A Comparison of Local Residents' Perceptions Toward Tourism Impacts: The Case of Chengde, A World Heritage Site in China

摘要

Tourism industry has been contributing to the economy and employment worldwide. Nevertheless, numerous environmental and social-cultural problems were found with the development of tourism in many tourist destinations. In fact, understanding the local residents’ perception of tourism impacts is crucial and necessary to the local authority when proposing new tourism development at their tourism destinations. This study aims to compare local residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts in Chengde; a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site in China. A total of 1004 usable questionnaires were collected from residents staying in 14 villages in Chengde. The researchers used t-tests to analyse the differences in the residents’ perceptions of positive and negative impacts of tourism based on their characteristics of either born in Chengde or not born in Chengde and having jobs of either related to tourism or not related to tourism. Based on the findings, residents who were born and not born in Chengde were found to have significantly different perceptions of tourism impacts; such as promoting varieties of cultural activities and boosts of shopping opportunities. Those residents were not born in Chengde agreed more on; tourism development increases the traffic problems; tourism burdens the community and tourism results in an increase in the cost of living. Significant differences were also found when considering the perceived impacts of tourism by the residents whose jobs were related to tourism or not related to tourism.