BSc (Honours) Tourism Management

Transcription

1 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 Month Year April 2009

2 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 SUPERVISOR Dr. Connie Mok In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management. MONTH YEAR April 2009

3 Sheffield Hallam University i 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.

4 Sheffield Hallam University ii 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 Lamma s 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.

5 Sheffield Hallam University iii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES i ii iii v vi Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN LAMMA ISLAND Tourism Project in Recent Years THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 7 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES Doxey s Irridex Model Bulter Destination Life Cycle Model Social Exchange Theory Relationships between Independent Variables and Resident Attitudes Economic Dependency Socio-demographics Community Attachment Community Satisfaction Community Concerns Seasonality EFFECTS OF TOURISM IMPACTS ON RESIDENT ATTITUDES Economic Impacts Social Impacts Environmental Impacts Path Analytic Model COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 29

6 Sheffield Hallam University iv Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY RESEARCH INSTRUMENT Design of the Questionnaire SAMPLING DATA COLLECTION DATA ANALYSIS LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 36 Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS RESPONDENT PROFILE ATTITUDINAL STATEMENT ASSESSMENT Overall Residents Perceptions & Attitudes Perceptions and Attitudes on Social Impacts Perceptions and Attitudes on Economic Impacts Perceptions and Attitudes on Environmental Impacts Community Attachment Differences by Respondents Socio-demographics Differences by Income Level Differences by Employment Reliance Differences by Length of Residence Differences by Frequency of Using Tourist Facilities Differences by Resident Relatives on the Island Differences by Age Differences by Education Level Differences by Property Ownership Differences by Gender THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS 70 Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS 73 Chapter 6 RECOMMENDATIONS SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ON LAMMA ISLAND FURTHER RESEARCH 78 REFERENCES 80 BIBILOGRAPHY 88 APPENDICES 89

7 Sheffield Hallam University v LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Doxey s 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 Community s 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

8 Sheffield Hallam University vi 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

9 Sheffield Hallam University 1 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 world s 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 world s 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 Kong s total tourist arrivals, which was majorly contributed by mainland Chinese tourists, had increased shapely since July 2003, when the government of the People s 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,

10 Sheffield Hallam University ). 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 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

11 Sheffield Hallam University 3 was one of the most popular scenic attractions in Hong Kong. (Lamma Fisherfolk s 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.

12 Sheffield Hallam University 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 people s 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

13 Sheffield Hallam University 5 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 Fisherfolk s Village, that occupied area of 1,300 square meters with authentic fishing facilities, was opened in 2007, (Lamma Fisherfolk s Village, 2006). The village was a showcase of the history of Hong Kong s fishery industry and indigenous community used to live in the island s 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 Kong s fishery culture 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.

14 Sheffield Hallam University 6 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 industry s 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.

15 Sheffield Hallam University 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

16 Sheffield Hallam University 8 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.

17 Sheffield Hallam University 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 one s 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, individual s relationship with, or perception of tourism therefore evolved and differentiated individuals attitudes. As perceptions and attitudes influenced one s interpretations and mind, they would also affect individual s 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 destination s tourism, especially the long-term one. Hence,

18 Sheffield Hallam University 10 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 Doxey s Irridex Model Doxey s 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: DOXEY S IRRIDEX MODEL AND ASSOCIATED FEATURES Euphoria Apathy Annoyance Visitors are welcome and there is little planning Visitors are taken for granted and contact becomes more formal 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)

19 Sheffield Hallam University 11 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. Doxey s 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 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 destination s development (Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003, p174). Butler s Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC) Model (1980) was one of the most cited and popular

20 Sheffield Hallam University 12 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 area s 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 Number of Tourist Adapted from Butler (1980) Time According to Johnson and Snepenger (2006), the TALC model was conceptually longitudinal, implicitly demanding any study of tourism dynamics

21 Sheffield Hallam University 13 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 Doxey s 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 Doxey s 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.

22 Sheffield Hallam University Social Exchange Theory The local population s perceptions and attitudes could dictate the extent of the host community s 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.

23 Sheffield Hallam University 15 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).

24 Sheffield Hallam University 16 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) 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 Howards s 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.

25 Sheffield Hallam University 17 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 Doxey (1975); Allen et al. (1988); Johnson, Snepenger and Akis (1994); Gilbert and destination development Economic and/or employment dependency in tourism Length of residency Clark (1997); Manson and Cheyne (2000); Andriotis and Vaughan (2003) Brougham and Butler (1981); Murphy (1981, 1983); Sheldon and Var (1984); Lankford and Howard (1994); Mason and Cheyne (2000); Andriotis and Vaughan (2003); 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 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

26 Sheffield Hallam University 18 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 Sirakaya s 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) 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,

27 Sheffield Hallam University 19 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) 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).

28 Sheffield Hallam University 20 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 Howard s 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 Community Satisfaction Apart from the mentioned variables influencing attitudes, past study had examined the correlation between community satisfaction and tourism

29 Sheffield Hallam University 21 attitudes (Ko and Steward, 2002; Nepal, 2008). Getz s 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 Community Concerns According to Nepal (2008), community concerns about tourism s 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

30 Sheffield Hallam University 22 area if visitors increased. According to Nepal s 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 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 Var s 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.

31 Sheffield Hallam University Effects of Tourism Impacts on Resident Attitudes Tourism is significant to destinations because of its enormous impacts on people s 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 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

32 Sheffield Hallam University 24 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

33 Sheffield Hallam University 25 because of demonstration effect (Liu and Var, 1986; Akis, Peristianis and Warner, 1996; Gilbert and Clark, 1997; Lindberg and Johnson, 1997) 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).

