Tourism Impacts and Support for Tourism Development in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam: An Examination of Residents’ Perceptions

Abstract

The impacts of tourism have been given much attention by scholars attempting to examine the perceptions as well as attitudes of the local residents toward tourism. Such studies have been carried out thoroughly in the context of the developed countries. However, very little research has been carried out in developing countries. This study attempts to make a little contribution to the sustainable development of tourism by examining the residents' profile, perceptions and attitudes towards tourism impacts and tourism development in Ha Long Bay, the Vietnam's first World Heritage Site (recognized in 1994). Data were collected by means of a questionnaire study. Based on 417 respondents surveyed, the findings show that the majority of respondents were young, Kinh rather than other ethnic group, they were married and were living in Ha Long Bay for over 20 years. On the whole, respondents viewed tourism positively and would support tourism development. They were generally in favor of tourism that contributes economically and socio-culturally to Ha Long Bay. They were, however, slightly ambivalent to environmental impacts of tourism. Implications, policy recommendations and limitations of study are presented in the conclusion.

Finding important factors affecting local residents’ support for tourism development in Ba Be National Park, Vietnam

“…According to the frequency outcomes of the negative tourism impacts perception, 71.9% of respondents disagreed with the statement "Tourism in Ba Be National Park interferes with residents' daily economic activities". This finding is consistent with Pham and Kayat's results in two research projects in Cuc Phuong National Park and Ha Long Bay, Vietnam (Pham and Kalsom 2011;Pham 2012).…”

“…Many studies on this subject typically seek the level of residents' support for tourism development in one or more regions, and the factors influencing local attitudes (Perdue et al 1990; Ko and Stewart 2002;McGehee and Andereck 2004;Vargas-S anchez et al 2009; L atkov a and Vogt 2012). Concerning tourism in Vietnam, studies of residents' attitudes have been previously conducted by Pham and Kayat (2011) and Pham (2012).…”

(Un)supported Current Tourism Development in UNESCO Protected Site: The Case of Old City of Dubrovnik

“…Long [10] investigated the support for tourism development in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. The research results indicated that residents viewed tourism positively and would support further development because of the economic and socio-cultural benefits tourism provides.…”

“…There have been a number of studies focused on local residents' attitudes in World Heritage Sites [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14], but there has not been any research dealing with local residents' attitudes towards different forms of tourism development (CTD and SITD). Therefore, this paper could be potentially valuable for those researchers who explore local residents' attitudes toward special interest tourism development generally and in World Heritage Sites.…”

Adaptive reuse of heritage architecture and its external effects on sustainable built environment—Hedonic pricing model and case studies in Hong Kong

“…Over-commercialization in heritage sites, accompanied by a rapid surge in the number of visitors, can bring about negative externalities such as degradation of historic authenticity (Bianchi & Boniface, 2002). Traffic congestion, pollution, and noise are the major adverse environmental impacts (Bieletto-Bueno, 2017;Chen & Chen, 2010;Pham, 2012) that detract from the sustainable development of many tourist-destined communities.…”