Rethinking social impacts of tourism research: A new research agenda

Quality of life (QOL) and well-being research in tourism.

Communities experiencing rapid growth due to energy development (‘boomtowns’) have reported positive and negative impacts on community and individual well-being. The perceptions of impacts vary according to stage of energy development as well as experience with extractive industries. Development of the Marcellus Shale provides an opportunity to examine these impacts over time and across geographic and historical contexts. This paper describes case study research in Pennsylvania and New York to document preliminary impacts of development occurring there. Cases vary by level of development and previous extractive history. The study finds that, in areas with low population density, higher levels of development lead to a broader awareness of natural gas impacts, both positive and negative. Participants draw from the regional history of

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Residents' Perceptions of Community and Environmental Impacts From Development of Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale: A Comparison of Pennsylvania and New York Cases

Urban vs. rural destinations: Residents’ perceptions, community participation and support for tourism development

This paper investigates the characteristics of opinion leaders within the computer-mediated environment, analyses the differences between online opinion leaders and online non-leaders and examines the implications of opinion leadership theory for e-commerce. This study finds that opinion leaders in computer-mediated environments possess significantly higher levels of enduring involvement, innovativeness, exploratory behaviour and self-perceived knowledge than non-leaders. Online opinion leaders also possess greater computer skills, have used the internet for a longer period of time and use the internet more frequently for longer sessions than non-leaders. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Opinion leadership in a computer-mediated environment

Casino gaming has spread across America, but its impacts remain unclear. This study extends research about crime impacts of gaming development in rural communities, addressing whether tourism growth leads to an increase in crime, or whether crime is an inherent by-product of gaming tourism. Using a sample of rural Colorado counties, this study compared crime effects in casino gaming counties, ski counties, natural resources access counties, and cultural tourist attraction counties. In contrast to conventional wisdom, this study found that ski counties had a significantly higher property crime rate than did gaming, natural resource access, and cultural tourist attraction counties. Results also suggest the presence of interaction effects between tourism types and growth levels, affecting crime rates. These results provide valuable information to communities considering tourism alternatives for economic development, and they also inform public policy.

Casino Gaming and Crime: Comparisons among Gaming Counties and Other Tourism Places

Spatial dynamics of tour bus transport within urban destinations

The purpose of this study is to document how a traditional residential neighborhood, Ihwa village in Seoul, South Korea, is transformed into a tourist attraction and demonstrate the complexity of the overtourism phenomenon and the multifaceted conflicts among stakeholders that emerged in the course of urban transformation. Particularly, the study explores how tourism growth, urban transformation and overtourism are intertwined with each other and how the role of social media and media contributed to tourism growth and the transformation of an urban neighborhood.,The study conducted text analytics (a big data analysis) using personal blogs and news articles. Our data for text analytics was defined to retrieve all news articles and blogs existent in the NAVER portal, the largest Korean portal and search engine, for the period between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2018. The data was collected using a web crawling program, TEXTOM version 3.0.,Text analysis of blog entries and news articles suggests that each medium has its unique role and domain to play. While the news media contributed to the initial surge of interest in Ihwa village, genuine growth of tourism in Ihwa village seems to be attributed to social media. Texts that appeared in blogs strongly indicated that people used their blogs to share their trip experiences, which can be subsequently assumed that blogs had an influential role in promoting a small place like Ihwa mural village, while news articles tended to highlight negative or unusual events occurred in Ihwa village. The study also addressed the multifaceted nature of the conflicts that were inherent in the issue of urban regeneration and how those conflicts were developed and manifested in the process of touristification and overtourism in Ihwa village. As touristification can manifest in various forms in different places, the case of Ihwa village demonstrates a unique development of touristification; private tourism companies or tourism agencies did not initiate or intend to cause tourism gentrification. Rather, touristification is a byproduct of urban revitalization through public art and is a result of interplay between the local government’s interest, social media and new tourist demand.,Text analytics using big data have rarely been attempted to understand the role of social media in relation to tourism growth and touristification of an urban tourism place. This study advances the literature by applying big data analysis to user-generated content in blogs. The study also contributes to the deeper understanding of a different developmental pattern of touristification in an urban tourism place as well as the complexity of the overtourism phenomenon and the multifaceted conflicts among stakeholders.

Social media, media and urban transformation in the context of overtourism

As state level budgets are reduced, state park agencies are asking campground managers to generate more of their operating funds. To generate more campground revenue, managers might increase fees or entice campers to increase their frequency and duration of visits. Thus, it is crucial to understand how campers react to various combinations of campground attributes and amenities, and how combinations of these attributes might be related to increasing park visitation. The study objectives were to assess both the relative importance of various campground attributes as well as the desired level of attribute development for various segments of campers seeking different camping accommodations. In contrast to traditional uni-dimensional research designs, the stated preference choice method was used to identify the relative importance of decision attributes and levels for understanding recreationists’ preferences because it takes into account simultaneous tradeoffs among attributes. Eight common campground attributes were incorporated into the experimental designs. Those attributes were: the crowding and noise level that campers experience, the type of site settings, the level of site development, the degree of user behavioral restrictions, the existence of flush toilets and restrooms with hot running water, the level of security recognizable by campers, the travel distance from home to the site, and the amount of user fee that a camper pays to use a site per night. Using a fractional factorial design combined with a blocking tool, 36 paired choice sets were divided into six different versions of a mail questionnaire with six sets each. Of a total of 2,587 questionnaires disseminated by mail, 838 completed questionnaires (32.4% response rate) were returned. The camper responses were used to generate three types (i.e., motor home users, tent users, and cabin users) of camper preference models, as well as a pooled model of all campers. Using conditional logit models, results indicated that campers were more likely to prefer certain campsites with specific features, such as a high level of security, uncrowded settings and appropriate restroom facilities. Although the preference for necessity attributes was similar among the camper groups, the preference patterns were considerably different for the three camper types. This study focused on campground attributes at a statewide level, thus providing a macro-site analysis of attributes and site choice preferences. The approach developed here should provide state park managers and practitioners a better means of understanding camper preferences, which should lead to more satisfied camping experiences, perhaps increased visitation, and thus increased revenue generation for state park operations.

Predicting Site Choice Behavior Among Types of Campers

Using participant observation and photographic documentation, a study of the National Cherry Blossom Festival was conducted to evaluate service provision and impacts on National Mall and Memorial Parks (National Mall) resources. Specifically, the researchers examined the adequacies of National Park Service facilities and services to meet festival visitors' needs as well as assessed human impacts on the natural and cultural resources in the National Mall. The study results suggested that the nature of this cultural event led to intense, concentrated consumption and usage of facilities, services, and natural resources, making it difficult for management to keep up with visitor demand and risking long-term degradation of the natural resources. Detailed recommendations set forth a plan of action to protect the natural resources while not overly constraining visitor behaviors. Managers of large and small cultural festivals around the globe subject to these same carrying capacity issues can benefit from the recommendations put forth in this study. Additionally, the participant observation and photographic documentation methods applied in this study can be utilized in evaluating visitors behaviors and impacts in festival and event contexts.

An analysis of service provision and visitor impacts using participant observation and photographic documentation: the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Minkyung Park

Papers

Casino Gaming and Crime: Comparisons among Gaming Counties and Other Tourism Places

Spatial dynamics of tour bus transport within urban destinations

Social media, media and urban transformation in the context of overtourism

Predicting Site Choice Behavior Among Types of Campers

An analysis of service provision and visitor impacts using participant observation and photographic documentation: the National Cherry Blossom Festival.