Resident Attitudes Towards Tourism

Resident attitudes towards tourism Testing the Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale (RETS) in Bruges Master Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the Degree Master of Business Administration Submitted to Prof. Dr. Karl Wöber (supervisor) And Prof. em. Dr. Josef Mazanec (co-supervisor) Vincent Nijs 1302013 Vienna, 26 January 2017 AFFIDAVIT I hereby affirm that this Master’s Thesis represents my own written work and that I have used no sources and aids other than those indicated. All passages quoted from publications or para- phrased from these sources are properly cited and attributed. The thesis was not submitted in the same or in a substantially similar version, not even par- tially, to another examination board and was not published elsewhere. Date Signature I II ABSTRACT With both visitor and resident numbers growing fast in many cities, the tourism carrying capacity of the city is getting more and more attention. Tourism managers understand that focusing on the principles of sustainable development in tourism activities will help them to preserve or create tourism cities where tourist and residents can live in harmony. This study looks at one of the aspects of the sustainable tourism city: the residents’ attitudes towards tourism. The study tests the Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale (RETS), developed by Boley et al. (2014) in a European heritage city: Bruges, Flanders. The same hypotheses as in the original study are discovered, except one. Perceived economic benefits from tourism and psychological empowerment have a direct effect on resident support for tourism. Social and political empowerment have an indirect relationship with the support for tourism via perceived impacts of tourism. These results imply the consideration for tourism managers to include the elements that em- power citizens in order to boost the support for tourism, in their actions. Empowered residents support tourism more, they will be better ambassadors. We succeeded also in a second goal to select a leaner RETS model structure to facilitate and encourage other destinations to apply the same model and to create benchmarking opportunities. III IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I was very fortunate to enjoy the interest, the input, the company, the warmth and the support of so many people in this fascinating journey. Colleagues, academics, tourism professionals, family members and friends supported me through the often solitary activity of preparing and writing a master’s thesis. It all started when the MODUL University Vienna and the European Travel Commission (ETC) offered me the opportunity to take part in the MBA in Vienna. I would like to thank both the university for offering this divers professional training program and ETC for supporting European NTOs to professionalize their staff by organizing the scholarship program together with MODUL University. First of all, it has been an honor to have Prof. Karl Wöber and Prof. Em. Josef Mazanec as super- visors for this thesis. Their insights, experience and knowledge have been an example and support for me. Not just two great social scientists, also great human beings: the humblest tourism research authorities I know. And according to what I learned in my MBA ‘leadership’ course, humility and modesty makes the difference between good leaders and the best. My own professional career is largely shaped at VISIT FLANDERS . I would like express my grati- tude and appreciation to our CEO Peter De Wilde for supporting my application of the MODUL MBA program and for following my resident attitudes project at VISIT FLANDERS . It has been a pleasure to be able to combine in this thesis both academic models with a research project in a real NTO and DMO environment. The benefits of blending discussions with and input from academic experts and tourism professionals in the field are numerous. My colleague Mia Lammens deserves a big thank you for our countless discussions about the research topic, the setup and the questionnaire. I would also like to thank my colleague Els Lowyck, who is a native Bruges resident and an experienced tourism researcher for reviewing the questionnaire from the resident viewpoint. And Tünde Mester and Ulf Sonntag, good friends and great researchers from abroad, for giving constructive feedback about my literature study. Even so, the open minded attitude of Prof. Bynum Boley should be noted. His team developed the RETS model that is tested in this thesis in another setting. Without his input and advice, this project would not have been at the same level. Being able to replicate the RETS model in Bruges with similar findings was a great experience. I also thank Flemish academic tourism researchers and former colleagues Dr. Jeroen Bryon and Dr. Bart Neuts for talking freely about their earlier studies in Bruges. In the city of Bruges, I have to thank Mayor Renaat Landuyt who, as the former tourism minister of Flanders, understood that the voice of the residents should be heard. He had the courage as V a politician to touch upon the sensitive topic of resident attitudes. Dieter Dewulf, tourism man- ager in Bruges and Stefaan Praet, thank you for the constructive meetings and for accepting our cooperation in the first place. I hope the gained insights will help creating a strong strategic plan for sustainable future developments in Bruges. I would also like to thank the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Nec- sTOUR who already invited me to present the findings of this study at international events. Last but not least, I want to thank my dearest family. My parents who offered me so many opportunities in all stages from child to adulthood and who are still a huge support in these busy times. Also thanks to my sister Wimke who, as a new New Yorker, helped me in writing proper English. And special thanks to my wife Evie who spent many days alone, taking care of our beau- tiful children Lander, Lenthe and Febe, when I was in Vienna for my MBA courses or when I was working evenings, weekends and holidays on this thesis. Thank you for your patience and un- derstanding when I was not there! You are the best… VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Affidavit ...........................................................................................................................................I Abstract .........................................................................................................................................III Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... V List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. XIII List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... XV 1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................1 2 Literature review .................................................................................................................5 2.1 Introduction to sustainability in tourism in the context of the impact on residents ..........5 2.2 Tourism growth and resident impact ..................................................................................5 2.2.1 Extrinsic VS intrinsic models ........................................................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Crowding & carrying capacity ......................................................................................................... 8 2.2.3 Resident attitudes towards tourism ............................................................................................... 9 2.2.4 Social Exchange Theory ................................................................................................................ 11 2.2.5 RETS: beyond Social Exchange ...................................................................................................... 13 2.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 17 3 Research area and methodology ...................................................................................... 18 3.1 Research area: the city of Bruges ..................................................................................... 18 3.1.1 Tourism in Bruges? ....................................................................................................................... 18 3.1.2 Location and situation of Bruges .................................................................................................. 19 3.1.3 Tourism concentration in the ‘Golden Triangle’ and ‘hotel stop’ ................................................. 22 3.1.4 Tourism trends in Bruges: key figures .......................................................................................... 26 3.1.5 Image, satisfaction and economic impact of the Bruges leisure market ...................................... 38 3.1.6 Crowding in Bruges ....................................................................................................................... 40 3.1.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 43 3.2 Selection of methodology ................................................................................................

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