Residents’ Perceptions of the Impacts of Tourism on the Quality of Life in a Tourist Island Destination: Evidence from Tobago

Abstract

Tobago, the smaller island of the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is heavily tourist penetrated and almost exclusively reliant on tourism for its sustenance. Tobago is touted as beautiful, peaceful and tranquil and is generally referred to as ‘The Capital of Paradise’. However, the moniker ‘The Capital of Paradise’ is being dissipated due to the increasing reliance on tourists and tourism which has the attendant ‘blessings and blights’, including, but not limited to, economic development, increased crime and impacts on the quality of life. While tourism has a great potential to enhance residents’ quality of life, a limited number of studies have been conducted on the issue. Additionally, while there is some scholarship on the tourism-quality of life nexus, the views of residents in tourist island destinations are hardly used to inform these studies. As a result of this lacuna, the current article presents the perceptions of residents of Tobago, a tourist island destination in the Caribbean, regarding their perceptions of the impacts of tourism (local and foreign) on the quality of life (socio-cultural, economic, and environmental) on the island. Data were gathered from thirty (N=30) residents of Tobago using a qualitative approach via semi-structured interviews, analysed using thematic analysis and presented in a descriptive manner. The results indicate that tourism had not improved the quality of life for residents in Tobago, crimes committed in Tobago were conducted by homegrown criminals, and that increased crime in Tobago was not a result tourism. Four themes emanated from the study (increased crime, growth and development, localized criminals, and fear of crime). Implications for policy and practice are also discussed.