34 Sheffield Hallam University 26 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) 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

35 Sheffield Hallam University 27 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 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

36 Sheffield Hallam University 28 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.

37 Sheffield Hallam University 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)

38 Sheffield Hallam University 30 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.

39 Sheffield Hallam University 31 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.

40 Sheffield Hallam University 32 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) 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.

41 Sheffield Hallam University 33 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 Sampling The chosen sample referred to the population of Lamma Island s residents aged 20 or over, who were presumed to be sensitive enough to the effects

42 Sheffield Hallam University 34 brought by tourism. According to the government s 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 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.

43 Sheffield Hallam University 35 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 Data Analysis The responses to the attitudinal statements were analyzed by employing Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version Nine aforementioned socio-demographic factors were used as independent

44 Sheffield Hallam University 36 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 Limitations of the Research Although the primary data was collected for specific purposes of the researcher s current study, several limitations in this research methodology

45 Sheffield Hallam University 37 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 island s 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

46 Sheffield Hallam University 38 rather than the entire island. Accordingly, the data interpretation should be made under special attention.

47 Sheffield Hallam University 39 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.

48 Sheffield Hallam University 40 TABLE 4.1: SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE N=61 Sample % Gender Male Female Age (years) 20 to to to to Older than Education Level Primary education or less Secondary education (secondary 1 to 5) 9 15 Advanced secondary education (secondary 6 to 7) University or tertiary education Length of Residence (years) 1 to to to to Employment Reliance on Tourism Non-reliant Reliant Income Level (Hong Kong Dollars) $3,000 or below $3,001 to $6, $6,001 to $9, $9,001 to $12, Note: Percentages (column) do not always total 100% due to rounding 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

49 Sheffield Hallam University 41 meaningful or interesting findings 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.

50 Sheffield Hallam University 42 TABLE 4.2: OVERALL RESPONSES TO TOURISM STATEMENTS Statements Mean SD I. Social Impacts Mean = Tourism encourages a variety of cultural activities by the local population (e.g., crafts, arts) Tourism has led to an increase of infrastructure for local people The money that tourism brings in is of benefit to the whole community The impacts of tourism are advantageous to your family The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the social life Our household standard of living is higher because of the money that tourists spend on Lamma Island. 7. Tourism gives benefits to most people on Lamma Island II. Economic Impacts Mean = The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Lamma Island s economy The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Hong Kong government income The impacts of tourism are advantageous to employment Tourism attracts more spending on Lamma Island Tourism attracts more investment on Lamma Island There should be no government incentives for tourism development Prices of many goods and services on Lamma Island have increased because of tourism Nonresidents should be allowed to develop tourism attractions on Lamma Island Most of the money earned from tourism ends up going to business owned Lamma Islanders Non- Lamma Islander-owned businesses are beneficial for the region s tourist industry There should be a special tax on tourists Tourism creates more jobs for local people than for foreigners on Lamma Island III. Environmental Impacts Mean = This community should control tourism development Tourism provides an incentive for the restoration of historical buildings The construction of hotels and other tourist facilities has benefited the natural environment on Lamma Island. 23. Tourism provides an incentive for the conservation of natural resources The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the environment IV. Overall Impacts 25. Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to the people of Lamma Island Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to Hong Kong as a whole Note: For all the statements, the Likert scale ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

51 Sheffield Hallam University 43 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 The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Lamma Island s economy. Economic Prices of many goods and services on Lamma Island have increased because of tourism. Economic The construction of hotels and other tourist facilities has benefited the natural environment on Environmental 3.72 Lamma Island. 5 Tourism provides an incentive for the restoration of historical buildings. Environmental Our household standard of living is higher because of the money that tourists spend on Social 3.64 Lamma Island. 7 The impacts of tourism are advantageous to Hong Kong government income. Economic Tourism attracts more spending on Lamma Island. Economic This community should control tourism development. Environmental Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to the people of Lamma Island. Overall The impacts of tourism are advantageous to employment. Economic The money that tourism brings in is of benefit to the whole community. Social Most of the money earned from tourism ends up going to business owned Lamma Islanders. Economic Tourism attracts more investment on Lamma Island. Economic Nonresidents should be allowed to develop tourism attractions on Lamma Island. Economic The impacts of tourism are advantageous to your family. Social Tourism encourages a variety of cultural activities by the local population (e.g., crafts, arts). Social The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the social life. Social Overall, the benefits of tourism are greater than the costs to Hong Kong as a whole. Overall The impacts of tourism are advantageous to the environment. Environmental There should be no government incentives for tourism development. Economic Tourism gives benefits to most people on Lamma Island. Social Non- Lamma Islander-owned businesses are beneficial for the region s tourist industry. Economic There should be a special tax on tourists. Economic Tourism creates more jobs for local people than for foreigners on Lamma Island. Economic 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

52 Sheffield Hallam University 44 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 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

53 Sheffield Hallam University 45 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 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 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 Island s 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

54 Sheffield Hallam University 46 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 community s 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

55 Sheffield Hallam University 47 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 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

56 Sheffield Hallam University 48 statements with the lowest mean score of 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 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) 1 to to to to More than Property Ownership Rent Own Resident Relatives None on the island Having residents on the island Allocation for Weighted Scores: 1-10 yrs=1, yrs=2, yrs=3, yrs=4, and 40 yrs=5 Allocation for Weighted Scores: Rent=1, Own=2 Allocation for Weighted Scores: None=1, Having Relatives=2

57 Sheffield Hallam University 49 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 Nepal s (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.