Faculty of Organisation and Management
BSc (Honours) Tourism Management
Title Local Residents Perceptions and Attitudes towards
Tourism Development on Lamma Island, Hong Kong Name Chan Wing Ching Rachel Student No 91203351 Month Year April 2009
Sheffield Hallam University
Faculty of Organisation and Management
Title Local Residents Perceptions and Attitudes towards
Tourism Development on Lamma Island, Hong Kong FULL NAME Chan Wing Ching Rachel STUDENT No 91203351 SUPERVISOR Dr. Connie Mok In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management. MONTH YEAR April 2009
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ACKOWNLEDGEMENTS
It is with deep gratitude that I have to thank Dr. Connie Mok, my supervisor, for
her support and guidance throughout my research. With her expertise, she
gave me lots of constructive comments and challenges that pushed me to
strive for excellent in this research.
Besides, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my American friend, Ms.
Lorraine Kong for taking her precious time to help me to do the editing works
on this paper.
Last but not least, my great gratitude goes to my family and friends. This
research could not have been completed without their encouragement and
unfailing support.
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ABSTRACT
This paper focused on examination of perceptions and attitudes of Lamma
residents towards tourism development on the island. Research was
conducted in the major tourist areas of the island by employing a face-to-face
survey. The questionnaire contained Likert scale statements concerning the
tourism impacts in the social, economic and environmental dimensions.
Independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests in Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences (SPSS) were employed to investigate the attitudinal
statements. The study was mainly based on the Social Exchange Theory. The
results showed that residents hold favorable attitude towards the Lammas
tourism although some residents presented their concerns about the negative
impacts of tourism development. Another important contribution of this study
reconfirmed the assumption on community attachment. It reported the
attachment to community was negatively correlated to the residents overall
attitudes. Furthermore, the views of community were not homogeneous.
Residents income level and employment reliance on tourism were found to be
the major factors which influenced their attitudes. It reconfirmed that those
residents who were economically reliant on tourism had more favorable
attitudes towards tourism development than those who were not. Research
results serve as a reference source for monitoring resident attitudes and
initiating community involvement for future sustainable development.
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i
ABSTRACT ii
CONTENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES v
LIST OF FIGURES vi
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN LAMMA ISLAND 2
1.1.1 Tourism Project in Recent Years 4
1.2 THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 5 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 7
Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8
2.1 PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES 9 2.1.1 Doxeys Irridex Model 10
2.1.2 Bulter Destination Life Cycle Model 11
2.1.3 Social Exchange Theory 14
2.2 Relationships between Independent Variables and Resident Attitudes 16 2.2.1 Economic Dependency 17
2.2.2 Socio-demographics 18
2.2.3 Community Attachment 19
2.2.4 Community Satisfaction 20
2.2.5 Community Concerns 21
2.2.6 Seasonality 22
2.3 EFFECTS OF TOURISM IMPACTS ON RESIDENT ATTITUDES 23 2.3.1 Economic Impacts 23
2.3.2 Social Impacts 25
2.3.3 Environmental Impacts 26
2.3.4 Path Analytic Model 27
2.4 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 29
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Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 31 3.1 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT 31
3.1.1 Design of the Questionnaire 32
3.2 SAMPLING 33 3.3 DATA COLLECTION 34 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 35 3.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 36
Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 39 4.1 RESPONDENT PROFILE 39 4.2 ATTITUDINAL STATEMENT ASSESSMENT 40
4.2.1 Overall Residents Perceptions & Attitudes 41
4.2.1.1 Perceptions and Attitudes on Social Impacts 44
4.2.1.2 Perceptions and Attitudes on Economic Impacts 45
4.2.1.3 Perceptions and Attitudes on Environmental Impacts 47 4.2.2 Community Attachment 48
4.2.3 Differences by Respondents Socio-demographics 50 4.2.3.1 Differences by Income Level 51
4.2.3.2 Differences by Employment Reliance 53
4.2.3.3 Differences by Length of Residence 55
4.2.3.4 Differences by Frequency of Using Tourist Facilities 57
4.2.3.5 Differences by Resident Relatives on the Island 59
4.2.3.6 Differences by Age 61
4.2.3.7 Differences by Education Level 64
4.2.3.8 Differences by Property Ownership 66
4.2.3.9 Differences by Gender 68
4.3 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS 70
Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS 73
Chapter 6 RECOMMENDATIONS 77 6.1 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ON LAMMA ISLAND 77 6.2 FURTHER RESEARCH 78
REFERENCES 80
BIBILOGRAPHY 88
APPENDICES 89
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Doxeys Irridex Model and Associated Features 10
Table 2.2 Factors Identified and Tested by Various Researchers as
Explanation of Residents Attitudes towards Tourism 17
Table 4.1 Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Sample 40
Table 4.2 Overall Responses to Tourism Statements 42
Table 4.3 Ranking of Likert Scale Resident Attitudinal Statements 43
Table 4.4 Indicators of Resident Attachment to the Community 48
Table 4.5 Mean Scores and ANOVA Test for Residents Income Level 52
Table 4.6 Mean Scores and t-test for Residents Employment
Reliance on Tourism 53
Table 4.7 Mean Scores and ANOVA Test for Communitys Length of
Residence 56
Table 4.8 Mean Scores and ANOVA Test for Residents Usage of
Tourist Facilities 58
Table 4.9 Mean Scores and t-test for Resident Relatives on the Island 60
Table 4.10 Mean Scores and ANOVA Test for Residents Age 62
Table 4.11 Mean Scores and ANOVA Test for Residents Education
Level 64
Table 4.12 Mean Scores and t-test for Residents Property Ownership
on the Island 67
Table 4.13 Mean Scores and t-test for Gender of Residents 69
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Hypothetical Evolution of a Tourist Area 12
Figure 2.2 Residents Willingness toward Further Tourism Development 15
Figure 2.3 Partnership Model of Sustainable Tourism 29
Figure 4.1 Levels of Community Attachment 49
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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
The worldwide advocacy of tourism in the past two decades had supported
rapid development of the tourism industry in both developed and developing
countries. In the twenty-first century, travel and tourism had become one of the
worlds largest industries, it had even dominated the hospitality sector for
several countries. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2008) estimated
that there were 903 million tourists in 2007 which the UNWTO amounted to
more than 10 percent of the worlds population. According to the study of the
Tourism 2020 Vision (UNWTO, 2001), the UNWTO expected that the
international tourist arrivals would reach 1.6 billion by the year 2020, and the
estimation showed that East Asia and Pacific would share 397 million arrivals,
which would be the second most rapid growth after Middle East.
The Hong Kongs total tourist arrivals, which was majorly contributed by
mainland Chinese tourists, had increased shapely since July 2003, when the
government of the Peoples Republic of China encouraged mainland Chinese
travelers to come to Hong Kong by introducing the Individual Visit Scheme. In
2007, 17.2 million international tourists came to Hong Kong which made her
became the fifteenth international tourism destination in the year (UNWTO,
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2008). The Tourism 2020 Vision (UNWTO, 2001) also predicted that Hong
Kong, as an individual inbound country, would be the next leading tourist
destination when 57 million Chinese arrivals in 2020 would be taken into
account.
Murphy (1983, p180) argued that Tourism is a major agent of transformation.
Tourism development changes society and it environment. The development
of tourism, especially in a rapid pace, would significantly affect and even alter
the life of the host community. Therefore, resident acceptance of tourism
development is considered important for the long-term success of tourism in a
destination (Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003, p183). The perceptions and
attitudes, affecting the acceptance, of local residents towards tourism
development had become a major issue across the world.
