Residents’ Support for Tourism: The Role of Tourism Impact Attitudes, Forest Value Orientations, and Quality of Life in Oregon, United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT Residents’ support for tourism is essential for the tourism governance. Currently, knowledge of factors influencing tourism support is inconclusive. Studies applying social exchange theory reveal that tourism support is a function of perceived tourism impacts. However, studies suggest that social exchange theory applications insufficiently explain determinants of tourism support. Using the Value-Attitude-Behavior approach, and quality of life concept, we examine factors likely to predict support for tourism. Our results suggest that residents’ perceived tourism impacts are strong determinants of their support for tourism. Additionally, our results suggest that quality of life does not mediate the influence of attitudes concerning tourism impacts on tourism support. Results also suggest that positive and negative tourism impact attitudes fully mediate the influence of commodity value orientations on tourism support. However, such attitudes were not found to mediate the influence of ecocentric value orientations on support for tourism. We discuss the implications of these findings.