Demographic Analysis of Residents’ Support for Tourism Development in the UAE: A Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling Multigroup Approach

Abstract

This study examines how the demographic profiles of residents (gender, level of education, nationality, length of residency, and age) moderate the relationship between residents’ perceptions of the impact of tourism and their support for tourism development. The aim of the study was to gain knowledge on the understudied emerging countries, the underexplored geographical area of Middle East and North Africa, and most specifically on the UAE which is the most competitive destination among them. This study is the first to use the novel Bayesian SEM multigroup approach to overcome the major issue of the non-normal distributions of data. The data are derived from 631 residents of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The results indicate that residents’ perceptions influence residents’ support for tourism development. Additionally, the multigroup analysis reveals that gender, education, and nationality influence the perceptions of residents while length of residency and age do not have a significant effect.

Residents’ Perceptions of the Impacts of Tourism Development: Empirical Evidence from UAE

“…One possible reason is that expats are attracted to live in the UAE mainly in search of better economic opportunities; therefore, they would be more concerned about the economic impact while the nationals are more anxious about their country's social, cultural and environmental impacts. Nevertheless, the results of this study contradict Papastathopoulos et al, (2020); Hammad et al, (2017) and Hammad et al (2019) studies in the way it found that both local and expats perceive the positive socio-cultural aspects of tourism development while both do not perceive any negative socio-cultural aspects of tourism. Remarkably, both residents' groups (citizens and expats) showed positive overall evaluation of tourism impacts and both supported future tourism development by UAE government.…”

“…Expats expressed greater positive perceptions of the economic impacts of tourism. This finding goes on line with the Papastathopoulos et al, (2020); Hammad et al, (2017) and Hammad et al (2019) studies who also found that expats have more positive perceptions of the economic impacts of tourism, while national residents have more concerns regarding the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of tourism. One possible reason is that expats are attracted to live in the UAE mainly in search of better economic opportunities; therefore, they would be more concerned about the economic impact while the nationals are more anxious about their country's social, cultural and environmental impacts.…”

“…Hence, it is important to include expatriates in the analyses of residents' views of tourism impacts. Nationality is among the main demographic factors influencing an individual's prospects (Papastathopoulos et al, 2020). Understanding the discrepancies between the perceptions of different groups of residents will provide policymakers and tourism partners with valuable information for future planning of the tourism sector (Hammad at al., 2019).…”

“…UAE is one of the Middle East most popular tourist destinations, so this research is extremely relevant for government officials and tourism planners to understand the expectations of residents about the impact of tourism expansion and to assess their level of support for it. Some previous studies explored the perceptions of the residents about the effect of tourism growth in the UAE and their level of support for it (Papastathopoulos et al, 2020;Hammad et al, 2017). Some of these studies have recommended that further work to be done to verify the findings and to cover further regions within the UAE.…”

The influence of sociodemographic characteristics of residents on the perception of tourism development impacts

“…Education may improve the communication skills of community members, as well as their awareness levels concerning tourism-related issues (Sinclair-Maragh, 2017). Papastathopoulos et al (2019) indicated on differences in perceptions of tourism development impacts depending on education level. They found that a higher education level of residents has a more powerful influence on the residents' perception of cultural, social, and environmental impacts.…”