PERCEPTION OF LOCAL COMMUNITY TOWARDS TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: A STUDY ON RURAL TOURISM SITES OF JORDAN

Tourism is one of the most effective solutions for overcoming poverty in rural areas. Jordan has many renowned tourist attractions situated in urban and rural areas. Tourism plays an integral role to boost the national economy of Jordan. In an increasingly globalized society, rural tourism is expected to rise, thus it is important to examine how the locals feel about tourism development. The study aims to examine how the locals in the rural areas of Jordan's Ajloun and Jerash governorates perceive the effects of tourism development. For the analyses, 395 households of data were used. Residents' attitudes toward the development of tourism have been evaluated using multiple regression along with descriptive statistics, both positively and negatively. IBM AMOS 22.0 has been used to complete the statistical analysis. The results indicated that tourism in the selected villages is in the pre-development stage and respondents strongly supported the development of the tourism industry because it creates jobs, attracts investment, and increases the value of agricultural products by creating a market. However, respondents expressed little concern about the adverse effects, such as the loss of traditional value, environmental degradation, pollution, and traffic congestion.