1.1. Tourism Development on Lamma Island
Lamma Island was at the southwest of the Hong Kong Island. With the size
13.7 square kilometers, Lamma Island made itself the third largest island in
Hong Kong. There were about six thousand people live on Lamma (C&SD,
2006). With its well-known seafood meals and natural scenery, Lamma Island
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was one of the most popular scenic attractions in Hong Kong. (Lamma
Fisherfolks Village, 2006).
In the past, tourism in Lamma Island grew slowly. The slow growth might be
caused by lack of tourist attractions. At that time all one could find in Lamma
were seafood and villages (HKTB, 2008a). In the year 2006 wind power
electric generators Lamma Winds were built. With the conspicuous shape of
Lamma Winds and spectacular scenery of the Hong Kong Island that one
could view at the site of the generator, it had become a landmark since 2006
(HEH, 2008b). The development of the windmill not only aroused the
importance of sustainability and the environmental concerns in the community,
but also helped to accelerate the tourism development on the island.
Since it continuously contributed 1% to the total visitor number in the past few
years, with the figure of 2,789,354 in 2007 (HKTB, 2008b), a few tourism
projects were specifically organized and promoted. They aimed to utilize the
natural resources of the island and showcase the local culture to rejuvenate
Lamma Island. Meanwhile, it aimed not to over exploit or degrade those
resources.
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1.2.1. Tourism Project in Recent Years
Development of Ecotourism
In order to attracted more people, that reaped more economic benefit and
added more environmental value to the island, Green Lamma Green was
jointly organized by Hongkong Electric Holdings and a non-government
environmental organization called Conservancy Association. It was a
three-year project implemented from the year 2005 to 2008 (HEH, 2008a).
Green Lamma Green aimed at strengthen habitat conservations (of the rare
animals) and peoples awareness of environmental protection, thus push the
tourism of Lamma Island on the way to sustainable development
(Conservancy Association, 2008). The project included tree caring,
establishing eco-routes, tree planting alongside the trails, setting up
educational signs that introducing ecological information, eco-tour guide
trainings.
Development of Cultural Tourism
Hong Kong was once a small fishing village, so there were many traditional
cultures and lifestyles that Hong Kong people follows. Even though Hong Kong
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had already been a metropolis, these traditional cultural and lifestyle should
not be forgotten or lost. Therefore, in order to provide opportunities for people
to explore the long-age fisherfolk culture and lifestyle, Lamma Fisherfolks
Village, that occupied area of 1,300 square meters with authentic fishing
facilities, was opened in 2007, (Lamma Fisherfolks Village, 2006).
The village was a showcase of the history of Hong Kongs fishery industry and
indigenous community used to live in the islands typhoon shelter (HKTB,
2009). Visitors could learn and even experience traditional fishing culture
through various activities. It helped the development of tourism. Meanwhile,
the establishment of the village could promote the historic uniqueness of Hong
Kongs fishery culture.
1.2. The Purpose of the Study
In 2007 Policy Address, Hong Kong Government announced to image Hong
Kong as an international convention, exhibition and tourism capital. Thus, it
was believed that further effort was put on promoting development of tourism
in the following years.
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However, tourism in Hong Kong was most likely to be developed in favor of
business objectives. Development of tourism tended to concern economists
viewpoints instead of environment supporters. Limited focus were put on
enhancing the sustainability of Hong Kong and also the industry, hence, the
studies related to this context were definitely limited.
In recent years, ecotourism and cultural tourism had been aggressively
developing on Lamma Island. In the course of development, the support from
local residents, which acted as host communities, is critical factor since they
would influence the performance of the local tourism industry (Murphy, 1985;
Ap, 1992; Ko and Stewart, 2002). As Murphy (1985, p153) argued, if
development and planning does not fit in with local aspirations and
capabilities, resistance and hostility can raise the cost of business or destroy
the industrys potential altogether. Therefore, this study aimed at providing
meaningful results for local planners and tourism developers to monitor
resident attitudes towards tourism development on Lamma Island.
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1.3. Objectives of the Study
Local resident group is one of the crucial elements of tourism development as
tourism is associated with the contacts and reactions of residents. Blank (1989,
p4) stated that it is in communities that tourism happens. Therefore, as a part
of community, the residents perceptions and attitudes like their acceptance
and hospitality level are particularly influential towards the tourism
development.
Specifically, the aims of this study focused on the following objectives:
1. To identify the overall perceptions and attitudes of the local residents of
Lamma Island towards tourists and tourism development;
2. To identify the relationship between overall perceptions and attitudes
towards tourism and community attachment;
3. To examine different variables in relation to Lamma residents attitudes
towards tourism; and
4. To make recommendations to Lamma Island on promoting the
sustainability of tourism development
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Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
As the advocacy of sustainability in the past decades, tourism should be grown
and managed according to the principles of sustainable development. The
conference proceedings by UNWTO (2006) reported that the local
communities were at the levels where tourism impacts are mostly keenly felt,
conservation challenges must be met and culture is most affected. Therefore,
many scholars asserted that the local community should be involved in the
decision-making process and benefit sharing in order to achieve sustainable
tourism development (Murphy, 1985; Swarbrooke, 1999; Hall and Richards,
2003; Mason, 2003).
Most researchers found that the initial attitudes towards tourism by local
residents were critical to the community involvement for the tourism
development (Murphy, 1981; Wang, Pfister and Morais, 2006). Consequently,
the deep understanding of resident perceptions and attitudes helped to
enhance the greater community involvement in sustainable tourism context,
which was the common ultimate goal for destinations.
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2.1. Perceptions and Attitudes
Perceptions has been defined as the process involved people selecting,
organizing and interpreting information to form a meaningful picture of the
world (Kotler and Armstrong, 1996). It would affect how people see and
interpret the matters of the world. Attitudes has been defined as a state of
mind of the individual toward a value (Allport, 1996, p24) and as an enduring
predisposition towards a particular aspect of ones environment (McDougall
and Munro, 1987, p87). It would be closely related to deeply held values and
personality, but it would be also reinforced by individuals perceptions and
beliefs of reality. However, according to Getz (1994), the changing conditions
and perceptions affected the direction of attitudes.The dynamic nature of,
individuals relationship with, or perception of tourism therefore evolved and
differentiated individuals attitudes.
As perceptions and attitudes influenced ones interpretations and mind, they
would also affect individuals acceptance towards everything, including tourism
development. Andriotis and Vaughan (2003) asserted that the resident
acceptance of tourism development was considered and linked with the
success of a given destinations tourism, especially the long-term one. Hence,
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the unwilling host community was not conductive to an effective tourism
development. Several models and theories proposed to evaluate what factors
influencing residents perceptions and attitudes towards tourism development
would be presented in the following paragraphs.
2.1.1. Doxeys Irridex Model
Doxeys Irridex Model (1975) was one of the most influential models to clarify
the relationship between the impacts of tourism and local residents attitudes
towards tourism. The Irritation Index or Irridex Model (1975) suggested that
residents attitudes towards tourism might pass through a predictable
sequence of reactions, from initial euphoria, through apathy and annoyance
to antagonism, as perceived costs exceeded the expected benefits (see Table
2.1).
