A comparison of tourism-related stressors experienced by residents of three island destinations

Abstract

Resident stress has emerged as a problem in many tourism communities. However, little is known about differences in resident stress across diverse destinations. This research gap is addressed by comparing stressors experienced by residents of three global island destinations of O’ahu, Hawaii, U.S., Falmouth, Jamaica, and São Miguel, Azores, Portugal. These three island tourism destinations have diverse tourism types and differing levels of tourism development along the tourism area life cycle (TALC). The ‘Travel Intensity Indices’ (TII) were used to evaluate tourism development inflection points and determine stage of the TALC for each destination. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses about stressors experienced by residents revealed that in the early stages of tourism development, residents experience stress related to physical changes to their community. In later stages of development, residents experience stress related to the presence of tourists in their community. The type of tourism present in the community also played a role in resident stress, with cruise tourism creating a unique set of stressors. The implications of above findings have two sections. Theoretically, examining resident stress in diverse destinations expands the application of stress theory in the tourism context and begins to establish destination level characteristics that influence resident stress. These findings also extend the application of TALC model to the health and wellness of residents’ vis-a-vis the stress they experience. Practically, exploring similarities and differences across these destinations can inform destination developers and managers of the potential stressors that residents may be experiencing that are unique to their level and type of development.