Research has neglected to consider the role residents’ feelings toward tourists play in formulating attitudes about tourism and tourism development. Following a two-step process (i.e., establishing a measurement model and structural path model), the Emotional Solidarity Scale (ESS) and its factors were used to predict levels of the Tourism Impact Attitude Scale (TIAS) and its factors. In confirming the factor structure for each scale, both were found to have high internal consistency (through composite reliability and maximal weighted alpha coefficients) and high validity (through convergent and discriminant validity). Collectively, each of the three ESS factors (welcoming nature, emotional closeness, and sympathetic understanding) significantly predicted the two TIAS factors (support for tourism development and contributions tourism makes to the community), with two exceptions. Implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

While it can prove easy to conceptualize of the relationship between residents and tourists as “us versus them,” it devalues the potential for intimate relationships to exist, whereby residents and tourists have many things in common. The theory of emotional solidarity can aid in explaining such an intimate relationship. Developing the framework from previous qualitative work, the purpose of this study is to formulate and validate scales corresponding to the constructs in Durkheim’s theoretical framework of emotional solidarity. Following two initial stages of pilot testing, each scale is included in an onsite self-administered survey instrument, with 455 heads of household completing the instrument in a coastal South Carolina county. Psychometric properties are assessed and each scale is found to be high in internal consistency and construct validity (i.e., convergent and discriminant validity). Implications as well as potential research opportunities concerning emotional solidarity are discussed.

Residents and tourists within destinations are often portrayed as being separate from each other, possessing little in common. Such an approach can undermine the potential for a dynamic, intimate relationship to exist between residents and tourists. This research offers the theory of emotional solidarity, put forth by Emile Durkheim, as a theoretical framework to examine the relationship between residents and tourists. In addition, a series of focus groups with residents of a coastal South Carolina county was conducted to ascertain residents’ feelings about tourists and commonalities with tourists (i.e., shared beliefs, shared behavior, and interaction). Themes corresponding to constructs from Durkheim’s model were generated from the qualitative data analysis. Findings are discussed, along with practical implications and future research options.

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Abstract:This study proposes a theoretical model integrating two lines of tourism research: emotional solidarity and destination loyalty. In order to test the proposed model, a survey of visitors to Cape Verde islands was undertaken. Structural equation modeling and moderated mediation analysis were implemented to assess the relationships involving visitors' emotional solidarity with residents, satisfaction and destination loyalty. The three dimensions of emotional solidarity were considered in the study: feeling welcomed, sympathetic understanding and emotional closeness.Results indicate that visitors' feeling welcomed and sympathetic understanding directly influence loyalty. In particular, the relationships involving visitors' feeling welcomed by residents, emotional closeness with residents and sympathetic understanding with residents and loyalty were all mediated by satisfaction. Additionally, gender was found to moderate the conditional indirect effects of emotional closeness and feeling welcomed on loyalty (via satisfaction). Such relationships were stronger among male visitors. Implications as well as future research opportunities are offered.

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The purpose of this study was to test the theoretical framework of emotional solidarity in seeking to better explain the dynamic, complex relationships existing between residents and tourists. Measurement and structural models pertaining to the framework were simultaneously estimated, both of which were deemed to have good model fit based on incremental and absolute model fit indices. Three antecedent constructs (i.e., shared beliefs, shared behavior, and interaction) were all found to be significant predictors of emotional solidarity, explaining approximately 33% of the variance in the construct. This work provides support for Durkheim’s theoretical framework and provides a gateway into future studies surrounding emotional solidarity.

Hosting ethnically and culturally rich religious festivals provides visitors a glimpse into how a sense of togetherness and faith are not only established but strengthened through shared beliefs and ritualistic behavior. This research examines visitors’ destination loyalty through their emotional bonding with place, the emotional solidarity they experience with residents, and their perceived level of safety. Based on data collected from 813 visitors during the Attur Church Feast in Karkala, India, the results indicated that place attachment directly influences loyalty and two dimensions of emotional solidarity and, in turn, emotional solidarity has a positive effect on loyalty. Additionally, it was found that emotional solidarity partially mediates the effect of place attachment on destination loyalty. Finally, employing a moderated mediation analysis, visitor level of perceived safety at the festival partially moderated the indirect effect of place attachment on destination loyalty through emotional solidarity.