Project Description
Resident’s perceptions on tourism development and tourism impacts is a widely researched topic in tourism literature. However, less literature is available how these tourism impacts affect the physical and social living environment, as well as there is little literature about how different levels of involvement affect these perceptions. The aim is to gain 1) a deeper understanding on how different residents perceive the tourism impacts, and 2) how they find it to affect the physical and social living environment, and how involvement in the tourism industry influences these perceptions. This thesis contributes to the current knowledge gap of resident involvement in the tourism industry, as well as how tourism impacts the physical and social living environment. This is done by interviewing various residents in the city of Leeuwarden, all with different levels of involvement in the tourism industry. The results show that involvement in the tourism industry influences how the residents perceive tourism impacts on the physical and social living environment, and the formation of these perceptions. Other influences on the formation of perceptions are economic dependency and type of tourists visiting Leeuwarden. By understanding what influences the formation of perceptions, and how the perceptions differ across the respondents, it can be used for policy making for the municipality of Leeuwarden, and to involve different resident groups in this policy making. This can result in the enhancement of tourism development in Leeuwarden, but more importantly, the protection of the physical and social living environment.
Author: K. Le (2023)