TABLE 2.1: DOXEYS IRRIDEX MODEL AND ASSOCIATED FEATURES
Euphoria Visitors are welcome and there is little planning
Apathy Visitors are taken for granted and contact becomes more formal
Annoyance Saturation is approached and the local people have misgivings. Planners attempt to
control via increasing infrastructure rather than limiting growth
Antagonism Open expression of irritation and planning is remedial, yet promotion is increased to
offset the deteriorating reputation of the destination
Adapted from Doxey (1975) and Mason (2003, p22)
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It argued that the increase the number of tourists and tourism development,
the greater the emergence of hostility from local residents. In a recent study
(Allen, Long, Perdue and Kieselbach, 1988), it was argued that
low-to-moderate tourism development would be perceived as beneficial to the
local residents, but their perceptions turned negative quickly as the
development increased. Another scholar, Fridgen (1991) also asserted that
residents began to have negative stereotypes about tourism and its
development in the defined stage of antagonism.
Doxeys Irridex was mainly a conjecture since individuals perceptions and
attitudes might change in all directions time to time. Consequently, the
sequential Irritation Index should not be construed as being deterministic and
unidirectional.
2.1.2. Butler Destination Life Cycle Model
Among the major extrinsic factors found in the literature to be associated with
community attitudes is the degree or stage of the host destinations
development (Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003, p174). Butlers Tourist Area Life
Cycle (TALC) Model (1980) was one of the most cited and popular
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investigations of community perceptions. It identified five stages of tourism
evolution at a tourist area. Stages were shown in Figure 2.1, including
exploration, involvement, development, consolidation and stagnation,
decline or rejuvenation (Butler, 1980). In the TALC model, the areas popularity
would grow rapidly during the first stages, however, as levels of carrying
capacity were reached the rate of increase in tourist numbers would decline
(Butler, 2006).
FIGURE 2.1: HYPOTHETICAL EVOLUTION OF A TOURIST AREA
Num
ber
of T
ouris
t
Time
Adapted from Butler (1980)
According to Johnson and Snepenger (2006), the TALC model was
conceptually longitudinal, implicitly demanding any study of tourism dynamics
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to view changes over time (Butler, 1980). All the tourism impacts evident in any
communities were best viewed within a longitudinal context. For this study, it
was linked to Doxeys Irridex model to discuss the residents attitudes and
acceptance in relation to the level of tourism development.
Nevertheless, the TALC model was one of the most controversial areas of
tourism knowledge, since the tourism development varied in different
situations and locations, at different scales with different capacity issues, and
through different approaches (Butler, 2006). It was the reason why Butler
(1980) stated that not all the tourist area moved directly into a higher level. It
was also found that the resident groups applied in the TALC and Doxeys
Irridex models contained a sense of homogeneity (Mason and Cheyne, 2000).
Although the TALC model was proved by some researchers (Getz, 1994;
Agarwhal, 1997), arguments were still raised. The study by Brougham and
Butler (1981) challenged the homogenous characteristic and reported
heterogeneous responses from the community. It was still a lack of empirical
supports or appropriate evidences for the universal applicability of TALC
model.
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2.1.3. Social Exchange Theory
The local populations perceptions and attitudes could dictate the extent of the
host communitys acceptability of tourism and thus its support (Andriotis, 2005).
Bearing this in mind, Social Exchange Theory has been considered as a more
appropriate theoretical framework in studying this tourism-community
relationship. It described residents perceptions and attitudes, for both positive
and negative, in relation to the tourism impacts from development (Ap, 2002;
McGehee and Andereck, 2004; Andriotis, 2005). Ap (1992) asserted that
residents evaluated tourism in terms of social exchange, that is, evaluate it in
terms of expected benefits and costs obtained in return for the services they
supply (p670). Specifically, the higher or more balanced the tangible or
intangible resources exchanged, the more positively the tourism impacts were
viewed by residents. Hence, the residents were keen to support further tourism
development as to exchange beneficial for their well-being. Conversely, when
the unbalanced resource exchange emerged, the exchange and tourism
impacts were viewed as problematic and thus opposed to tourism
development. The situation was illustrated in Figure 2.2.
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FIGURE 2.2: RESIDENTS WILLINGNESS TOWARD FURTHER TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
Local
Residents
Support for further tourism development
Restrictions to further tourism development
Indicates increased benefits from tourism development
Indicates decreased benefits from tourism development
Adapted from Andriotis (2005)
According to the study of communities in Colorado by Perdue, Long and Allen
(1990), it found that personal benefits were closely related to perceived
tourism impacts. The resident attitudes were formulated by the combination of
the perceptions of the economic, social and environmental impacts.
This sociological theory concerned the understanding of material, social or
psychological trade-offs between individuals and groups in an interaction
situation. It assumed that the social relations involved the trading and sharing
of resources among parties seeking mutual benefit from the exchange
relationship (Ap, 1992). Nevertheless, some researchers assumed that the
tourism development comes with economic benefits in exchange for social
and environmental impacts (Harrill, 2004).
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Refer to the study of Virginia (Jurowski, Uysal and Williams, 1997), it found
that the strongest effect of the economic gain variable was on social and little
environmental impact variables. In the tourism context, Social Exchange
Theory referred to the gains and losses made as a result of residents
acceptance of tourists and tourist behaviors, and tourism related local changes
in the socio-economic, cultural, political and environmental conditions (Nepal,
2008, p46,47).
2.2. Relationships between Independent Variables and Resident
Attitudes
In the past few decades, local communities perceptions and attitude towards
tourism development had increasingly aroused interests from academicians,
policy makers and tourism industry managers (Zamani-Farahani and Musa,
2008). Other than the mentioned models and theories, based on Lankford and
Howardss study (1994), Nepal (2008) stated that empirical studies suggest
that significant variations in community attitudes and responses to tourism
development exist, and are influenced by a multitude of variables (p47) shown
in Table 2.2.
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TABLE 2.2: FACTORS IDENTIFIED AND TESTED BY VARIOUS RESEARCHERS AS EXPLANATIONS OF RESIDENTS ATTITUDES TOWARDS TOURISM
Factor Studies Degree or stage of the host
destination development
Doxey (1975); Allen et al. (1988); Johnson, Snepenger and Akis (1994); Gilbert and
Clark (1997); Manson and Cheyne (2000); Andriotis and Vaughan (2003)
Economic and/or employment
dependency in tourism
Brougham and Butler (1981); Murphy (1981, 1983); Sheldon and Var (1984); Lankford
and Howard (1994); Mason and Cheyne (2000); Andriotis and Vaughan (2003);
Length of residency Pizam (1978); Sheldon and Var (1984); Liu and Var (1986); Allen et al. (1988); Snaith
and Haley (1999); Jackson and Inbakaran (2006)
Community attachment, community
satisfaction and community concerns
Brougham and Butler (1981); McCool and Martin (1994); Getz (1994); Jurowski et al.
(1997); Ko and Steward (2002); Harrill and Potts (2003); Napal, (2008)
Seasonality Sheldon and Var (1984); Andriotis and Vaughan (2003)
Gender Milman and Pizam (1988); Mason and Cheyne (2000); Harrill and Potts (2003) Age Brougham and Butler (1981)
Education Andriotis and Vaughan (2003)
Note: Only included those had empirical contributions to particular factors.
As the characteristics of communities varied in different destinations, the
influential levels of these variables were different. In this study, the factors
influencing resident attitudes could be grouped under six headings and
discussed in the following parts.
