Managing the environmental and cultural impacts of tourism and leisure development

It is claimed that the state of development of tourism management as a discipline may be related to the claims of the tourist industry as a pressure group and the lack of adequate academic attention to the economic disbenefits and the environmental and sociocultural costs-benefits of tourism. This article sets out to redress the balance by proposing a social-theory base for tourism.     

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.     

Residents' perceptions on tourism impacts

The limited explanatory research on residents' perceptions of tourism impacts has resulted in an underdeveloped theoretical orientation of research on this subject. This paper presents a social exchange process model as a theoretical basis for some understanding of why residents perceive tourism impacts positively or negatively. The model is based upon the concept of the exchange relation. Propositions are derived from the model to test the relationships between the model's components. These propositions have been developed from inferences based upon the social exchange literature.     

Exploring tourists' perceptions of tourism impacts

Unlike how tourism is viewed by residents, little is known about how tourists feel about tourism in the destination. Nevertheless, studies have shown that tourists' emotional bonds with the destination positively affect their perceptions of and reactions to tourism in the destination. Such emotional bonds often vary based on tourists' previous experience in the destination. Thus, this study explored how tourists' emotional solidarity with residents influences their perceptions of tourism and how first-timers and repeat tourists differ in their views. To this end, 404 responses from South Korean sport tourists were analyzed. Though differences were not evident between first-timers and repeat tourists in their emotional solidarity or attitudes toward tourism, a positive relationship was confirmed between emotional solidarity and perceptions of tourism. The findings suggest that attitudes toward tourism is no longer a construct exclusive to residents and destination managers should also consider tourists' views.     

Social impacts of tourism : Host perceptions

This study investigates the pergeptions of the residents of Nadi, Fiji, towards the impacts of tourism. A survey of 199 households revealed that residents (most of whom were dependent on the industry for their livelihood) supported the current magnitude of tourism and favored its expansion. Despite this very clear and generally positive view, the respondents identified specific negative and positive impacts that, in their view, affected the community. The results suggest that residents of communities dependent on tourism can clearly differentiate between its economic benefits and the social costs, and that awareness of certain negative consequences does not lead to opposition towards further tourism development.     

Residents’ perceptions of community tourism impacts

This study investigated residents’ perceptions of tourism’s impact on communities. Data were collected via a statewide survey, using social exchange theory; results suggest residents recognize many positive and negative consequences. Those who feel tourism is important for economic development, benefit from it, and are knowledgeable about the greater positive impacts, but do not differ from others with respect to perceptions of tourism’s negative consequences. It is becoming clear that broad-based education and awareness campaigns may be a step toward increased understanding of the industry and, ultimately, greater support of the benefits to a community.     

COVID-19 impacts of inbound tourism on Australian economy

The pandemic COVID-19 has severely impacted upon the world economy, devastating the tourism industry globally. This paper estimates the short-run economic impacts of the inbound tourism industry on the Australian economy during the pandemic. The analysis covers effects both at the macroeconomic as well as at the industry and occupation level, from direct contribution (using tourism satellite accounts) to economy-wide effects (using the computable general equilibrium modelling technique). Findings show that the pandemic affects a range of industries and occupations that are beyond the tourism sector. The paper calls for strong support from the government on tourism as the recovery of tourism can deliver spillover benefits for other sectors and across the whole spectrum of occupations in the labour market.     

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.     

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.     

The impacts of international tourism demand on economic growth of small economies dependent on tourism

This paper studies the impacts on economic growth of a small tourism-driven economy caused by an increase in the growth rate of international tourism demand. We present a formal model and empirical evidence. The ingredients of the dynamic model are a large population of intertemporally optimizing agents and an AK technology representing tourism production. The model shows that an increase in the growth of tourism demand leads to transitional dynamics with gradually increasing economic growth and increasing terms of trade. In our empirical application, an econometric methodology is applied to annual data of Antigua and Barbuda from 1970 to 2008. We perform a cointegration analysis to look for the existence of a long-run relationship among variables of economic growth, international tourism earnings and the real exchange rate. The exercise confirms the theoretical findings.     

Visitors’ learning for environmental sustainability: Testing short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equation modelling

Wildlife tourism experiences have the potential to positively impact tourists’ awareness, appreciation and actions in relation to the specific wildlife they encounter and the environment in general. This paper investigates the extent of such impact across multiple sites, and uses Structural Equation Modelling to identify factors that best predict positive long-term learning and environmental behaviour change outcomes. Three sets of variables were measured – visitors’ entering attributes (including pre-visit environmental orientation and motivation for the visit), salient aspects of the experience, and short- and long-term learning and environmental behaviour change outcomes. Although attributes such as pre-visit commitment and motivation to learn were among the best predictors of the long-term impact of the experience, there was evidence that aspects of the experience were also important. In particular, reflective engagement which involved cognitive and affective processing of the experience was found to be associated with short- and long-term environmental learning outcomes. The implications for wildlife tourism managers are discussed.     

The coastal tourism industry in the Mediterranean: A critical review of the socio-economic and environmental pressures & impacts

Tourism is a vital economic source in the Mediterranean basin. The sun and beach tourists are of major social and economic importance for almost all Mediterranean countries. However, this industry's extensive and uncontrolled growth may negatively impact these fragile natural coastline areas. In the present study, we review and analyse the driver's forces, pressures, and impacts of the tourism sector development in the Mediterranean countries' environment and economy by using the D (Driver) P (Pressure) S (State) I (Impact) R (Responses) analytical framework. The analysis highlights the critical social and economic roles the coastal tourism industry plays while the steady and uncontrolled growth of this sector and related activities compromise these coastal countries' ecology and environmental quality. This requires the decision-makers and stakeholders' attention toward adopting new strategies and approaches toward greening the blue tourism industry to ensure sustainable economic, social and environmental growth of this industry. In this perspective, we point out the necessity to incorporate environmental issues with economic and socio-cultural needs to obtain complete and harmonized sustainable tourism indicators in the Mediterranean.     

The impacts of immigrants and institutions on bilateral tourism flows

In this paper, we use data on recent bilateral tourism flow from 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries to 52 middle-to low-income countries for the period 1995–2010 to determine whether immigration, trade and institutional quality play a role in driving OECD nationals to visit immigrant-source countries. Except for the African countries, the results show that immigrants residing in OECD countries have a positive advertising effect for their home country, inducing tourism flows from OECD countries. We also find that the quality of institutions, along with freedom and civil liberty indices, are important in selecting tourism destinations. A massive 8% of the variation in tourism flows can be accounted for by these factors. These results hold for the subsample and the whole sample with two exceptions: European and African destinations. We posit that this feature of the data exists because European (African) countries are so similar to each other, and small differences in the indexes do not matter at the top (bottom) of the distribution. By controlling for gravity and macroeconomic stability variables, we also show that the trade flows between countries, among other factors, play a crucial and stable role on tourism flows. Dynamic panel data estimation is used to account for the influence of repeat visits and support our findings.     

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.     

Residents with camera: Exploring tourism impacts through participant-generated images

There are calls for increasing the uptake of visual methods in tourism research. This paper makes a distinct contribution to visual methodology by focusing on images generated by local residents. We examine the opportunities and challenges of utilising participant-generated photo-elicitation. Specifically, through participant-generated images, this research studies tourism impacts in the coastal destination of Imbassaí, in the state of Bahia in the Northeast of Brazil. The unusual experience of looking through a camera on their lives, enabled participants to reflect on and make sense of their social worlds in relation to tourism impacts. Photo-elicitation effectively engages participants and provides more nuanced insights into social phenomena. There are however organisational, ethical and practical challenges that need to be considered.