Socio-Demographic Analysis of Host Communitie’s Support for Tourism Development in the Heritage Destination of Puri, India

Abstract

The study aims to examine the role of socio-demographic characteristics on the host community's perception of tourism impacts in heritage tourism destinations of a developing country. The variables discussed are age, gender, religion, level of education, length of stay in the community, and involvement in the tourism sector. A questionnaire survey method was adopted, and 450 samples were collected from three host communities of Puri, a heritage destination in eastern India. The analysis was carried out using descriptive methods like distribution of the mean, frequency, etc., and statistical techniques like t-test, one-way ANOVA, post-hoc test, etc. were used. The findings revealed religiosity as the most significant variable influencing the host community’s perception. The study also found level of education, and length of stay in the community as significantly influential variables. The study's findings will contribute to the literature on tourism impact assessment for heritage destinations in developing countries. It also offers practical implications for policymakers and destination managers in planning tourism development strategies.

Overtourism in Goa: Analyzing the resident’s perception using social Exchange theory

“…According to SET, if a person determines that the anticipated benefit exceeds the cost of a social transaction, the person is likely to participate in the exchange mechanism. In the context of tourism development, scholars have adopted SET to investigate the residents' support for sustainable tourism development [6]- [13], community perception [14], tourists' perception [12], residents' perception [15], [16] and community support for tourism [17].…”

Developing Host Community’s Support Model for Tourism Development in Puri Region, India

“…Sirakaya et al (2002a), also claimed that host communities are heterogeneous in nature. Their perceptions and attitudes vary with their physical locations and stages of development (Ap and Crompton, 1993;Deery et al, 2012;López et al, 2018;Swain and Sthapak, 2022). To increase the explanatory power of the behavioral models many researchers have emphasized the need to study more host communities worldwide (Dyer et al, 2007;Gursoy and Rutherford, 2004;Nunkoo et al, 2013;Sharpley, 2014).…”