2.2.1. Economic Dependency
Ryan and Cooper (2002) asserted that direct economic dependency in the
tourism context was the single most important factor affecting views, based
on the study of Mason and Cheyne (2000). Many studies had found that local
residents who were economically dependent on tourism tended to have more
positive attitudes and favor tourist activities (Pizam, 1978; Brougham and
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Butler, 1981; Lankford and Howard, 1994; Gilbert and Clark, 1997; Harrill,
2004). The studies revealed that residents concerning their personal benefits
commonly focused attention on how much economic advantages they could
gain, such as the local employment opportunities and economic diversity.
Surprisingly, some contradictory studies were demonstrated. Teye, Sonmex
and Sirakayas study of Ghana, Africa (2002) received a different point of the
common findings, it found that the tourism-reliant residents and their family
presented negative attitudes towards tourism. In addition, some researchers
found that no significant differentiation was on the relationship between
economic dependence and residents attitudes of tourism development (Liu
and Var, 1986; Cavus and Tanrsievdi, 2003).
2.2.2. Socio-demographics
According to Faulkner and Tideswell (1997), socio-demographics were defined
in the intrinsic dimension suggesting the heterogeneous nature of the
community and, thus, residents perceptions and attitudes might vary
depending on their own characteristics. Andriotis and Vaughan (2003) argued
that these intrinsic socio-demographic variables, including gender, age,
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education and income level, had varied influences on residents attitudes
toward tourism. The major studies regarding socio-demographic variables had
been focused on the length of residence rather than other variables (Liu and
Var, 1986; Jackson and Inbakaran, 2006). However, some researches
reported that older residents had less positive attitudes about tourism
(Brougham and Butler, 1981). Also, it found that the female residents were
more opposed to tourism development than the males (Mason and Cheyne,
2000; Harrill and Potts, 2003).
2.2.3. Community Attachment
Community attachment, an important intrinsic factor other than economic
dependency, had been defined as the extent and pattern of social
participation and integration into community life, and sentiment or affect toward
the community (McCool and Martin, 1994, p30). In the tourism context, the
correlation between community attachment and length of residence had been
proved and, hence, stated the reason why the researchers often used the
length of residence alone as a measure of community attachment (Brougham
and Butler, 1981; Jurowski et al., 1997; Napal, 2008).
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In addition, many researches proved the consistent relationship between the
length of residence and the residents attitudes (Lankford and Howard, 1994;
Snaith and Haley, 1999), and asserted that the longer residents had lived in
the community, the more likely they were to have negative attitudes towards
tourism development (Jackson and Inbakaran, 2006, p358). With the
correlation of the residence length, however, the community attachment and
residents attitudes towards tourism were reported to be negatively correlated
(Harrill, 2004; Nepal, 2008).
Contradictorily, referred to Harrill and Potts (2003) and Vesey and Dimanche
(2000), the researchers reported the contrast between their findings although
they had the same survey instrument (Lankford and Howards 1994 Tourism
Impact Attitude Scale). As a consequence, the exact correlation between the
community attachment and the residents attitudes towards tourism varied
from different communities and should subject to conditions.
2.2.4. Community Satisfaction
Apart from the mentioned variables influencing attitudes, past study had
examined the correlation between community satisfaction and tourism
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attitudes (Ko and Steward, 2002; Nepal, 2008). Getzs study of Spey Valley
(1994) found that residents tended to have negative tourism attitudes when the
depressed local economy and poor performance of tourism industry occurred.
Residents tended to hold unfavorable attitudes and oppose tourism when the
recreation services and opportunities were diminished, and vice versa
(Lankford, Chen and Chen, 1994). Consequently, it was important to satisfy
not only tourists but also community, in order to gain acceptance and support
from the community for the successful and effective development of tourism.
2.2.5. Community Concerns
According to Nepal (2008), community concerns about tourisms negative
impacts also influence resident attitudes (p48). Resident attitudes were
influenced by the spatial factors which involved the physical distance between
residents and tourists. The past researchers asserted that the closer the
residents lived to the tourism core area, the more negative their perception of
tourism were (Gursoy and Jurowski, 2002; Harrill and Potts, 2003). In addition,
the host-to-guest ratio was considered. The study of Sheldon and Var (1984)
reported that negative perceptions increased when the ratio increased. It might
be related to the residents fear of the reducing ability to use the recreation
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area if visitors increased.
According to Nepals study of Central British Columbia, Canada (2008), other
concerns would be increased cost of outdoor recreation and living, negative
impacts from tourism infrastructure, degradation of the natural environment
and declining aesthetic quality. Nevertheless, community was defined as
heterogeneous group and, thus the site-specific conditions were considered as
the most important factors influencing resident attitudes.
2.2.6. Seasonality
Seasonality was defined as an extrinsic factor which affected residents
perceptions and attitudes, having a common impact on a community as a
whole (Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003). Sheldon and Vars study of North Wales
(1984) argued that the seasonal fluctuation in tourism demand was one of the
main reasons for residents negative or positive attitudes towards tourism
impacts. Residents tended to have more positive attitudes towards tourism
during the low season period.
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2.3. Effects of Tourism Impacts on Resident Attitudes
Tourism is significant to destinations because of its enormous impacts on
peoples lives and on the places in which they live (Hall, 2000, p1). Hence,
tourism gave rise of different benefits and costs in various aspects. Murphy
(1985) identified that perceptions and attitudes of residents were influenced by
the perceived tourism impacts, mainly categorizing in economic, social and
environmental. Nevertheless, some scholars argued that those impacts
cannot easily be categorized solely social, environmental or economic, but
tend to have several inter-related dimensions (Mason, 2003, p28). Those
identified tourism impacts were also considered as the endogenous variables
intervening the resident support for tourism (Jurowski et al., 1997). Refer to the
aforementioned models and theories, several items of benefits and costs
deriving form the previous researchers would be introduced.
2.3.1. Economic Impacts
Most studies on the impacts of tourism development concluded that resident
attitudes were related to the economic activity level within the region (Johnson,
Snepenger and Akis, 1994; Tosun, 2002). Other researches found that the
significant correlation between resident attitudes and measures of economic
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benefits and costs was associated with tourism (Milman and Pizam, 1988;
Perdue et al., 1990; Lankford and Howard, 1994). Furthermore, according to
Lankford and Howard (1994) and Jurowski et al. (1997), it was suggested that
most residents deemed tourism as an economic development strategy,
especially when the communities were not satisfied with the current situation,
such as experiencing economic downturns (Sheldon and Var, 1984; Liu and
Var, 1986; Perdue et al., 1990).
Mathieson and Wall (1986) asserted that the potential gain and enhancement
in the local economies was often brought by the tourism industry. Tourism
provided opportunities for wealth redistribution and economic development
(ESCAP, 2007, p14). Other beneficial economic activities included the
generation of jobs, the increasing foreign exchange at the national level and
the increasing opportunities for entrepreneurial activities (Sheldon and Var,
1984; Milman and Pizam, 1988; Lankford and Howard, 1994; Jurowski et al.,
1997; Lindberg and Johnson, 1997; Gursoy, Jurowski and Uysal, 2002).
Alternatively, tourism could generate economic costs, such as higher cost of
living leading to inflation within the region and higher proportions of imports
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because of demonstration effect (Liu and Var, 1986; Akis, Peristianis and
Warner, 1996; Gilbert and Clark, 1997; Lindberg and Johnson, 1997).
2.3.2. Social Impacts
In spite of the economic benefits, tourism development changed the society
(Murphy, 1985) and induced influences on the host communities. Dogan (1989)
claimed that tourism and thus the presence of tourists would change the
socio-cultural structure and previous homogeneity of communities when
contacted with other people. In the last two decades, with the advocacy of
sustainability, increasing studies concerning the social impacts were
conducted although most of the early studies concentrated on analyzing the
economic effects of tourism development.
