Host community reactions

Abstract

Relatively little research has been carried out on host community reactions to the impacts of events. However, the affinities between general tourism and events means that insights derived from the former are potentially useful as a foundation. While there is a considerable body of research on community reactions to tourism, this has been constrained by the dominance of a case study approach and the variety of theories and methodologies applied. This paper draws on social representations theory and compares the results of the current study with previous cluster analyses in an effort to identify some parallels in residents’ perceptions of tourism and events across communities.

Résumé

On a fait peu de recherches sur les réactions des communautés d’accueil aux impacts des événements. Pourtant, les affinités entre le tourisme en général et les événements signifient que les perspectives dérivées du tourisme pourraient fournir une base utile. Bien qu’il existe une abondante bibliographie sur les réactions communautaires au tourisme, la littérature a été limitée par la prédominance de l’approche des études de cas et de la diversité de théories et de méthodologies qui ont été appliquées. Cet article fait appel à la théorie des représentations sociales et compare les résultats de l’étude en question avec des analyses de groupes antérieures afin d’identifier des parallèles entre les perceptions du tourisme par les habitants et les événements à travers les communautés.

Introduction

The staging of major events has become an integral part of tourism destination marketing (Mules and Faulkner, 1996, Ritchie and Smith, 1991, Thorne and Munro-Clark, 1989). Although they are transitory, events may be construed as additions to a region’s inventory of attractions and, accordingly, they are instrumental in augmenting both the range of markets relevant to the destination and its critical mass of attractions. Apart from this, however, high profile events produce significant promotional benefits by virtue of the exposure they receive in the media beyond the destination. Indeed, it has been suggested that the latter effect is as important, if not more, than the event itself in terms of roles in destination marketing (Pyo, Cook and Howell 1988).

As with other elements of the destination mix, events may have positive or negative impacts on residents. Sound management of the event (and other elements of the destination associated with it) hinges on the ability of those responsible to avoid, or at least ameliorate, the negative impacts and accentuate the positive ones. These objectives are driven as much by ethical concerns, encompassing equity and quality of life issues, as they are by more pragmatic destination marketing considerations emphasized in the literature. In considering the destination marketing implications of host community reactions, Madrigal (1995) has alluded to Kotler’s (1988) internal marketing concept. The internal culture of a firm is seen to be a factor affecting the receptiveness of its staff to customers and thus, the quality of service it provides. Similarly, it is argued that a host community that is positively disposed will enhance the tourists’ experience and contribute to the destination’s attractiveness. Given that the quality of life and equity outcomes within a community will have a significant bearing on resident perceptions, a planning/management regime sensitive to community needs is an essential ingredient of sustainable tourism development. The feasibility of such an approach ultimately depends upon how effectively the impacts of tourism and events on communities are monitored and understood.

When compared with the considerable body of research on the social impacts of tourism, relatively little progress has been made on social impacts specifically associated with events. While some authors have highlighted the tourism/events nexus and the similarities between the two in order to draw insights about the impacts of events from the tourism literature, no comparative studies on their respective impacts have been carried out. The purpose of this paper is to investigate host community reactions to the Gold Coast Indy event in Australia and to explore similarities in the clustering tendencies of residents based on their perceptions of tourism in general and reactions to a major event.

The methodological approach adopted in most studies has generally involved an emphasis on measuring resident perceptions, attitudes, and behavioral adjustments at the individual level, and identifying predominant patterns in these responses and how they are related to various independent variables. The point of departure of the research described here is that, while it also has a foundation involving measurement at the individual resident level, it is more concerned with how such information can be utilized to identify groups of residents. These groups or “nested communities” (Madrigal 1995:87) vary in terms of their reaction to tourism. This approach relies on the use of cluster analysis and the rationale for its application is that it provides more generalized information on community reactions. This information enables those responsible for planning and managing tourism activities to more effectively target remedial action aimed at avoiding or counteracting negative impacts (Davis et al., 1988, Madrigal, 1995). An equally important justification for the examination of clustering tendencies within communities is it provides an insight into the structure of community reactions to tourism (and events), and thus provides a powerful tool for investigating the generality of these responses.