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.     

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.     

Perceived impacts of medical tourism development on community wellbeing

Community leaders and tourism authorities in Las Vegas have suggested the promotion and development of medical tourism to improve the economy and quality of life for residents. The present study uses social exchange theory with spillover theory as the conceptual framework to examine factors of economic performance of medical tourism, overall community satisfaction, health care satisfaction and attitudes toward medical tourism; these factors influence on residents' perceptions of medical tourism's impact on community wellbeing, which in turn affects willingness to pay higher taxes and support for medical tourism development. The findings revealed that the greater the economic performance of medical tourism, the more positive the impact of medical tourism to community wellbeing was perceived. Similarly, attitudes toward medical tourism and overall community satisfaction positively influenced the perceived impact of medical tourism on community wellbeing. Finally, community wellbeing positively influenced residents' willingness to pay higher taxes and support medical tourism development.     

An application of stakeholder theory to advance community participation in tourism planning: the case for engaging immigrants as fringe stakeholders

Community participation has long been viewed as an important tenet of tourism planning, and there is general consensus among researchers that engaging all stakeholder groups contributes to tourism sustainability. However, there are gaps in the literature, and challenges in practice, that call for further research. Among these are the dynamics of heterogeneous community groups and that not all community subgroups have equal opportunity to participate in tourism planning. This paper attempts to advance community participation by drawing on progressive approaches to stakeholder theory in the management field and by exploring, for the first time, the engagement of immigrants in tourism planning as fringe stakeholders, representative of present and future community dynamics. Bringing first generation immigrants as an important but less studied segment within the broader host community into focus moves tourism planning toward a more inclusive approach to community engagement, reflecting increased diversity and change in host communities.     

Using volunteer-employed photography to inform tourism planning decisions: A study of St David's Peninsula,Wales

More effective tools are needed to empower stakeholder participation in tourism planning processes, and volunteer-employed photography (VEP) is a promising option. This paper discusses the use of VEP to inform tourism planning on St David's Peninsula in Wales. Locals and tourists were given cameras and photo diaries, and asked to use VEP to comment on what they do and do not appreciate about the area, existing planning problems and ways to avoid future planning problems. Through this case, the paper examines the appropriateness of VEP as a tool for assisting tourism planning. The major finding is that a richer, deeper and more valuable dataset can be generated through the participation of host communities and visitors using the VEP approach. As a means of visually representing participants' views, VEP can be a powerful data collection and analysis tool, making a significant addition to the tourism planning toolkit at the local level.     

Island residents' identities and their support for tourism: an integration of two theories

Most studies that examine tourism impacts and community attitudes have been carried out from the perspective of industrialized economies, making the findings less valid for small islands. This paper discusses some pertinent issues in relation to tourism development and community attitudes in small islands, and it develops and presents a conceptual framework based on social exchange theory and identity theory. The different facets of identity relevant to small-island communities that are likely to influence attitudes and support for tourism are incorporated in the framework and discussed. These include occupational identity, environmental identity and gender identity. Based on these, five propositions are developed. The study concludes that inclusion of identity variables in behavioral models could increase their predictive power in explaining attitudes to tourism and consequent support for the industry.     

Consulting communities: using audience response system (ARS) technology to assess community preferences for sustainable recreation and tourism development

Audience response system (ARS) technology (also known as “clickers”) has emerged as an educational tool that promotes active learning. This paper describes how ARS works and how it can also be used in research to assess community preferences for tourism development. A case study that used ARS technology shows how stakeholder preferences for extraction, heritage tourism and recreation within two rural mountain economies in the US west were effectively assessed. The use of ARS was backed by situation assessment procedures to determine appropriate stimulus questions probing trade-offs, perceived costs/benefits and cultural fit. A detailed series of key results measured community preferences and were made available to guide policymaking and future empirical survey work. Public meeting arrangements, publicity, structure and moderation for the ARS work is described and discussed. Evaluation of the use of ARS technology showed high levels of participant satisfaction with both the technology and the situation assessment procedures, and the emergence of potential tourism development actions.     

