The Local Community Perception of Tourism Development. the Case Study of Gryfino County – Western Pomerania, Poland
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Bulletin of Geography. Socio–economic Series / No. 37 (2017): 7–23 BULLETIN OF GEOGRAPHY. SOCIO–ECONOMIC SERIES DE journal homepages: http://www.bulletinofgeography.umk.pl/ http://wydawnictwoumk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/BGSS/index http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/bog ISSN 1732–4254 quarterly G The local community perception of tourism development. The case study of Gryfino County – Western Pomerania, Poland Zbigniew Głąbiński1, CDFMR , Tomasz Duda2, CDFR University of Szczecin, The Faculty of Geoscience, Department of Tourism and Recreation, Mickiewicza 16, 70-383 Szczecin, Poland; 1phone +48 914 443 858, e-mail: [email protected] (corresponding author); 2phone +48 914 443 858, e-mail: [email protected] How to cite: Głąbiński, Z. and Duda, T., 2017: The local community perception of tourism development. The case study of Gryfino County – Western Pomerania, Poland. In: Środa-Murawska, S. and Szymańska, D. editors, Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, No. 37, Toruń: Nicolaus Copernicus University, pp. 7–23. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/bog-2017-0021 Abstract. An increasing number of people from various countries have seen tour- Article details: ism as a chance to develop local economy and quality of life. The article presents Received: 14 January 2016 the results of the analysis of tourism potential of Gryfino County in Western Po- Revised: 02 December 2016 merania in Poland and confronts them with how it is perceived by the residents. Accepted: 22 June 2017 Although the county abounds in great tourist attractions, both of natural and cul- tural nature and is favourably located in geographic terms, tourism is developing very slowly. In order to examine the reasons for the current situation, an attempt Key words: to survey the opinion of the local community on this subject was made by ap- tourist potential, plying the method of Focus Group Interviews. The results emphasise the signifi- residents’ attitudes, cance of local community for tourism development in a region. tourism planning. © 2017 Nicolaus Copernicus University. All rights reserved. Contents: 1. Introduction . 8 2. Identification of the county tourist potential............................................... 10 2.1. The inventory of sightseeing resources – methodology and allocation of resources ........ 10 2.1.1. Natural-landscape resources ................................................... 12 2.1.2. Historical-cultural resources ................................................... 12 2.1.3. The potential of culinary tourism and cultural events............................. 13 2.2. Tourism development............................................................... 14 3. The possibility of tourism development as perceived by the residents of Gryfino County....... 14 4. Discussion of findings – confronting the existence of the tourist potential and social conditions 20 References ............................................................................... 21 © 2017 Nicolaus Copernicus University. All rights reserved. © 2017 De Gruyter Open (on-line). 8 Zbigniew Głąbiński, Tomasz Duda / Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series / 37 (2017): 7–23 1. Introduction velopment. What is more, residents should be edu- cated since their negative attitude towards tourism development frequently results from prejudices and Tourism development in various regions is wide- lack of knowledge. ly perceived as advantageous in multiple aspects What should also be taken into consideration in (Niezgoda, 2011): (a) economic – improving resi- the planning process of tourism development are dents’ quality of life; (b) socio-cultural – associat- the specific, local factors that may contribute to ed with establishing relations between residents and various attitudes towards this phenomenon (Har- tourists; (c) infrastructure-service – improving in- rill, 2004; Sharpley, 2008; Niezgoda, 2011; Brankov frastructure and quality of services offered to resi- et al., 2015; Zeinali et al., 2015). As Marković and dents. Klarić (2015) state, tourism develops primarily in Extensive research on the attitude of local touristically most attractive areas. Therefore, there communities to tourism development are being are situations in which, acting in favour of tourism conducted worldwide (Williams et al., 1995; Chan- development, one tends to ignore local social con- dralal, 2010; Andereck, Nyuapane, 2011; Gosh, ditions. These phenomena can lead to the excessive Sofique, 2012; Hanafiah et al., 2013; Shariff, Abidin, development of tourism in touristically attractive 2013; Gupta, Prakash, 2014; Marković, Klarić, 2015; areas, without considering the socio-cultural