Factors influencing locals' perceptions about tourism development impacts and the intention to support tourism development in Riyadh city (Saudi Arabia): a sustainability approach

Abstract

It has been generally understood that tourism development for host communities can be a double- edged sword. Tourism development provides advantages and can generate costs. Tourism strategies must reflect an understanding of sustainable tourism development. This requires governments to be fully knowledgeable about the tourism industry and understand its impacts on society. Locals are the main actors in sustainable tourism development. Studies on locals’ perceptions of tourism growth are increasing due to the link between community support and potential development of tourism. Based on social exchange theory and previous findings, this study proposed a series of hypotheses and developed a theoretical model of residents' support for tourism development in Riyadh city, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. This study is based on a self- administered survey on a sample of 427 Saudi Arabian's locals living in Riyadh city using structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data. This study aimed to identify Riyadh residents' perceptions about the impacts of potential tourism development in Riyadh city, and to understand both the negative and positive impacts of tourism development. In addition, this study aimed to examine the effects of several variables (e.g., community attachment, and resident's knowledge of tourism development, and community involvement) on locals' perceived benefits and costs of tourism development. Moreover, this study aimed to identify how the perceived impacts of tourism affect locals' satisfaction and support for tourism development, and in turn how locals’ satisfaction with tourism affect the intention to support tourism development in Riyadh city. i The findings of this study revealed a positive relationship between community attachment and perceived benefit from tourism development. However, no relationship between community attachment and the perceived cost of tourism development was found in this study. Moreover , a significant positive relationship between residents' knowledge of tourism and the perceived benefits of tourism development was found in this study. The results also revealed a significant negative relationship between residents' knowledge of tourism and the perceived costs of tourism development. In addition, an insignificant relationship between community involvement and the perceived benefits and costs of tourism development was found. Furthermore, a positive relationship between the perceived benefits of tourism development and locals' intentions to support tourism development and a negative relationship between the perceived costs of tourism development and locals' intentions to support tourism development were found. Moreover, a positive relationship between the perceived benefits of tourism development and community satisfaction with tourism and a negative relationship between the perceived costs of tourism development and community satisfaction with tourism development were found in this study. Lastly, a relationship between satisfaction with tourism and locals' intentions to support tourism development was observed.