Tourism dependence and resident attitudes

Abstract

Many rural communities view tourism as a major vehicle for addressing rural economic decline, but several empirical studies suggest that its growth can bring negative social impacts. One group of studies suggests a direct relationship between the level of tourism development in a community and the presence of negative resident attitudes toward it. This tourism dependence hypothesis is evaluated using survey data from four rural communities in the United States Rocky Mountain West. Results support the hypothesis with some important qualifications, and suggest a typology of rural communities experiencing tourism growth that includes tourism-saturated, tourism-realized, and tourism-hungry community types.