con- Zeinali et al., 2015), including Poland (Komorows- ditions. What ought to be emphasised is the fact ka, 2003; Niezgoda, 2011; Sikorska-Wolak, Zawad- that it is the local community that largely deter- ka, 2011; Mika, 2013; Tucki et al., 2013; Głąbiński, mines tourism development in an area and, there- 2014). fore, without detailed identification of the needs and The results of the research conducted so far in- expectations of its residents, sustainable develop- dicate that most of the local communities present ment of tourism cannot be achieved (Harrill, 2004; a positive attitude towards tourism development Niezgoda, 2011, Mika, 2013). Doxey’s Irridex con- (Komorowska, 2003; Wang et al., 2006; Chandralal, stitutes one of the most common indicators applied 2010; Andereck, Nyuapane, 2011; Niezgoda, 2011; to assess the attitudes of residents towards tourism Sikorska-Wolak, Zawadka, 2011; Hanafiah et al., development (Harrill, 2004; Wang et al., 2006; Niez- 2013; Mika, 2013; Zeinali et al., 2015). There are, goda, 2011). however, several factors differentiating the attitudes Doxey’s Irridex is one of the attempts to present among the particular representatives of local com- the changes in residents’ attitudes towards the de- munities. The researchers mention, among others: velopment of tourism in a region. It is claimed to (a) the time of residence in a particular area and prove and justify the need for conducting research place of birth; (b) the strength of sense of local and on the social determinants related to tourism devel- regional identity; (c) the strength of commitment to opment. The research results may significantly con- the local community; (d) the attitude towards the tribute to the success of measures taken within the type of tourist attraction (natural or socio-cultural). planning process of tourism development with the Special conditions apply to the development benefit for both the environment and the local com- of tourism in protected areas (Nyuapane, Poudel, munity. 2011; Głąbiński, 2014; Brankov et al., 2015), where A review of recent literature on the research on the level of residents’ ecological awareness is of attitudes of residents towards tourism development greater significance than other factors. leads to the conclusion that it is the quantitative ap- As the researchers emphasise, there is a growing proach that is most commonly applied and the data need to both examine and consider residents’ at- are collected through surveys (Williams et al., 1995; titudes towards tourism development, especially in Komorowska, 2003; Harrill, 2004; Chandralal, 2010; those areas that are in its initial phase (Harrill, 2004; Niezgoda, 2011; Andereck, Nyuapane, 2011; Hana- Sharpley, 2008; Chandralal, 2010; Niezgoda, 2011; fiah et al., 2013; Mika 2013; Shariff, Abidin, 2013; Tucki et al., 2013; Marković, Klarić, 2015). This is Tucki et al., 2013; Głąbiński, 2014; Brankov et al., particularly important as local communities should 2015; Marković, Klarić, 2015; Zeinali et al., 2015). not be seen as an obstacle to planning tourism de- The qualitative approach is, on the contrary, very Zbigniew Głąbiński, Tomasz Duda / Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series / 37 (2017): 7–23 9 rarely used, and involves individual interviews, fo- sents an interesting opinion which constitutes the cus group interviews and participant observation justification for conducting qualitative research. As (Gupta, Prakash, 2014; Maneenetr, Tran, 2014). he states, “in order to understand why people make When conducting their studies on social phe- certain choices, you should ask them about it and nomena related to tourism, some researchers em- allow them to use their own categories when re- phasise the need to use various research approaches, sponding – let them show us the reasons for their both quantitative and qualitative (Walle, 1997; Alej- behaviours and their own interpretations of the ex- ziak, 2008; Głąbiński, 2015). Trutkowski (1999) pre- pected results.” Fig. 1. Doxey’s Irridex Source: Own elaboration based on: Harrill, R., 2004: 6-7; Wang, Y., Pfister, R. and Morais, D., 2006: 412; Niezgoda, A., 2011: 111 Focus Group Interviews (FGI) belong to one of ‘focuses’ should be applied in those situations in the more frequently used qualitative research meth- which a researcher seeks the responses to ‘Why’ ods. A focus group interview, commonly known as questions. a ‘focus’, is “an informal discussion led by a group Gryfino County, located in western Poland near of selected people on a chosen topic that refers to the border with Germany, is the area of consider- specific situations which are familiar to these peo- able tourism value. Local authorities, interested in ple” (Lisek-Michalska, Daniłowicz, 2007: 16). The the further development of tourism in the region, are seeking answers to the question why, despite method involves gathering a few (from