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.     

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.     

Residents’ support for red tourism in China: The moderating effect of central government

This study proposes and tests a model that incorporates two competing theories of political trust, institutional trust and cultural trust, to examine community support for “red tourism” development. Using data gathered from residents living in close proximity to Jinggangshan Scenic Area in China, this study examines the influence of authoritarian values, particularly as they relate to level of residents’ power, their level of trust in government, and their effects on support for “red tourism.” Findings suggest that trust in central government moderates the relationship between trust in local government and support. Future studies should utilize the institutional trust framework to assess residents’ trust in the local government and the cultural trust framework to assess trust in the central government.     

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.     

Social mediation in remote developing world tourism locations – the significance of social ties between local guides and host communities in sustainable tourism development

This article discusses the role of the local, or regional, guide as a social mediator between a host society and tourists, as a means of sustainable tourism development in developing world locations. The debate illustrates how previous studies have neglected this social aspect of mediation by tourist guides and partly absorbed it into the concept of cultural mediation. Empirical illustrations are offered from the context of small tourist group visitations to local villages in rural areas of Madagascar, where collective social norms still play an important role. A qualitative approach based on personal interviews with guides and on field trip experience and observation is employed. Empirical findings indicate that the inclination of the host society to welcome accompanied tourists is facilitated by the capacity of local guides to develop relatively strong social ties with the host society. It is suggested that the increased use of local guides with good social relationships with the local communities as against the mere employment of non-local accompanying guides working for centrally located tour operators can enrich the mutual experience quality in the encounter between visitors and hosts and support local sustainable development by enhanced local involvement. Implications for sustainable tourism practice are discussed.     

Residents’ attitudes toward prostitution in Macau

An increase in tourism in popular destinations often leads to a growing need for various services, including sex-related services, which can exacerbate or accelerate social problems in the host community. Although often addressed in tourism studies within broad-ranging social impact research, prostitution in tourism destinations deserves independent investigation due to its complex nature. This study was conducted to investigate the opinions of Macau residents on prostitution and related social issues. We collected data using a questionnaire, which revealed the following results. Respondents tended to regard prostitution as a permanent part of the Macau community and believed that the likelihood of the government being able to eliminate prostitution through legislation was extremely low. Their perceptions of prostitution could be placed within the dichotomy of deviance and normativeness. Regarding prostitution as a normative existence was positively related to the acceptance of sex tourism. A tolerance of negative tourism impacts was associated with residents’ perceived quality of life. We ultimately draw conclusions from these findings and consider their implications for government agencies.     

Community attachment,tourism impacts,quality of life and residents’ support for sustainable tourism development

This study examined the formation of residents’ support for sustainable tourism development based on the social exchange theory and bottom-up spillover theory. A self-administered survey along with a structural analysis was used. Our result revealed that overall quality of life satisfaction influenced support for sustainable tourism development, and that material life domains and non-material life domains were two important determinants of overall QoL. Perceived sociocultural impacts of tourism had a significant relationship with non-material life domains. Perceived economic impacts of tourism influenced both material and non-material life domains. Community attachment and residents’ perceived impacts of tourism were significantly associated.     

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.     

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.     

A triple lens measurement of host–guest perceptions for sustainable gaze in tourism

This paper investigates perception of self and others by hosts and guests, which may be critical for sustainability of a destination receiving tourists with different cultural backgrounds. Specifically, the study investigates self-perception of hosts and reciprocal perception between hosts and guests on several service personnel characteristics using importance and performance analysis. Thus, a triple lens of hosts’ evaluation of self, hosts’ evaluation of the guests, and hosts’ evaluation by the guests is involved in a multi-cultural tourism experience context. Results report differences between the lenses, hosts’ self-evaluation being harsher than guests’ evaluation of hosts. Suggestions are provided for destination marketing and management organizations to design effective tourism experiences for both hosts and guests for a more sustainable gaze between hosts and guests.     

Business attitudes to sustainable tourism: Self‐regulation in the UK outgoing tourism industry

Much debate about sustainable tourism has focused on how to change business practices which lead to environmental and social damage in tourist destinations. There is much disagreement between campaigners, who wish to make industry more responsible for sustainable tourism, and companies, which fear regulations may damage business performance. Many companies have adopted their own practices of sustainable tourism. Yet these are sometimes criticised by campaigners for being superficial. This paper describes research undertaken to list current practices of self‐regulation adopted by the UK outgoing tourism industry, and to identify how far these satisfy principles of sustainable tourism identified by campaigners. The research also identified perceived obstacles to the adoption of sustainable practices, and how practices could operate in the commercial favour of companies. Results indicated that many companies saw sustainable tourism practices to be of commercial benefit; in particular, they could add value to holiday products, thus allowing companies to compete with each other on more than price alone. However, most sectors of the industry said that host governments, rather than they, were ultimately responsible for sustainable tourism. The survey therefore concluded that the industry was in favour of long‐term regulation, but this was not being achieved by current self‐regulation. A better understanding of the commercial opportunities of sustainable tourism may enable companies to take a more proactive role in seeking change.     

