What is the attitude of ALULA residents towards the economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts of tourism development?

Abstract

In recent years, the residents’ attitudes toward the impacts of tourism have come to play a significant role in the tourism world. This study examines the attitudes of residents toward the impacts of tourism in Alula. It also seeks to define the effect of the sociodemographic factors and how being involved in decision making affects the residents' attitudes. Based on the mixed-methods approach, this study uses an online survey of 20 questions on a 5-point Likert scale to identify the residents’ attitudes and their involvement in decision making. It also has three open-ended questions regarding resident's attitudes towards tourism development. The sample consists of 457 adult residents of Alula. The Social Exchange Theory (SET) was the central theoretical perspective for this study. The findings show that Alula’s residents recognize the benefits of tourism in their region. However, they have a significant concern about their costs. The study found that the overall attitudes of the residents of Alula region on the economic impacts of tourism development were mostly neutral with a slight deviation to negative attitudes. Overall, attitudes of Alula residents toward the socio-cultural impacts were between neutral and positive. The residents of Alula had neutral to positive attitudes towards tourism development concerning the environmental aspect. With regards to the effect of the socio-demographic factors and the involvement in decision making, the results show that all socio-demographic factors, except the educational level, have an impact on residents’ attitudes. The involvement in decision making is responsible for 13% of changes in residents' attitudes. The open-ended questions revealed several themes that can assist in the development of tourism in Alula. All these factors can be grouped into three categories: infrastructure, sustainability, and skills development, meaning that these categories are the most important for Alula residents.