek city. The findings support the utility of residents’ place image as a psychographic segmentation variable revealing the existence of three distinct resident groups – termed “Nature Loving”, “Apathetic” and “Advocate.” Results also suggest that these resident groups exhibit dissimilar demographic characteristics and dissimilar attitude towards tourism. In comparison with other segments, the Apathetic exhibits the least favourable image and the least supportive attitude towards tourism.     

Residents’ support for festivals: integration of emotional solidarity

This study develops a conceptual model by integrating social exchange theory (SET), emotional solidarity theory, and community attachment. Empirically, the study tests the adequacy of the model in predicting residents’ perceptions of and their support for festival development in Macao. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling are used for data analysis. Results indicate that residents’ perceived positive festival impacts are influenced by emotional solidarity and community attachment; and their support for festival development can be influenced by their emotional solidarity, community attachment, and perceived festival impacts, both positive and negative. However, the relationship between emotional solidarity and perceived negative impacts is found to be not significant. While the results extend support for SET, as well as theory of emotional solidarity, the findings also show that community attachment is one important determinant of residents’ perceptions of and their support for festival development. The findings also shed light on practical implications for festival planers and organizers.     

The perceived impact of tourism by residents a case study in Santa Marta,Colombia

Studies of the local population's perception of tourism impact are useful in setting up programs to minimize friction between tourists and residents, and in formulating plans to gain resident support of tourist ventures. This study identifies the positive and negative aspects of tourism as perceived by the Santa Marta residents, and the influence of selected variables on resident response. It is hypothesized that the perception of tourist impact varies with the distance a person lives from the tourist zone and with the resident's socio-economic status. It is found that despite the perception of some serious negative aspects, Santa Marta residents consider the overall impact of tourism to be beneficial. They want their government to offer more economic incentives and eliminate any restrictive measures in order to stimulate tourism in the area. The positive attitudes of the Santa Marta residents toward tourism may be a function of the incipient stage of tourism development in this area.     

Incorporating emotion into social exchange: considering distinct resident groups’ attitudes towards ethnic neighborhood tourism in Osaka,Japan

While numerous studies have utilized SET to examine the residents’ attitudes towards tourism, relatively scant from the literature is a discussion regarding the influence of emotion generated through SET among residents on their attitudes towards tourism. In addition, past studies mainly explored the social exchange between visitors and locals, while neglecting the social exchange within a local community. The goal of this study is to examine the influence individuals’ emotions toward their ethnic counterparts within a community can have on residents’ (i.e., members of the dominant ethnic group—Japanese and members of the ethnic minority group—Koreans) attitudes toward ethnic neighborhood tourism within the Korean neighborhood of Ikuno, Osaka, Japan. Ikuno has the highest concentration of Korean residents in Japan, and the town has become a destination of cultural tourism centered on Korean culture. Analysis of 640 completed questionnaires revealed while attitudes of Korean residents, who are more likely to perceive economic benefits from tourism have more favorable attitudes towards tourism, Japanese residents form their particular attitudes towards tourism based on the emotional solidarity they experience with their Korean neighbors. These findings indicate both utility of economic approach of social exchange theory and significant role of emotion in social exchange.     

Does living in the vicinity of heritage tourism sites influence residents’ perceptions and attitudes?

Abstract

This study investigates whether the perceptions and attitudes of residents living within the vicinity of heritage tourism sites differ from those living further afield. It examines residents’ attitudes toward tourism development; community attachment; environment and culture attitudes; economic gain; and involvement, alongside the moderating role of distance from heritage tourism sites. In doing so, it investigates how the aforementioned factors influence residents’ perceptions of tourism development in their city. Data was collected from inhabitants of Kashan and Tabriz, two historic cities couched within Iran’s growing heritage tourism sector, and analyzed using partial least squares - structural equation modeling. The findings demonstrate significant differences between the perceptions of tourism impacts, economic gain, environmental and cultural attitudes, and involvement between residents living within the vicinity of heritage tourism sites and those living further afield. However, these findings contradicted the hypotheses; identifying higher positive perceptions, environmental and cultural attitudes, economic gain, and involvement for residents living far from heritage tourism sites. Further, the findings did not support the moderating role of distance for the effects of influencing factors on residents’ perceptions. Therefore, this study proffers significant theoretical contributions and practical implications with regards to developing sustainable tourism in Iran.     

The effects of community factors on residents’ perceptions toward World Heritage Site inscription and sustainable tourism development

Using partial least squares-structural equation modeling, we analyzed data from 410 questionnaires completed by a sample of residents from the vicinity of the George Town World Heritage Site (WHS), Malaysia, to investigate the effects of community factors on residents’ perceptions and support for WHS conservation and tourism development. To conceptualize these relationships, we developed a framework based on social exchange theory (SET) and previous empirical evidence. While community attachment, cultural attitudes, community involvement, and community gain had positive effects on residents’ perceptions, the effects of community members’ gain and status consistency were particularly strong. Our results suggest that perceptions strongly influence support for WHS conservation and tourism development. Having examined a number of new resident perception factors, this study makes a significant theoretical and methodological contribution to the tourism and resident perception literature. Furthermore, this study has practical implications for future sustainable community development in the George Town WHS.     

