Browsing by Author "Dr. Yu-Fai Leung, Committee Co-Chair"

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    Disentangling the Influence of Community and Place Attachment on Resident Attitudes toward Tourism Development.
    (2010-04-22) Banks, Carrie Elizabeth; Dr. Yu-Fai Leung, Committee Co-Chair; Dr. Samantha Rozier Rich, Committee Member; Dr. Stacy Tomas, Committee Chair
    Though there is a wealth of research concerning residents’ attitudes toward tourism, little research has been conducted regarding residents’ attachment to their community. Exploring the possible links between resident attachment and attitude toward tourism is likely to provide key insights into the root causes of resident attitude. The purpose of this research was to explore the concepts of community attachment (attachment to social ties and relationships) and place attachment (attachment to the physical landscape) as they relate to one another and affect resident attitudes toward tourism development (i.e. a resident’s feeling about the rate of development in their community due to tourism). While past research often blurred the lines between community and place attachment, the current study sought to disentangle the two constructs. Using Ashe County, NC, as a study area, a 47-item intercept survey was used to explore attachment and attitudes. The survey measured three main constructs: community attachment, place attachment and resident attitude toward tourism development. The data were collected in Summer 2009. An exploratory factor analysis of the attachment items reduced into two dimensions: community attachment and place attachment. Subsequent Pearson Correlation tests found significant correlation between the two types of attachment. In addition, community attachment and place attachment were significantly correlated with resident attitudes toward tourism, especially in the areas of economic benefit and urbanization or overcrowding. Residents with higher levels of both community attachment and place attachment were more likely to agree that tourism was causing overcrowding in their community. Finally, a resident’s percent of life lived in the study area was found to be a statistically significant predictor of community attachment and 11 of 13 resident attitude items. The variable percent of life lived in community has not been used in previous published research and was shown in this research to be a good predictor of community attachment and resident attitudes. It is important to note that only community attachment was significantly correlated with items that dealt with economic development and equitable distribution of economic benefits, whereas high place attachment indicated a greater correlation with items dealing with land use. This supports the idea that respondents who are attached to community are more interested in economic development and equitable sharing of gains. Respondents with higher place attachment were concerned with the environmental impacts of tourism such as urbanization and overcrowding, without significant concern for economic benefit. This suggests that in the planning stages, newcomers would advocate for environmental protection and regulations such as zoning, while long-term residents would be concerned about the environment but also take notice of the economic aspects of tourism. This suggests that high percent of life (high community attachment) residents are more likely to take a holistic view of tourism in their community and both its positive and negative impacts. By successfully disentangling community attachment from place attachment, this study was able to gain insights into how each type of attachment influences resident attitudes toward tourism. By identifying the important issues of both groups, positive benefits can be accentuated and encouraged while negative impacts can be minimized.
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    Exploring Visitors' Perceptions of the Trail Environment and their Effects on Experiences in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
    (2007-06-15) Dorwart, Catherine Elisabeth; Dr. Roger Moore, Committee Co-Chair; Dr. Lee-Anne Milburn, Committee Member; Dr. Karla Henderson, Committee Member; Dr. Yu-Fai Leung, Committee Co-Chair
    Park and natural resource managers are charged with a dual mission, to protect natural resources for future generations and to provide for the appropriate public enjoyment of these resources. A significant component of this responsibility involves understanding visitors' experiences. Various techniques for collecting data have been used to explore and understand park and trail visitors' perceptions and experiences. One of the more applied techniques developed to explore visitor preference and perception, which has been used successfully in the outdoor recreation field, is visitor-employed photography (VEP). VEP is a visual technique that takes a camera out of the researcher's hands and places it into the control of the visitor (participant). Due to VEP's potential for assessing what people find important, it was employed in this qualitative study to examine visitors' perceptions and to determine how their perceptions affected overall recreation experiences along a 2.9-mile segment of the Appalachian Trail (AT) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM). A purposive sample of n=33 visitors was selected for this study. The study consisted of two parts: a visitor employed photography (VEP) exercise and a post-hike interview. Data analyses involved constant comparison (photo logs and interviews) and content analysis (photos). In addition, enumerative strategies were used to supplement the descriptive data. Analysis of the photographs (n=274) and photograph logs (n=33) found that participants noticed both negative and positive aspects of the trail environment. In addition, 83% of the pictures taken contained attributes that visitors liked and 17% of the pictures contained attributes that were disliked. Five perceptual themes emerged — nature-oriented details, scenic values, management influences, presence of other people, and depreciative behavior. However, from analysis of the transcribed interviews I found that noticing these elements did not detract significantly from the participants' overall outdoor experiences. In conclusion, this method has great potential in understanding visitors' perceptions and experiences in outdoor recreation settings and guiding future visitor behavior research.