Abstract
Tourism represents a viable alternative for economic activities in rural areas, and improves the living standards of the communities. The aim of the paper is to assess residents’ perceptions towards tourism destination quality in the North-West Development Region of Romania using the following items: natural attractions: cultural and social attractions; accommodation; food; availability of transportation to destination area; quality of information and communication; hospitality of host community; feeling of security and safety. A survey was conducted to collect the data and a total of 433 questionnaires were validated and analyzed. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Principal component analysis, ANOVA, Scheffe multiple range test) were used to analyze the data. Results show that there are statistically significant differences in residents’ perceptions between counties. Two of the components of destination quality (general infrastructure and tourism potential) are affected by the gender of residents, while the level of education has no significant effect. A weak and indirect correlation was found between the age of residents and their perception towards a quality destination. This study makes two contributions to the existing literature. First, a questionnaire was developed based on the QUALITEST tool adapted to the realities of the research area. Second, we analyzed the perception of residents towards a quality destination in relation to their socio-demographic characteristics and county of residence. Understanding the implications of tourism development from the residents’ point of view helps to increase knowledge about the factors affecting the long-term, sustainable success of tourism destinations.
Highlights
Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing industries with positive effects on the development of the destination’s economic diversity [1]
The purpose of the current research was to explore and analyze the perception of rural residents regarding the tourism destination quality with the intention to offer some insight on which key drivers should be more carefully exploited to assure long-term sustainable tourism in rural areas
The analysis of the secondary data offered by the National Institute for Statistics revealed that the tourism activity in the research area increased during 2012–2016
Summary
Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing industries with positive effects on the development of the destination’s economic diversity [1]. Local communities have become a key factor for building sustainable tourism strategies due to the strength to positively or negatively influence tourism development through residents’ attitudes [2,3,4,5]. The involvement of the host community, based on its beliefs and opinions, remains indispensable in any effort towards the sustainable development of the tourism destination [18]. Regarding this process, researchers have recognized the importance of the participation of different segments of community members, grouped by age, income, or other socio-demographic characteristics [19], as well as the importance of being aware of the effects of socio-demographic characteristics of residents on the level of participation in tourism development [20]. Neumeier and Pollermann [27] observed that small scale rural tourism has a great potential to be used as a vehicle for rural development even if the economic impact of rural tourism is not significant
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