The moderating role of nationality in residents' perceptions of the impacts of tourism development in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate residents' perceptions of tourism impacts and whether nationality moderates the relationship between these perceptions and support for tourism development in the UAE. Using data collected from 979 respondents from the UAE, a questionnaire assessed the moderating effect of nationality on residents' perceptions of the social, cultural, environmental, and economic impacts of tourism. Social exchange theory is used as a theoretical framework for this study because it considers the heterogeneity of a community and explains the different perceptions held within it. The findings of this study show that nationality moderates the relationship between residents' perceptions of the impacts of tourism and their support for tourism development in the UAE. Specifically, nationality moderates the relationship between residents' perceptions of negative social impacts, positive cultural impacts, and negative and positive economic impacts and their support for tourism development. This study can assist tourism officials in the UAE in developing strategies that consider the diversity of a community with respect to the nationality of its residents.

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.…”

“…Another significant finding of the study is that although the national residents perceived the negative economic and environmental impacts of tourism development, this has no effect on their overall evaluation of tourism impacts or on their support for tourism development. This finding is really noteworthy and contradicts with Hammad et al (2019) study in which results suggest a negative relationship between residents' negative perceptions of social, environmental, and economic impacts of tourism and their support for tourism development in the UAE. The possible explanation for this contradiction between the two studies may be the collapse of tourism revenues because of the COVID-19 pandemic that made the people recognize the benefits of tourism development on the society more positively than its costs.…”

“…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.…”

“…This huge development projects required a significant number of personnel and skills not available in the UAE that attracted a number of neighboring and foreign expatriates. In short time, the UAE succeeded in achieving phenomenal economic growth (Hammad, Ahmad & Papastathopoulos, 2019). The expatriates represent a rising UAE population, and have been the main contributor to the workforce.…”

“…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).…”