The researches concluded that communities favored tourism development
when it positively affected the quality of life and the community development
(Milman and Pizam, 1988; Perdue et al., 1990; Akis et al., 1996). The
community development favored by residents included the increasing
recreation opportunities (Liu and Var, 1986; Perdue et al., 1990; Akis et al.,
1996) and improving condition of public facilities (Sheldon and Var, 1984).
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Furthermore, as tourists often desired to experience the host communities
cultures, tourism could affirm the particular cultures and lead to community
prides (Milman and Pizam, 1988; Lindberg and Johnson, 1997).
Nevertheless, referred to Akis et al. (1996), several perceived social costs from
tourism should be realized rather than initially overlooked or excessively
discounted. The negative social consequences included traffic congestion
(Sheldon and Var, 1984; Liu and Var, 1986; Lindberg and Johnson, 1997),
increasing crime rate (Perdue et al., 1990; Mok, Slater and Cheung, 1991;
Tosun, 2002), and overcrowding of public facilities (Lindberg and Johnson,
1997).
2.3.3. Environmental Impacts
Tourism had been seen as a major cause of environmental damage to the
environment rather than a force for enhancement and protection (Mason,
2003, p53). Mathieson and Wall (1986) defined environmental impacts as the
effects brought by tourism on the elements of both natural and built
environments. However, tourism could stimulate measures to protect
landscapes and wildlife, especially in the form of recently raised ecotourism. In
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a recent study by Holden and Ewen (2002), it found that if there was more
preparation for the tourists, it could be far less damage to the environment.
In the tourism context, some researches reported that residents tended to
concern with environmental adverse impacts, including litter and ecological
degradation (Liu, Sheldon and Var, 1987), noise and property destruction,
quality of the natural environment (Lankford and Howard, 1994).
Furthermore, according to Murphy (1981) and Lindberg and Johnson (1997),
tourism could not only contribute to but also detract from an aesthetically
pleasing environment. Consequently, local residents deemed that the
environmental protection was more important than the economic benefits
tourism brought, (Liu and Var, 1986; Jurowski et al., 1997) along with the
proper tourism planning and management.
2.3.4. Path Analytic Model
The study of Jurowski et al. (1997) developed the Path Analytic Model, which
was fundamentally based on the theoretical basis in Social Exchange Theory.
It clarified and reviewed the theoretical interrelationships of and the nature of
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interplaying elements that affected the community support for the tourism
development.
It revealed that there were four perceived exogenous variables, including
economic gain, resource use, community attachment and ecocentric attitudes,
directly and indirectly affected the residents perception and evaluation on the
tourism impacts, the influencing endogenous variables (Jurowski et al., 1997).
Therefore, for examples, positive community support for tourism would be
seen when the potential of economic gain came along; and the satisfied
community resource users, residents as well as tourists, believed that the
tourism development would finally benefit the economic and social aspects
within the region. In addition, as previously mentioned, the degree of
community attachment would influence the residents perception and therefore
the evaluation towards the tourism impacts. According to Jurowski et al.(1997),
the direct influence of ecocentric attitudes would be small but positive.
Consequently, the residents tourism-related perception would be an outcome
of assessing benefits and costs, thus their fundamental values obviously
influenced their evaluation of such tourism impacts.
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2.4. Community Involvement
To achieve sustainable tourism development, various stakeholders (the public
sector, tourism industry, voluntary sector, host community, media and tourists)
were included. Host community was defined as all those people living within a
tourist destination (Swarbrooke, 1999). As mentioned before, tourism
happened within communities reacting with the local residents (Blank, 1989).
Hence, the involvement of local residents is often regarded as the key to
sustainable development yet these same residents are expected to be part of
the tourism product and to share the benefits as well as they will inevitably
share the costs (Taylor, 1995, p487).
FIGURE 2.3: PARTNERSHIP MODEL OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
New Trend of Sustainable Tourism
Old Style of Sustainable Tourism
Adapted from UNWTO (1993) and Swarbrook (1999)
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Figure 2.3 showed the idea of partnership presenting the new trend towards
sustainable tourism development. It explained in such a new trend, community
was no longer just reacting with specific single element (in the form of old style
of sustainable tourism). It was now inter-related with the tourism industry and
environmental supports and precedent to other several stakeholders,
presenting the new trend of concerning more about the environment and
community.
The rationale of community involvement was to ensure better quality of tourism
development or less conflicts between hosts and guests by keeping
democracy, giving voice to community, making use of local knowledge and
shaping the way in which tourism developed (Swarbrooke, 1999).
Therefore, investigating residents perceptions and attitudes could help to
indirectly determine which extent of involvement they were willing to pay for
the sustainable tourism development.
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Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY
Veal (1992) and Jennings (2001) argued that quantitative method was more
objective and representative of the real world than the qualitative one.
Moreover, the result might present biases if using qualitative method to
conduct interview with several Lamma residents. As this study aimed at
examining the overall perceptions and attitudes of Lamma Island instead of
attitudes from one or several residents, so, quantitative method was more
appropriate to collect primary data in forms of conducting survey. Quantitative
method ensured that precise, statistical and up-to-dated data could be
collected from the local community
3.1. Research Instrument
The survey was accomplished using a questionnaire for primary research. The
questionnaire was adapted from Andriotis and Vaughan (2003). The
questionnaire was originally developed for Crete, a Greek Island. Both Crete
and the study area were islands and did not have long history of tourism, both
of which were less than 50 years, therefore, the questionnaire was chosen for
the study of Lamma Island.
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The questionnaire tested the degree of perceptions and attitudes of residents
on tourism impacts. In addition, it was modified to enhance the validity for
suiting the case. Besides of the English version, the research instrument was
then translated into Chinese, which was supported by the advice of a
university graduate major in translation studies. Pilot test had to be conducted
as approving the validity and accuracy of the Chinese translation (also see in
Appendix 1 and 2).
3.1.1. Design of the Questionnaire
The questionnaire used for the survey comprised two parts.
Part 1: Tourism Attitude Statements
The questionnaire contained 26 statements concerning the economic, social
and environmental impacts of tourism. Seven statements used in the analysis
were developed to assess residents attitudes of the social impacts of tourism,
12 statements dealt with the economic implication and 5 statements dealt with
the environmental impacts. Two final statements sought to provide information
on the overall opinion of tourism by the respondents.
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The respondents were asked to rate the degree of the agreement with the
statements, posing in negative and positive voices. The statement utilized the
5-point Likert-type scale, representing a continuum from a value of 1 as
strongly disagree to a value of 5 as strongly agree. Disagree, neutral and
agree were aggregated between two distinctive categories for analysis
purpose.
Part 2: Socio-demographic Characteristics
Nine nominal scale questions were set to concentrate the demographic
information of respondents. The respondents were asked about gender, age,
length of residence in Lamma Island, education level, tourism-related
employment reliance and income level. Property ownership, existence of
resident relatives on the island and frequency of using tourist facilities were
also asked for the further analysis. The place of residence would not be asked
in the study since all the respondents were supposed to live in Lamma Island.
3.2. Sampling
The chosen sample referred to the population of Lamma Islands residents
aged 20 or over, who were presumed to be sensitive enough to the effects
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brought by tourism. According to the governments publication (C&SD, 2006),
the population size of citizens aged 20 or above was about four thousand.
Given high sampling ratio, applying quantitative method in such a small
population size made the study more representative and reliable than applying
in a large population size.
