Harvesting Micro-Geographic Heterogeneity to Increase Community Acceptance of Tourism

S. Dolnicar, University of Wollongong
G. Kerr, University of Wollongong
K. Lazarevski, University of Wollongong

Article comments

This paper was originally published as: Dolnicar, S, Kerr, G & Lazarevski, K, Harvesting Micro-Geographic Heterogeneity to Increase Community Acceptance of Tourism, Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) Conference 2007, University of Technology Sydney, Australia, 12–14 February, 2007.

Abstract

Tourism marketing literature has long recognised the importance of residents’ acceptance of tourism if a location’s tourism industry is to be sustainable. This study contributes to this field by challenging the composite or averaging approach often applied by studies of residents in a tourism destination by arguing that there may be important differences of residents’ attitudes within a location. The study focuses on the emerging tourism industry in the City of Wollongong and finds that there are important differences between residents based on the characteristics of micro-communities. It is argued that a greater understanding of the heterogeneity of attitudes towards tourism within these micro-communities will assist destination managers to more efficiently and effectively mange the community acceptance of tourism.