Virtual reality: Applications and implications for tourism

Virtual reality (VR) offers tourism many useful applications that deserve greater attention from tourism researchers and professionals. As VR technology continues to evolve, the number and significance of such applications undoubtedly will increase. Planning and management, marketing, entertainment, education, accessibility, and heritage preservation are six areas of tourism in which VR may prove particularly valuable. Part of VR's possible utility as a preservation tool derives from its potential to create virtual experiences that tourists may accept as substitutes for real visitation to threatened sites. However, the acceptance of such substitutes will be determined by a tourist's attitudes toward authenticity and his or her motivations and constraints. As VR is further integrated into the tourism sector new questions and challenges clearly will emerge. The sector will benefit from future research into the topics that are discussed and numerous suggestions for future research are presented.     

Drivers of community participation in heritage tourism planning: an empirical investigation

Despite increased emphasis on community participation in tourism planning, our current knowledge of community attitudes and their motivations to engage in such collaborative governance is limited and fragmented. This paper explores the role of heritage values, tourism and community perceptions held by destination hosts as drivers to willingness to participate in heritage tourism development. Such enquiry aims to enhance our current knowledge of community views and their potential to influence involvement in participatory decision-making in order to inform policy approaches to collaborative heritage tourism strategies. Using a relatively inexperienced destination community (Kastoria, Greece), the study collects quantitative data via an attitudinal survey. Our findings suggest that intentions to participate are mainly driven by community ideals while their positive influence is more evident on community members with high place attachment. Heritage values play a significant role; however, their effects do not always favour participation as they can also act as barriers to involvement. On the other hand, tourism perceptions are found to be mainly insignificant in shaping intentions to participate. Finally, the paper presents and discusses variations between different demographic groups and draws implications for policy.     

Responsible and responsive tourism planning in the community

In recognizing tourism as a community industry the intention of this article is to focus broadly on developing a framework for encouraging a broader, more participatory approach to tourism planning. Specifically, the constraints that befuddle community involvement are identified, and the difficulties facing public participation are discussed, as are some provisional action steps. The characteristics of a diversified approach to tourism planning are then highlighted. Appropriate creative, involving and learning techniques, such as scenarios should be utilized and the application of scenarios as a device to help develop and integrate a community's tourism goals, as a prelude to further planning, is explained.     

Socio-demographic effects on Anzali wetland tourism development

This study explores the attitudes of residents of Iran's Anzali wetland toward tourism development. The investigators examine how these attitudes are mitigated by three different socio-demographic variables; family size, length of residency, and distance from tourist zone. This study assumes that the development process is affected by residents and that their attitudes are predictive of the success or failure of a tourism development. Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis is used to test both the research model and the hypotheses. The results reveal a positive and direct relationship between the perceived impact of development and residents' attitudes toward tourism development in the Anzali wetland.     

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.     

Resident Attitudes Towards Mountain Second-Home Tourism Development in Norway: The Effects of Environmental Attitudes

Rural tourism, especially through second-home development is increasing rapidly in much of Europe, the USA and Canada offering new economic opportunities for local communities, but also challenges related to environmental impacts and differing perceptions within communities about appropriate development paths. This study examines associations between the environmental attitudes of residents and attitudes towards second-home development in two regions in Southern Norway, with community attachment and economic dependency as additional predictors. Ecocentrism was found to have a strong negative effect on attitudes towards tourism development, while, in contrast to previous findings, community attachment did not have significant effects. Economic dependency is significantly related to attitudes towards development; both ecocentrism and economic dependency are mediated by other variables, such as expected impacts and benefits. The findings are important in planning to reduce potential conflicts.     

Residents’ attitudes toward future tourism development in terms of community well-being and attachment

This study explores residents’ attitudes toward future tourism development based on their community well-being (CWB) and community attachment. Focusing on the case of Gamcheon Culture Village in Busan, South Korea, which was developed during an urban regeneration project in 2009, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted. The main findings of this study are: (1) CWB is supported by five variables including income effects, social participation, safety service, infrastructure service, and environmental effect; (2) not only does CWB influence community attachment but attachment also effects residents’ attitudes; and (3) the most effective variable of CWB is income effect, and safety service for community attachment. These results can help to provide effective strategies to encourage residents to have positive attitudes about further tourism development in a community-based tourism destination.     