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.     

New tourism for old? Policy developments in Cornwall and Devon

This paper will examine current tourism policies in Cornwall and Devon. Although long established, the tourist industry is in need of restructuring in order to compete in an increasingly discerning and heterogeneous market. Beginning with an overview of the current role and characteristics of tourism in the two counties, this paper will analyze aspects of European, national, regional and local policy. It will be shown that the restructuring of tourism within Cornwall and Devon has resulted in a shift in institutional control over tourist space which is in part a response to a wider context of changes in the nature of commodification and consumption. In conclusion it will be argued that the analysis of tourism policies and strategies cannot be simply reduced to the function of economic imperatives, but needs to be analyzed by conceptualizing such developments as a complex multi-dimensional set of socio-cultural relations and flows.     

Place attachment,host–tourist interactions,and residents’ attitudes towards tourism development: the case of Boa Vista Island in Cape Verde

A clear understanding of residents’ attitudes towards tourism development and its determinants is a crucial pillar for designing tourism development strategies to promote sustainable development. The literature on the influence of host–tourist interactions and place attachment on residents’ attitudes towards tourism development in developing countries is still scarce. To extend knowledge in this field, this study aims at developing and testing a structural model to examine direct and indirect causal effects of place attachment, host–tourist interaction, and perceived positive and negative tourism impacts on the residents’ attitudes towards tourism development in an island tourism destination – Boa Vista Island in Cape Verde. Results suggest that the residents’ attitudes are positively affected by place attachment, host–tourist interaction, and perceived positive impacts; and negatively affected by perceived negative impacts. Host–tourist interaction emerges as the strongest (direct and indirect) determinant of the residents’ attitudes towards tourism development. Moreover, although both positive and negative perceptions of tourism impacts have significant impacts on the residents’ attitudes, the influence of the former is stronger than that of the latter. The paper ends with relevant theoretical and practical implications to promote positive residents’ attitudes towards tourism development in Boa Vista.     

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.     

Residents’ attitudes toward the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai prior to and during the event

This paper examines residents’ attitudes to a major non-sport-related mega event, the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Resident attitudes research can ascertain how best to accommodate host community views, a key issue in developing sustainable tourism strategies. The paper breaks new ground by examining attitudes both before and during the event, revealing considerable fluidity in attitudes, and it examines residents’ attitudes in China, reflecting the importance of non-western cultural and political systems on attitude development. The paper contributes to longitudinal research, an area where little research is available. Two studies were conducted before and during the 2010 Shanghai World Expo using the same survey instrument. It is based on a representative sample of residents of Shanghai who were asked about their attitudes to Expo 2010. Results indicate that residents on the whole strongly supported (77.9%) or supported (12.7%) the event with all the average scores of the attitude items higher than 5 (on a 1–7 scale). Some negative impacts were identified such as increased prices, traffic problems, crowding and congestion. Residents were classified into three groups in the pre-event survey (whole embracer, ambivalent embracer and neutralist), according to their level of support, and two groups for the survey during the event.     

Households’ participation in and expenditure on recreation and tourism in Pakistan

We employ Heckman selection models and Probit, OLS techniques to estimate the effect of socio-economic factors on household participation in and expenditure on recreation and tourism in Pakistan. Results show that income, education, region and women’s empowerment increase the probability of households in participation in on recreational and tourism while the number of adults and children in the households decreases probability. Similarly, household income and age of the household head positively but the number of adults and children negatively affect households’ expenditure on tourism. Strategies and policies in favor of low income and large families’ participation in tourism are recommended.     

Seasonality and cycles in tourism demand—redux

Analyzing tourism demand cycles is of strong interest to researchers and forecasters. However, often the preponderance of seasonality encumbers the derivation of cycles that are free of seasonal patterns. Using recent advances in time-series econometrics, we offer a solution. We employ two methods that produce cycles that are robust to seasonal properties of the data; cycles from seasonally adjusted and unadjusted data are virtually indistinguishable.