Clustering residents of a spanish mining site: when attitudes towards tourism are not linked to perceptions

Abstract

is study uses a segmentation framework to categorize the residents of Minas de Riotinto, a mining town in Andalusia, Spain, based on their perceptions of the personal and community effects of tourism. ese segments were then classified according to their tourism attitudes, utilizing a three-dimensional approach encompassing affective, cognitive, and behavioral elements. For this purpose, a cluster analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis test were successively applied to the responses of 346 residents. The results revealed three main groups of residents: "interested and enthusiastic supporters", "disinterested and moderate supporters" and "incongruous and impulsive residents". Contrary to our expectations, all groups showed favorable affective attitudes towards tourism development in their region. However, significant differences emerged between groups concerning the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of their attitudes.