In this study, convenience sampling was applied as it was commonly applied in
examining residents attitudes. Although it was the least desirable in and
neither purposeful nor strategic sampling methods (Patton, 1990; Jennings,
2001), the convenience sampling was one of the few mere methods enabling
quick data collection.
3.3. Data Collection
As Nepal (2008, p50) mentioned that given the small size of the community, a
face-to-face questionnaire interview was deemed more appropriate which is
typical of most resident attitude research. This research involved face-to-face
interviews with conveniently selected residents from Lamma Island in order to
ensure the accuracy by reducing misinterpretation of the statements in the
questionnaire.
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The interviews were conducted at Lamma Island and the Central Pier 4 area.
This survey was personally administered between 9:30am and 4:30pm on 17th
and 19th February 2009 at Yung Shue Wan and Sok Kwu Wan respectively.
The two places were chosen since they were the most outsider-visited places
on the island compared to the other area. Before the noon time, the researcher
stayed at the arrival area and interviewed the Lamma residents who had just
got off ferries. In the afternoon, as residents in Lamma prefer staying in
restaurants and shops, the researcher interviewed the local residents at shops
and restaurants along the main streets on Lamma Island.
Each interview took about 10 minutes to finish and a total of 61 unnamed
questionnaires were completed and used for analysis. The three incomplete
questionnaires would become invalid because of the missing data in the main
analyzing context. As a result, a 95.3% overall response rate was achieved.
3.4. Data Analysis
The responses to the attitudinal statements were analyzed by employing
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Nine
aforementioned socio-demographic factors were used as independent
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variables and the 26 Likert five-point scale statements as the dependent
variables.
All the independent variables were analyzed by descriptive method to briefly
showed respondents socio-demographic backgrounds. On other hand, all the
26 attitudinal statements were precisely listed and ranked with their mean
scores and standard deviations. It aimed to identify which statements and
which dimension of tourism impacts respondents voted most agreement.
Furthermore, independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests were used to
determine any significant differences, different levels of agreement, with
respect to the dependent variable between respondents by particular
socio-demographic variables. It could help to identify which independent
variable had the strongest varying effect in the respondents responses on the
statements.
3.5. Limitations of the Research
Although the primary data was collected for specific purposes of the
researchers current study, several limitations in this research methodology
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should be noted. The main limitation was its resource-expensive nature
(Jennings, 2001), especially in regard to personnel, time and finances. As a
consequence, with the reason of the islands small physical and population
size, a comparatively small sample sizes was involved. Hence, those primary
data might not enable the researcher to reflect the real focus of this study, due
to the misunderstanding, biases and refusal of expressing particular opinions
in conducting questionnaires by small amount of local residents.
Second, due to the restrictions of quantitative technique, information collected
was limited and, thus, not all the detail attributes including in the
aforementioned three main kinds of impacts could be investigated.
Last but not least, Crete, the questionnaire originally developed for, was an
urban area which partially differed to the Lamma Island, although both of them
were islands. The survey was conducted in the more developed areas on the
island (Yung Shue Wan and Sok Kwu Wan). Thus, the questionnaire only
collected opinions of local residents living in relatively urban areas, but
regardless the opinions of residents living in rural areas of Lamma Island. The
results might present biases since the survey was conducted in specific area
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rather than the entire island. Accordingly, the data interpretation should be
made under special attention.
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Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.1. Respondent Profile
The socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents were concluded in
Table 4.1. It briefly introduced respondents socio-demographic background.
Of the 61 respondents, 54 % were male and 46 percent female. The majority
were in the age group between 30 and 39 years old with 33%, followed by the
40 to 49 age group (30%). Education levels were also evenly distributed
except the group having secondary education from secondary one to five
(15%). 28% of respondents had advanced secondary education from
secondary six to seven and another 28% possessed university- or tertiary-level
education, while 30 % achieved primary education or less.
More than half of the respondents had residence on Lamma Island less than
20 years, with only 18% lived in the area over 20 years. 43% of respondents or
their family members were employed in the tourism sector while another 57%
respondents were not reliant to the tourism sector. The majority of respondents
(38%) had a monthly income between HK$3,001 and 6,000 while 33% had an
income less than HK$3,000, and 23% had an income between HK$6,001 and
9,000; only 7% could earn HK$9,001 to 12,000 monthly.
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TABLE 4.1: SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE
N=61 Sample %
Gender
Male 33 54
Female 28 46
Age (years)
20 to 29 7 12
30 to 39 20 33
40 to 49 18 30
50 to 59 10 16
Older than 59 6 10
Education Level
Primary education or less 18 30
Secondary education (secondary 1 to 5) 9 15
Advanced secondary education (secondary 6 to 7) 17 28
University or tertiary education 17 28
Length of Residence (years)
1 to 10 27 44
11 to 20 23 38
21 to 30 9 15
31 to 40 2 3
Employment Reliance on Tourism
Non-reliant 35 57
Reliant 26 43
Income Level (Hong Kong Dollars)
$3,000 or below 20 33
$3,001 to $6,000 23 38
$6,001 to $9,000 14 23
$9,001 to $12,000 4 7
Note: Percentages (column) do not always total 100% due to rounding.
4.2. Attitudinal Statement Assessment
Regarding to the residents overall attitudes, the researcher would discuss the
results in social, economic and environmental dimensions. The intervening
statements were tested with all socio-demographic variables to reveal any
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meaningful or interesting findings.
4.2.1. Overall Residents Perceptions & Attitudes
The results in relation to the responses to the 26 attitudinal statements were
shown in Table 4.2. For all the statements, the Likert scale ranged from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), with a midpoint of 3. There was an
assumption that all statements indicated positive expression. It meant that all
negative views (disagreement) lied between 1 and 3, while all the positive
views (agreement) lied between 3 and 5. Referred to Table 4.2, the responses
(mean) mainly concentrated within 2 and 4.
The values of standard deviations (SD) were in a moderate range between 0.6
and 1.3. It indicated the consensus among Lamma residents attitudes towards
tourism. The central tendency might be another reason of such moderate
ranged standard deviation. It was occurred due to the respondents tended not
to be willing to provide responses at the extreme ends of the scales. For the
further investigation of the resident attitudes in social, economic and
environmental dimensions, average mean scores (shown in Table 4.2) were
found to ensure the same basis of comparison for each dimension.
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TABLE 4.2: OVERALL RESPONSES TO TOURISM STATEMENTS
Statements Mean SD
I. Social Impacts Mean = 3.31 1. Tourism encourages a variety of cultural activities by the local population (e.g., crafts, arts). 3.10 .851
2. Tourism has led to an increase of infrastructure for local people. 4.20 .726
3. The money that tourism brings in is of benefit to the whole community. 3.23 .783
4. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to your family. 3.13 1.087
5. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the social life. 3.03 1.154
6. Our household standard of living is higher because of the money that tourists spend on
Lamma Island.
