The Impact of Community Attachment on Host Society Attitudes and Behaviours Towards Visitors

Abstract

This paper describes an empirical research project undertaken to address a significant gap in the tourism impacts literature. Noting that previous research has emphasised the importance of host, guest, and destination characteristics as significant influences over visitor experience quality, the paper proposes that one important relationship that emerges from that circumstance has been largely overlooked—local people's attitudes towards life in their own communities. The paper analyses the views of 575 residents of three small city communities in three different countries, in an attempt to establish the nature of relationship between perceptions of life in those communities and attitudes towards temporary visitors. Results indicate that residents are generally able to distinguish between the appeal of community as a place to live and as a place to visit, and that the character of this distinction can present as a paradoxical contrast between a clear intention to recommend as a visitor destination, and a degree of ambiguity towards the prospect of increased visitor activity. These findings will be of value to those regional and local government agencies that are responsible for the long-term planning of visitor facilities, and for the enhancement of the visitor experience in a manner consistent with local resident support and endorsement.