Global–local relationships and governance issues at the Great Wall World Heritage Site,China

Heritage preservation and tourism use are inevitably intertwined at heritage sites and are characterized by both symbioses and tensions, particularly at World Heritage Sites, where international initiatives interact with local priorities. The international designation impacts heritage preservation, tourism development and community well-being at the local level, especially in developing countries. This paper examines global–local relationships, as well as involvement and governance at intermediate scales, and their implications for preservation and development at Badaling Great Wall World Heritage Site in Beijing, China, through examinations of its management structure, heritage preservation and development plans, and the opinions of the local business community. Interviews were conducted with key officials of the Management Office and questionnaire surveys were distributed with local business operators. It is shown that multiple stakeholders operate in a hierarchical, multi-departmental management structure. International linkages are weak and via central government. Positive economic impacts from tourism are highly valued. High awareness of heritage preservation and positive attitudes toward tourism are identified among local business operators with relatively high tolerance for negative environmental impacts. Potential conflicts between global priorities by World Heritage designation and local needs for tourism development are illustrated. Practical implications for heritage and tourism planning and management are discussed.     

Influences on Tourism Development Decision Making: Coastal Local Government Areas in Eastern Australia

With sustainable development and specifically sustainable tourism, decision making is perhaps the area where the impact on the future of communities is most crucial. Understanding better the decision-making process, provides possibly the most important potential tool in the sustainable management of tourism development. This paper examines the influence factors on tourism decision making and sheds some light on how important various influences are in the tourism development decision process. A typology of community decision-making influence factors was examined through research on local government councillors in Australian coastal regions. Three major categories of this typology were identified in the literature and further explored in this study: inter-personal, intra-personal and circumstantial influence. Results from this study show that a number of influence factors which relate to sustainable tourism are considered by councillors to have a more profound effect on their decision making than only the components of social influence theory which has been discussed in much of the literature. Utilising this typology of community decision-making influence factors may form the foundation for further studies of decision making. The results suggest that influence factors on decision makers need to be both understood and taken into consideration for sustainable tourism approaches to be effectively implemented.     

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.     

Co-flourishing: Intertwining community resilience and tourism development in destination communities

This paper contributes to the understanding of community resilience in tourism development in the destination community. Accordingly, we propose a ‘co-flourishing’ framework integrating community resilience and tourism development by mobilising six types of community capital – human, social, natural, physical, financial, and psychological – which strengthen community capacity during disturbances or crises. We argue that the existing understanding of the tourism system tends to be resource-driven and market-oriented. Such approaches neglect the needs of the destination community, which should have adequate resources for its goal of providing a good life for its members. We first review the six forms of community capital and their implications for community resilience, and argue that tourism development has a negative impact on various kinds of community capital – particularly in destination communities. Hence, we propose a co-flourishing framework which advocates a paradigm change in tourism development to cater to the capital needs of the community. The proposed framework highlights practical long-term policy suggestions for tourism development and planning. We identify further necessary research is needed to accumulate empirical evidence to better apply the co-flourishing framework in various development scenarios in both developing and developed economies.     

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.     

A Review of “Raj Rhapsodies: tourism,heritage and the seduction of history”

Many researchers have used stage-based and life cycle models to describe destination development and local residents’ changing reactions to tourism. Typically, they report that resident attitudes towards tourism, and its perceived outcomes for host populations, worsen with increasing experience and involvement in tourism. However, stage-based models traditionally focus on mature destinations in developed countries. In contrast, scholarship on ecotourism derives largely from developing countries and suggests that increased participation leads to more favourable outcomes and attitudes towards tourism. This paper breaks new ground by exploring attitudes to tourism in an emerging destination in a developing country and linking that exploration to a revised stage-based model. It uses ethnographic data to evaluate responses to recent tourism development in Nicaragua. While findings are complex and do not support a linear relationship between the level of experience in tourism and the attitudes of local residents, they do indicate a relationship between these two theoretical perspectives that can be used to inform one another. Notably, workers in tourism are more critical of the tourism industry than residents are. Important amendments to stage-based models are suggested that will assist tourism planners with the creation of more sustainable, community-centred development.