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.     

Film Tourism Town and Its Local Community

This study was designed to identify the relationships between place attachment, residents’ perceptions of tourism effects, and their attitudes toward tourism developments in the context of film tourism destination. A main survey was conducted at seven representative TV drama/film production towns in Korea. Among various findings, both the local communities’ beliefs about local development through the construction of TV drama/film production towns and their attachment to the communities had a significant positive effect on support for the development of film tourism. In addition, beliefs about local development significantly contributed to explaining the level of local community support for the development of a film tourism destination. Local communities’ beliefs also positively and significantly affected attachment to these communities. Interestingly, perceived negative social and environmental effects of film tourism did not indicate statistical causal relationships with the local residents’ beliefs about local development because residents may not tend to consider negative social or environmental effects seriously.     

Resident attitudes toward sustainable community tourism

This study examined, using social exchange theory, a range of variables involved in determining resident attitudes toward tourism development and the adoption of sustainable tourism. After a comprehensive review of the literature on the role of residents in tourism development, and of the use of social exchange theory, 430 completed questionnaires obtained in a Texas town involved in tourism were analyzed. A structural equation model was utilized to understand the effects of selected components of sustainability on the attitudes of the respondents about future tourism development and to test hypothesized causal relationships among the variables. The findings revealed that three major components of sustainable tourism, namely long-term planning, full community participation and environmental sustainability within tourism, are critically related to support for tourism and to the positive and negative impacts of tourism. The paper uses the findings to suggest critical implications that local governments need to consider when developing tourism.     

Residents' place image: a cluster analysis and its links to place attachment and support for tourism

While there is a plethora of studies segmenting the lucrative tourism market, limited attention has been given to identifying potential segments of local residents based on their image of the place they live in as a tourist destination. This study aims to address this gap by (a) clustering local residents of a tourist destination based on their images of that place; and (b) identifying whether those image-based resident groups share similar/different levels of place attachment and intentions toward tourism (support for tourism, intention to recommend it to others). Analysis was based on a sample of 368 residents of Eilat, Israel. The findings suggest the presence of three resident groups with different images of Eilat – called Nature Aesthete, Appreciator, and Critical – and provide support that these groups exhibit dissimilar levels of attachment and intentions/behavior toward tourism. The Appreciator (residents with the most favorable image) were reported exhibiting higher levels of place attachment, support for tourism and were more likely to recommend their place to others as a tourist destination than the Critical (residents with the least favorable image). The implications of these findings to tourism theory and practice are discussed.     

Residents’ quality of life and attitudes toward tourism development in China

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of quality of life (QOL) and residential status on resident attitudes toward further tourism development. The measurement of tourism and quality of life (TQOL) is modified. Using a sample of 562 residents from Shenzhen OCT community of China, this study has identified six TQOL domains and examines the effects of each TQOL domains based on the residential status and residents' attitudes in supporting further tourism development. The results reveal that the positive supporting attitudes of residents depends on the selected TQOL domains, especially on non-material improvements of TQOL. Tenants and dormitory residents have more positive attitudes than those house owners. This study also identifies four resident clusters with different attitudes and it is found that the residents’ attitudes of tourism development depend on whether they perceive the community as a place for earning a living or a place to live.     

Residentsʼ attitudes and behavioural support for tourism in host communities

ABSTRACT

In our study of the “perceptions–attitudes–behaviours” sequence, we explain how resident perceptions of tourism’s impacts on host communities influence not only their attitudes towards tourism, but also their attitudes towards tourists – i.e. a new variable that has recently been introduced in literature. Moreover, we introduce the behavioural support, a concept that denotes a higher level of involvement and engagement of residents with their communities in comparison with the traditional attitudinal support. Our results indicate: (1) the residents’ perception of the positive economic and cultural impacts of tourism are the main variables influencing their attitudes towards tourism and tourists; and (2) both types of attitudes influence on behavioural support for tourism in host communities.     

An exploratory study of resident perceptions toward the tourism industry in Cappadocia: a Social Exchange Theory approach

This paper evaluates the perceptions of Cappadocia residents on the impacts of tourism development and resident attitudes toward tourism. Social Exchange Theory underpinned this study of the perceptions of Cappadocia’s residents and their attitudes toward tourism. Primary data were collected from tourism industry professionals, officials of non-profit organizations and handicraftsmen. Twenty-three in-depth interviews were conducted with Cappadocia residents, and the data were analyzed with content analysis. Results highlight that “Economic,” “Socio-Cultural” and “Environmental” aspects can be inferred to encompass resident perceptions toward the impacts of tourism development in Cappadocia. Residents tend to recognize the economic benefits as well as socio-cultural and environmental costs. Results indicate that Social Exchange Theory can be used in explaining the perceptions of Cappadocia residents and reactions to tourism phenomena. This study is expected to provide practical ways for concerned authorities to make future policies and strategies to eradicate problems that create unpleasant feelings amongst residents.