TY - JOUR
T1 - Livelihood benefits from post-earthquake nature-based tourism development
T2 - A survey of local residents in rural China
AU - Liu, Shuwen
AU - Cheung, Lewis T.O.
AU - Lo, Alex Y.
AU - Fang, Wei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the authors.
PY - 2018/3/5
Y1 - 2018/3/5
N2 - Large-scale tourism development after a natural disaster often leads to substantial changes in the living conditions of local residents. Few studies have examined how these changes are perceived by residents and related to their support to tourism development. We conducted a household survey in Wolong National Nature Reserve, which is a popular nature-based tourist location severely devastated by a catastrophic earthquake in 2008. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to explore the association between residents' expectation of tourism impacts and their willingness to support tourism development. Results indicated that they held high expectations about development and believed that it would be enhanceWolong's economic progress and improve their personal living conditions. Expected economic benefits (EEB) had a significant and positive relationship with the expected improvement of their personal living conditions, but not with their support to tourism development. The latter two variables, however, were associated with each other, suggesting that expected improvement of living conditions mediated between expected benefits and stated support to tourism development. Similar results were not found for resistance and concerns about tourism development. Policy-makers and tourism planners should recognize that public support to tourism development is not necessarily driven directly by expected economic benefits.
AB - Large-scale tourism development after a natural disaster often leads to substantial changes in the living conditions of local residents. Few studies have examined how these changes are perceived by residents and related to their support to tourism development. We conducted a household survey in Wolong National Nature Reserve, which is a popular nature-based tourist location severely devastated by a catastrophic earthquake in 2008. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to explore the association between residents' expectation of tourism impacts and their willingness to support tourism development. Results indicated that they held high expectations about development and believed that it would be enhanceWolong's economic progress and improve their personal living conditions. Expected economic benefits (EEB) had a significant and positive relationship with the expected improvement of their personal living conditions, but not with their support to tourism development. The latter two variables, however, were associated with each other, suggesting that expected improvement of living conditions mediated between expected benefits and stated support to tourism development. Similar results were not found for resistance and concerns about tourism development. Policy-makers and tourism planners should recognize that public support to tourism development is not necessarily driven directly by expected economic benefits.
KW - Nature-based tourism
KW - Post-earthquake
KW - Residents' attitudes
KW - Supportiveness
KW - Wolong National Nature Reserve
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042783291&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/su10030699
DO - 10.3390/su10030699
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85042783291
VL - 10
JO - Sustainability (Switzerland)
JF - Sustainability (Switzerland)
IS - 3
M1 - 699
ER -
