Community attitudes to tourism

Abstract

To manage tourism in popular urban destinations, information regarding local residents' attitudes and preferences is needed. This paper presents a comparative study of three different types of destination area, seeking community reactions to the industry and ways in which such information may guide future strategies. A discriminant analysis shows that there are two underlying functions that distinguish the three towns; none of them has the ideal community attitudes towards tourism. The aesthetics and community impact of local tourism are identified as major concerns in the three towns, and their relative position on these two functions is used to provide some elementary guidance to improve the industry's local image.