Abstract
Residents’ support for tourism development is an important factor for policy formation in relation to successful tourism destination development (Nunkoo and Ramkisoon, 2011). Not surprisingly, research dedicated to this topic aims to disentangle the effect of demographic characteristics, proximity of residence to the tourism area, relationships within the community, effect of economic dependency on tourism, etc. on attitude towards tourism (Sharpley, 2014; Uysal et al, 2016). Recently, research focused on the impact of tourism on overall quality of life of residents recognized that development of tourism destinations affects quality of life of residents, and thus being relevant for policy makers.
Findings demonstrate a relationship between tourism development in the community and residents’ quality of life (Woo et al, 2015). This impact depends on the stage of development of a tourism destination (Kim et al, 2013). In all these studies, residents are considered as a uniform sample. However, numerous studies show that different groups of residents demonstrate different extent of support for tourism. It has been shown that economic dependency on tourism, as well as community relations influence perception
of tourism impacts and attitude towards tourism development (Harrill, 2004). Treating residents as homogeneous group leads to confounding results regarding perception of tourism, estimation of tourism impact, and attitude towards tourism development.
This study aims to investigate the impact of tourism on the quality of life of residents. Research into residents’ attitude towards tourism and support for tourism development suggests that economic dependency on tourism and time of residence in the community are the most influential determinants for the perception of tourism impact on locals’ life (Harrill, 2004). In this investigation employment in tourism and length of residence are considered as moderators of the relationship between tourism impact and quality of life.
The analysis is based on the empirical investigation of this relationship via a survey of residents in South Tyrol, Italy, a mature, well–established destination that positions itself as a place for wellbeing enhancement. Thus, our interest is whether a destination that is promoted as a place for quality of life enhancement guarantees this opportunity also to its residents.