Residents' Attitudes, Perception and Support for Sustainable Tourism Development

ABSTRACT This study showcases a structural model that explores residents' attitudes towards tourism developments and to what extent residents interface with destination sustainability strategies. Factors influencing these attitudes were examined using a model consisting of six latent constructs and eight path hypotheses. Findings from 432 resident-respondents from Bangkok, Thailand were analysed.  Utilising LISREL (linear structural equations), a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling procedure were performed successively on the collected data. Results indicated that the residents' support is likely to be strongly affected by most constructs, except by the relationship between “sustainability attitudes” and “perceived negative tourism impacts”.  Two new relationships were added in the final model to better capture residents' attitudes in urban tourist destinations. The first determines the relationship between “sustainability attitudes” and “support for destination sustainability strategies” whilst the second explores the link between “tourism development's positive impact” to “support for destination sustainability strategies”.