Urban resident perceptions of the impacts of tourism development in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study examines the perceptions of urban residents towards the socio-economic and environmental consequences of tourism development in Zimbabwe. Perceptions were tested using empirical data that were gathered from a sample of 384 adult members, representing urban households in Bulawayo. The results from a semi-structured survey revealed that such sociodemographic variables as gender, education, length of stay and income are relatively predictable of their attitude towards tourism. Further, although the urban residents tended to perceive tourism impacts positively, they reacted more strongly to the environmental impacts involved than to the economic and sociocultural impacts. The urban geographic context of this study makes this finding significant, as it indicates that urban residents have an environmental consciousness with regard to tourism. The study has implications for tourism development planners and destination managers, in terms of enhanced engagement with the urban residents regarding tourism development, irrespective of the likelihood of residents supporting future development.

Residents’ Opinions and Perceptions of Tourism Development in the Historic City of Toledo, Spain

“…In this way, several analysis-independent variables are included. Firstly, basic demographic variables, such as gender and age, as is the standard [41,61]. It is also asked whether the resident was born in Toledo, in some other area in Spain, or abroad.…”

“…Thus, the citizens who work in activities closely related to tourism would have opinions differing from those that do not have such a close relationship with these activities [88]. Finally, they are asked about the residents' monthly income, given that income is another relevant factor to the residents' attitudes towards tourism [41]. In Table 1, there is a summary with all the independent variables used.…”

“…The mean was used as a measurement of the central tendency, and the typical deviation was detailed in order to appreciate the importance of the variations in the answers in relation to the mean. Also, just like Tichaawa and Moyo [41], the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett's test of sphericity were performed to consider whether a factor analysis would be useful. When positive results were obtained, it was opted on to carry out a study on the correlations between the question items and applying the varimax rotation method, with Kaiser normalization following the example of Sharma and Dyer [61].…”

“…One of the main focuses of academic literature about this issue resides on the impacts of tourism on the host community. Consistency amongst researchers relies upon resident perception studies focusing on tourism impacts [41]. Ap [20] and Stylidis et al [21] focus on how the residents perceive touristic impacts.…”

“…One of the main research scopes has been cities, such as Koens and Postma's paper on six European cities [76], Ross' about residents' perceptions on the impacts of tourism in Australian cities [77], or Tichaawa and Moyo's in an African developing country, Zimbabwe [41]. City centers are oftentimes the main focus for major tourism [78].…”