3.64 .857
7. Tourism gives benefits to most people on Lamma Island. 2.84 1.214
II. Economic Impacts Mean = 3.18
8. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Lamma Islands economy. 4.13 .618
9. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Hong Kong government income. 3.57 .763
10. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to employment. 3.33 1.106
11. Tourism attracts more spending on Lamma Island. 3.54 .886
12. Tourism attracts more investment on Lamma Island. 3.21 1.156
13. There should be no government incentives for tourism development. 2.87 .903
14. Prices of many goods and services on Lamma Island have increased because of tourism. 3.92 .823
15. Nonresidents should be allowed to develop tourism attractions on Lamma Island. 3.15 .833
16. Most of the money earned from tourism ends up going to business owned Lamma Islanders. 3.21 1.112
17. Non- Lamma Islander-owned businesses are beneficial for the regions tourist industry. 2.54 1.272
18. There should be a special tax on tourists. 2.39 1.187
19. Tourism creates more jobs for local people than for foreigners on Lamma Island. 2.34 1.063
III. Environmental Impacts Mean = 3.18
20. This community should control tourism development. 3.49 .924
21. Tourism provides an incentive for the restoration of historical buildings. 3.66 1.153
22.The construction of hotels and other tourist facilities has benefited the natural environment on
Lamma Island.
3.72 1.157
23. Tourism provides an incentive for the conservation of natural resources. 2.07 .946
24. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the environment. 2.95 .939
IV. Overall Impacts
25. Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to the people of Lamma Island. 3.46 .765
26. Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to Hong Kong as a whole. 3.02 .866
Note: For all the statements, the Likert scale ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
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TABLE 4.3: RANKING OF LIKERT SCALE RESIDENT ATTITUDINAL STATEMENTS
Ranking Statement Dimension Mean
1 Tourism has led to an increase of infrastructure for local people. Social 4.20
2 The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Lamma Islands economy. Economic 4.13
3 Prices of many goods and services on Lamma Island have increased because of tourism. Economic 3.92
4 The construction of hotels and other tourist facilities has benefited the natural environment on
Lamma Island. Environmental 3.72
5 Tourism provides an incentive for the restoration of historical buildings. Environmental 3.66
6 Our household standard of living is higher because of the money that tourists spend on
Lamma Island. Social 3.64
7 The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Hong Kong government income. Economic 3.57
8 Tourism attracts more spending on Lamma Island. Economic 3.54
9 This community should control tourism development. Environmental 3.49
10 Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to the people of Lamma Island. Overall 3.46
11 The impacts of tourism are advantageous to employment. Economic 3.33
12 The money that tourism brings in is of benefit to the whole community. Social 3.23
13 Most of the money earned from tourism ends up going to business owned Lamma Islanders. Economic 3.21
13 Tourism attracts more investment on Lamma Island. Economic 3.21
15 Nonresidents should be allowed to develop tourism attractions on Lamma Island. Economic 3.15
16 The impacts of tourism are advantageous to your family. Social 3.13
17 Tourism encourages a variety of cultural activities by the local population (e.g., crafts, arts). Social 3.10
18 The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the social life. Social 3.03
19 Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to Hong Kong as a whole. Overall 3.02
20 The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the environment. Environmental 2.95
21 There should be no government incentives for tourism development. Economic 2.87
22 Tourism gives benefits to most people on Lamma Island. Social 2.84
23 Non- Lamma Islander-owned businesses are beneficial for the regions tourist industry. Economic 2.54
24 There should be a special tax on tourists. Economic 2.39
25 Tourism creates more jobs for local people than for foreigners on Lamma Island. Economic 2.34
26 Tourism provides an incentive for the conservation of natural resources. Environmental 2.07
Note: Means based on a 5-point scale: 1= strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neutral, 4= agree, 5= strongly agree.
Regarding to Table 4.3, for the two separated single statements concerning the
overall opinions to Lamma Island and the whole Hong Kong by the local
residents, the statement overall, the benefits of tourism area greater than the
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costs to the people of Lamma Island reported the mean score of 3.46, ranking
10th among all statements. Its mean score was higher than the statement
concerning the overall view towards tourism development in the whole Hong
Kong (ranked 19 with mean score of 3.02). Therefore, it concluded that
Lamma residents perceived the tourism trade-offs of benefits and costs on the
island better than the one of Hong Kong as a whole.
Furthermore, Table 4.3 showed that the 19 out of the 26 statements (73%) had
a value higher than 3, suggesting these 19 statements are in agreement region.
It revealed that the residents have positive views of tourism development on
Lamma Island. The attitudes regarded to particular dimension were reported in
the followings.
4.2.1.1. Perceptions and Attitudes on Social Impacts of Tourism
According to Table 4.2, almost all the social attitudinal statements showed the
residents positive views by presenting the mean scores slightly higher than the
midpoint, although only one statement tourism gives benefits to most people
on Lamma Island showed the negative view (mean= 2.84). The possible
explanation of it was that the majority of respondents income levels were not
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more than HK$6,000. It meant residents might believe the existence of uneven
economic distribution in the area. The average mean score of social dimension
(3.31) was the highest among the three tourism impacting dimensions, so it
suggested that the Lamma residents had favorable views on the social impacts
of tourism.
Besides, there was a statement presenting strongest agreement on the
attitudinal statement concerning social impacts of tourism, with mean score
higher than 4 (see Table 4.3). The statement tourism has led to an increase of
infrastructure for local people was ranked number 1, rating the highest among
all 26 attitudinal statements with the mean score of 4.20. It meant that the
residents favored tourism development in the area since they strongly agreed
tourism could benefit the community in terms of its infrastructure coming along.
4.2.1.2. Perceptions and Attitudes on Economic Impacts of Tourism
Refer to Table 4.3, the second highest rated statement the impacts of tourism
are advantages to Lamma Islands economy (mean= 4.13) and the third
highest rated statement 'prices of many goods and services on Lamma Island
have increased because of tourism (mean= 3.92) were to evaluate economic
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dimension which was influenced by tourism development. The results revealed
that the residents hold positive attitudes because they believed tourism could
benefit their community as they could earn more by charging higher and it
would benefit to the local economy.
On other hand, the statement tourism creates more jobs for local people than
for foreigners on Lamma Island was ranked the lowest in the economic
dimension (mean= 2.34). As shown in Table 4.3, among the 7 statements that
rated below 3, there were 4 statements concerning economic aspect. It
reflected that local residents perceived the tourism brought economic benefits
and employment would be leaked out to the non-islanders and foreigners
although they might benefit to the tourism development. Surprisingly, residents
opposed the special tax on tourists even though it assumed that it could
provide quick financial return on the community. It might be because they
believed it would harm the communitys economic development if the special
tax was established.
However, generally, it concluded that the respondents hold positive rather than
negative views on the economic dimension since the 8 out of 12 economic
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attitudinal statements showed the means over the midpoint of 3 and the
average mean score was 3.18 (see Table 4.2), determining the overall
favorable attitudes of local residents.
4.2.1.3. Perceptions and Attitudes on Environmental Impacts of Tourism
Among the five environmental attitudinal statements, three were rated over the
midpoint and the rest were scored below the midpoint (refer to Table 4.2).
Besides, with the average mean score of 3.18 (see Table 4.2), the Lamma
residents perceived tourism impacts positively in respect of environmental
context. Among the 5 statements focusing on environmental dimension, the
statements the construction of hotels and other tourist facilities has benefited
the natural environment on Lamma Island and tourism provides an incentive
for the restoration of historical buildings were rated higher the midpoint which
were tended to 4, with the mean scores of 3.72 and 3.66 respectively. It
reflected the residents thought tourism could benefit the physical appeal of the
area in terms of buildings appearance.
However, it was interesting that the statement tourism provides an incentive
for the conservation of natural resources was ranked the last among all
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statements with the lowest mean score of 2.07. It might be due to the local
residents did not think the tourism could help conserving the natural resources
of the island. Perhaps, the recent ecotourism project Green Lamma Green
was not well-promoted to or recognized by the locals.
