Residents Perception of Sustainable Tourism Destination Development - A Destination Governance Issue

Abstract

A B S T R A C TTourism destination governance is nowadays a well discussed topic in scientific literature. It considers the view of different stakeholders in tourism development. Residents belong to one of the most important stakeholders in a tourism destination as they co-create the tourism product and can significantly affect the visitors' gaze on destination. Therefore the aim of the study is to find out the interaction between residents' perception of tourism development and their involvement in destination governance issues. The economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism in two mountain destinations are analysed from the viewpoint of residents. The semi-structured interviews took place in mature mountain destinations -Val Gardena in Italy and High Tatras in Slovakia. The study concludes that the inclusion of residents in destination governance issues leads to their higher satisfaction and it addresses the need to consider more the residents' perception of sustainable tourism destination development. The novelty of the study is in the combination of destination governance approach and residents' perception of sustainable tourism destination development.

Environmentally responsible behavior of residents: impact of mindfulness, enjoyment of nature and sustainable attitude

“…Local people's attitude and support is crucial for the sustainability of the destinations, as residents are not passive stakeholders of destinations (Vieira et al , 2016). Recent studies indicate that the perceptions of residents on sustainable tourism development have become a vital subject for destination governance (Gajdosik et al , 2018; Eslami et al , 2019; Hadinejad et al , 2019). In this regard, attitude-behavior perspective is insightful in clarifying the relationship between local community attitude and behavior regarding environmental acts.…”

Strategy of Local Government in Increasing The Number of Tourists on Bawean Island

“…The local community must be involved in and supportive of the development of sustainable tourism (Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004;Nicholas, Thapa, & Ko, 2009). Residents are significant destination stakeholders who contribute significantly to the provision of top-notch experiences for visitors and the maintenance of sustainably developed destinations (Gajdosik et al, 2018;Gursoy, Chi, & Dyer, 2010). The importance of locals' positive views towards tourism has been emphasized.…”

Place Brand Co-Creation through Storytelling: Benefits, Risks and Preconditions

“…The study proposes that residents choose to promote the destination if they feel they can identify with the place. Furthermore, destinations can become more sustainable if they involve residents in their branding and promotions [12]. The sustainability comes from the residents' feeling of responsibility to the place and its image, which is explained by Jeuring and Haartsen's study [11].…”

“…Co-creation is often an aspiration for places to create and promote their brands collectively through stakeholders' involvement. This involvement, as presented by most literature, is seen as beneficial for the place brand as it can increase customer satisfaction, strengthen social cohesion and democratise public services [2]; increase place differentiation and competitive advantage [3][4][5]; reduce the gap between the perceived and projected images together with the tensions emerging from this gap [3,6,7]; offer credibility to the brand [8,9]; and improve destination images and create sustainable place brands [10][11][12].…”