Residents´ attitudes and support towards sustainable tourism development in a mature mass tourism destination: the case of the Algarve

• Autor(a) principal: Neuens-Pohlmann, Moritz
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/19701
• topic: Mass tourism; Social exchange theory; Sustainable tourism development; Residents´ attitudes towards sustainable tourism development; Residents´ support for sustainable tourism development; Algarve; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Outras Ciências Sociais

A widely appraised solution for negative environmental and societal impacts caused by tourism is the concept of sustainable tourism development (STD). Tourism spots that could profit particularly from corresponding development are mass tourism destinations that have reached a matured developmental stage where the full spectrum of the potential adverse effects of tourism have surfaced and must be addressed. Two of the most important determinants for successful planning and implementation of STD in a destination are the knowledge about its residents' attitudes towards STD and their level of support for it. While previous research pointed towards the existence of direct relationships among latter dimensions, the present study aims at empirically establishing the factors affecting residents' attitudes and support in a matured tourist destination towards STD. Emphasis will be made on how these factors affect the reactions of the population in this specific destination type. Further, it is also intended to uncover statistically the possible correlation between the two factors. The matured destination selected as a study site for the survey was the Portuguese region of the Algarve. In the descriptive analysis, we can see that survey results showed that the Algarve residents exhibited strong positive attitudes towards STD particularly in terms of environmental concerns, and a strong tendency to support STD. The Pearson R analysis is utilized on the data obtained to ascertain if it could deliver clear evidence on the correlation of residents' attitudes and support towards STD. This will entail the confirmation of all eight hypotheses derived from the literature research. In conclusion, the current work presents a detailed discussion of the study's results and its potential theoretical and managerial implications based on previous researches on the topic. It also provides an assessment of the study's limitations and proposals for future research on the matter.