Can Anybody Hear Me? a Critical Analysis of Young Residents' Voices in Tourism Studies

Abstract

In this review article, tourism is recognized as a powerful force of change for host communities. The authors maintain that many empirical studies of residents' perceptions of tourism have argued that tourism has the ability to transform the lives of locals who inhabit a given destination region, generating both positive and negative economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts there. However, the authors suggest that the focus of these received studies has been placed on the perceptions and experiences of adult residents, resulting in an absence of research that examines how young residents view, perceive, and adapt to tourism in their communities. To address this gap, this review article critically analyzes the role of young residents in Tourism Studies to date. An inventory of 30 previous studies that focused on young residents in tourism research was compiled and analyzed. Adapting a framework of the presence and role of Indigenous people in tourism research, the authors classified these articles into three categories-namely, the silent, the acknowledged, and the youth-focused. In this inspection, key findings identified the lack of children's and young people's agency and voice, providing a theoretically driven undercurrent guiding future inquiry and developing a pathway toward new "voice-generative" methods. The authors recommend that the specific approaches that they identify for deployment in the field should be ethically sensitive to the needs of children and young people and thereby be more accommodating in their capacity to develop and enhance discourse on youth in tourism.

Residents’ Involvement in Urban Tourism Planning: Opportunities from a Smart City Perspective

“…However, the majority of respondents in their city did not feel included in the tourism planning and had little knowledge about the subject [39]. Various studies discuss that if residents are well-informed, they not only perceive the costs of tourism to be lower, but can also make meaningful decisions and effectively participate in any phase of tourism planning [40][41][42][43][44]. Stylidis et al [31] recommend that cities constantly monitor and manage their residents' perception of their city and tourism planning practices.…”

“…Various studies visualize how diversity and heterogeneity among residents calls for more engagement efforts. Examples of this include marginal and less powerful residents such as first-generation immigrants [42] and also younger residents [43] who need to be included. However, the inclusion of such engagement is often dependent on the level of knowledge residents have about tourism in their destination.…”

“…More importantly, how can cities ensure that every resident has the opportunity to engage?' [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]. We also need to understand what kind of effects engagement has on residents' behavior and attitudes.…”

Anthropology and sociology in tourism doctoral research

“…Findings in this study suggest that the adoption of ‘identity’ as a theoretical framework is more prominent in the past two decades of doctoral-based tourism research in sociology and anthropology. This reflects a broader theoretical development in the sociology and anthropology of tourism away from the notion of tourism as an exogenous force impacting passive host communities towards conceptualising tourism as an agent of social change and catalyst for the transformation and valorisation of identities and cultures (Canosa et al, 2016; Hollinshead, 2009; Lanfant et al, 1995; Leite and Graburn, 2009; Picard, 1995; Stronza, 2001).…”

The Mediating Roles of Young Residents’ Experiential Value and Sense of Community

“…After the data-screening procedure, a descriptive analysis was performed to determine the respondents’ demographic profile, and 129 responses were eliminated to focus solely on young residents in the age range of 18 years to mid-30s to increase the representativeness of the sample (Canosa, Moyle, & Wray, 2016). As a result, 427 valid responses were included in the data analysis.…”