4.2.2. Community Attachment
The community attachment, which was defined as an important intrinsic factor
in the previous chapter, might influnce the resident attitudes towards tourism.
Three socio-demographic items were identified in relation to community
attachment shown in Table 4.4.
TABLE 4.4: INDICATORS OF RESIDENT ATTACHMENT TO THE COMMUNITY
Item N=61 Sample % Statistical Calculation
Length of Residence (years) Allocation for Weighted Scores:
1-10 yrs=1, 11-20 yrs=2,
21-30 yrs=3, 31-40 yrs=4,
and 40 yrs=5
1 to 10 27 44
11 to 20 23 38
21 to 30 9 15
31 to 40 2 3
More than 40 0 0
Property Ownership Allocation for Weighted Scores:
Rent=1, Own=2 Rent 25 41
Own 36 59
Resident Relatives Allocation for Weighted Scores:
None=1, Having Relatives=2
None on the island 31 51
Having residents on the island 30 49
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In addition to the length of residence disscussed before in the respondent
profile (refer to Table 4.1), Table 4.4 concluded that 59% of respondents
owned properties on the island and the rest (41%) rented houses or stores for
living. 49% had resident relatives on Lamma Island and 51% did not have any.
To measure the community attachment, weighted score was calculated by the
method used in Nepals (2008) study of Central British Columbia. Responses
to three items (shown in Table 4.3) were combined and the total score was
divided by three to calculate the weighted scores. Hence, the minimum and
maximum weighted scores were 1 and 3 respectively.
FIGURE 4.1: LEVELS OF COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT
Note: Low level= weighted score 1 to 1.66, moderate level= weighted
score 1.67 to 2.33, and high level= 2.34 to 3.
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Afterwards, based on the weighted scores, three level of community
attachment (see Figure 4.1) were classified into groups of low level (72%),
moderate level (26%) and high level (2%). The mean score of the three levels
of community attachment was 1.60 with standard deviation of 0.39. The mean
score and the distribution of the three groups indicated that the Lamma
residents were classified to low attachment to their community.
There were 19 out of 26 resident attitudinal statements (73%) had a value
higher than the identified midpoint of 3 (refer to Table 4.3). Therefore, in
respect of the above mentioned socio-demographic variables, the findings
could be interpreted that the lower community attachment of the residents was
the more favorable towards tourism impacts.
4.2.3. Differences by Respondents Socio-demographics
In this part, the researcher showed all the differences in residents votes of
attitudinal statements in respect of nine independent socio-demographic
variables. It was considered that the significant differences existed when the
values were equal or smaller than 0.05. Hence, the smaller the value of
significance had the most significant differentiation.
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4.2.3.1. Differences by Income Level
Income level of residents was important as a discriminator of attitudes towards
tourism development. From the results of ANOVA test (shown in Table 4.5), 16
out of 26 statements (62%) presented significant variations. In the table, the
income level showed the strongest varying effects especially on the economic
aspect by presenting 9 significant figures and also 4 to the social attitudinal
statements.
The findings reflected that respondents with different income level had different
attitudes towards tourism development on Lamma Island. Taking the statement
the impacts of tourism are advantageous to employment (concerning the
economic dimension) as an example, residents with income HK$6,001 to
9,000 rated this statement the highest (mean= 4.36), but the group with
income HK$3,001 to 6,000 rated this statement the lowest with the mean score
of 2.70. It was not difficult to understand that residents with different income
level might have various values, especially on the economic context. For
example, they would have different expectation in which tourism could benefit
to them.
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TABLE 4.5: MEAN SCORES AND ANOVA TEST FOR RESIDENTS INCOME LEVEL
Income Level (Mean)
F ratio
Statement 1 2 3 4 Sig.
I. Social Impacts
1. Tourism encourages a variety of cultural activities by the local population
(e.g., crafts, arts).
3.15 3.00 3.14 3.25 .175 .913
2. Tourism has led to an increase of infrastructure for local people. 4.10 4.39 4.21 3.50 1.993 .125
3. The money that tourism brings in is of benefit to the whole community. 3.50 3.04 2.93 4.00 3.631 .018*
4. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to your family. 2.75 2.83 3.93 4.00 5.972 .001**
5. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the social life. 2.80 2.57 4.07 3.25 6.948 .000**
6. Our household standard of living is higher because of the money that tourists
spend on Lamma Island.
3.45 3.48 4.07 4.00 2.133 .106
7. Tourism gives benefits to most people on Lamma Island. 3.90 2.48 2.00 2.50 12.954 .000**
II. Economic Impacts
8. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Lamma Islands economy. 4.15 4.09 4.36 3.50 2.178 .101
9. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Hong Kong government income. 4.00 3.39 3.57 2.50 6.609 .001**
10. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to employment. 3.15 2.70 4.36 4.25 11.747 .000**
11. Tourism attracts more spending on Lamma Island. 3.25 3.43 4.14 3.50 3.330 .026*
12. Tourism attracts more investment on Lamma Island. 3.05 3.26 3.21 3.75 .421 .739
13. There should be no government incentives for tourism development. 2.75 2.83 2.93 3.50 .796 .501
14. Prices of many goods and services on Lamma Island have increased
because of tourism.
3.80 3.70 4.21 4.75 2.924 .042*
15. Nonresidents should be allowed to develop tourism attractions on Lamma
Island.
2.95 2.87 3.71 3.75 4.873 .004**
16. Most of the money earned from tourism ends up going to business owned
Lamma Islanders.
3.30 3.70 2.64 2.00 5.198 .003**
17. Non- Lamma Islander-owned businesses are beneficial for the regions tourist
industry.
3.30 2.26 2.14 1.75 4.335 .008**
18. There should be a special tax on tourists. 1.70 2.74 3.21 1.00 10.215 .000**
19. Tourism creates more jobs for local people than for foreigners on Lamma
Island.
3.00 2.00 2.07 2.00 4.442 .007**
III. Environmental Impacts
20. This community should control tourism development. 3.10 3.43 4.14 3.50 4.091 .011**
21. Tourism provides an incentive for the restoration of historical buildings. 3.60 3.87 3.64 2.75 1.109 .353
22. The construction of hotels and other tourist facilities has benefited the natural
environment on Lamma Island.
4.00 3.35 4.07 3.25 1.920 .137
23. Tourism provides an incentive for the conservation of natural resources. 1.75 2.48 2.00 1.50 2.962 .040*
Continue on next page
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TABLE 4.5: CONTINUED
Income Level (Mean)
Statement 1 2 3 4 F ratio Sig.
III. Environmental Impacts
24. The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the environment. 2.75 3.39 2.43 3.25 4.135 .010**
IV. Overall Impacts
25. Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to the people of
Lamma Island.
3.50 3.39 3.43 3.75 .269 .847
26. Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to Hong Kong as a
whole.
3.10 3.30 2.50 2.75 2.960 .040*
Note: *p 0.05 and **p 0.01. Income level 1: HK$3,000 (N=20), income level 2: HK$3,001- 6,000 (N=23), income level 3:
HK$6,001- 9,000 (N=14), and income level 4: HK$9,001 - 12,000 (N=4).
4.2.3.2. Differences by Employment Reliance
TABLE 4.6: MEANS SCORES AND t-TEST FOR RESIDENTS EMPLOYMENT RELIANCE ON TOURISM
Employment Reliance (Mean)
Statements Non-Reliant Reliant t value Sig.
I. Social Impacts
1. Tourism encourages a variety of cultural activities by the local population (e.g.,
crafts, arts).
3.00 3.23 -1.049 .299
2. Touris