[Bachelor thesis] Tourism has impacts on smaller destinations too A questionnaire study to determine any tourism effects on smaller destinations and its residents. Authors: Felicia Carlström ​ ​ & Johanna Gustavsson Supervisor: Christer Foghagen ​ Examiner: Hans Wessblad ​ Semester: HT20 ​ Subject: Tourism Science ​ Level: Bachelor ​ Course code: 2TR42E ​ Abstract Tourism is something that today is very common for most parts of the world. Tourism effects is a phenomenon that focuses on the effects of tourism which can affect destinations and residents in different ways. The most common are social, cultural, environmental and economic impacts. The purpose of this bachelor thesis has been to explore if there are any tourism effects and if so, what are they and in what ways can they affect a small rural area as a destination and the effect on the residents. For this purpose we have used an area called Glasriket in Sweden as an example. This study has used both qualitative and ​ quantitative data with a deductive approach. After conducting our research, we then composed a questionnaire. The questionnaire was shared on our personal Facebook pages and also sent out through email to businesses, organizations and municipalities in Glasriket. In total, the empirical data was collected from 74 respondents. The results of the study showed that tourism is often perceived as positive. The positive effects of tourism outweigh the negative. It is clear that tourism has impacts on destinations in rural areas and not only on major cities or coastal areas. One conclusion is that yes, there are effects caused by tourism in Glasriket. There are several environmental, social, cultural and ​ ​ economic impacts in this area. It can also be concluded that tourism affects people and destinations in different ways and the ways the effects are perceived by residents might vary depending on factors such as cultural background, economic status and personal opinions. Keywords tourism, destination, rural tourism, triple bottom line, sociocultural effects, economic effects, environmental effects, Glasriket, residents’ attitudes, seasonality ​ ​ Acknowledgements We want to express our deepest gratitude to our respondents who have taken the time and effort to answer our questionnaire. We would like to thank our mentor Christer Foghagen for his time and advice during this process. Finally, we would like to say thank you to our examinator Hans Wessblad and our opponents for their comments and suggestions. 2 (81) Table of contents 1. Introduction 4 1.1. Background 5 1.2. Problem discussion 6 1.3. Research question 7 1.4. Purpose of research 8 1.5. Scope 8 1.6. Definitions 9 1.7. Disposition 10 2. Methodology 11 2.1. Method 11 2.2. Research design and approach 13 2.3. Selections 14 2.4. Ethical aspects 16 2.5. Limitations 18 3. Literature review 20 3.1. Destination 20 3.2. Rural tourism 22 3.3. Triple Bottom Line 24 3.4. Tourism effects 27 4. Study and results 39 4.1. Glasriket background 39 ​ ​ 4.2. The choice of questionnaire 42 4.3. Questions used for the empirical study 43 4.4. The questionnaire results 46 4.5. Summary 54 5. Discussion 56 5.1. Positive or negative? 56 5.2. Tourism effects on destinations and its residents 58 5.3. Attraction value 62 5.4. The future of tourism in Glasriket 64 ​ 5.5. Realizations on our final study 65 6. Conclusions 67 7. References 69 8. Appendix 74 3 (81) 1. Introduction In this first chapter, we will introduce the topic of this research paper with focus on destinations, rural tourism and potential tourism effects. Further, we will explain several main concepts that are important for this thesis. We will discuss the problem concerning tourism impacts on smaller destinations and then we will explain the purpose of this research paper and define our research question. Changes in peoples’ socioeconomic status have given rise to more traveling as more people can now afford to travel more often and for longer periods of time. According to Rocca (2005) the tourism industry is constantly changing because society is changing. Destinations have to adapt to meet the needs of the visitors. With this, Rocca (2005) means that if a destination does not adapt physically and socially then less people will visit. If a destination cannot handle the numbers of visitors then it can cause problems for both residents and visitors. Another perspective on the issues that tourism can have on a destination is given by Postma and Schmuecker (2017). They state that increased tourism could lead to conflicts between residents and visitors at the destination due to tourism having indirect and direct effects on the destination and the residents. Tourism is a major topic and most countries in the world have some type of tourism industry. There are many different types of tourism and the main focus of this research paper will be rural tourism and smaller destinations. What consequences can tourism cause for rural or small destinations? What positive and negative effects can tourism have for small destinations and further development of rural areas? How does tourism impact the residents of small destinations that are located in more rural areas? These questions are important. to research further because research about tourism effects often focus on city destinations and coastal areas, not on rural or small destinations. 4 (81) 1.1. Background During the last decades, rural areas have been affected more by tourism than before. Rural tourism has existed for hundreds of years and is becoming more popular as of late. Rural tourism is about seeing the value in landscapes, the local culture and traditions and also nature (Robinson and Jamal, 2009). Tourism can mean different things for different people and rural tourism is no exception of this. Rural tourism is therefore hard to explain. According to a website called Tourism Notes (2020), one definition of rural tourism is “the movement of people from their normal place of residence to rural areas for a minimum period of twenty-four hours to the maximum of six months for the sole purpose of leisure and pleasure. Rural tourism refers to all tourism activities in a rural area.” WTO (The World Tourism Organization, 2020) defines tourism as “...a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which involve tourism expenditure”. Based on these definitions, the only difference between rural tourism and tourism in general is the very fact that rural tourism takes place in rural areas. According to Dickinson and Robbins (2008) there have been studies that show that about half of all tourists questioned the link between tourism and climate change but that they know little about the impact they make as tourists. They continue to say that visitor traffic can create tensions with the locals and can also threaten the natural attributes that drew people to the area in the first place. Tourism activities in rural areas depend a lot on visitors having their own car or at least having access to one by renting or borrowing from someone they know. The attractions are usually spread out and might even be far from a main road which can make them difficult to get to if the visitors have not been there before. More often than not the public transport is not very good in rural places and in places outside of cities. 5 (81) One area which has this accessibility problem is Glasriket. Glasriket, or the Kingdom of ​ ​ ​ ​ Crystal as it is called in English, is the name of an area in Småland in the southeast of Sweden where most of the glass factories were built hundreds of years ago. Glasriket ​ covers four different municipalities; Nybro, Emmaboda, Lessebo and Uppvidinge (Glasriket, n.d.) and they all collaborate with each other to make Glasriket the best ​ ​ destination possible. Some of the larger villages or towns in this area such as Nybro and Lessebo have train stations and more frequent public transportation. However, it is nothing compared to major cities and can still make it harder for residents and visitors to get anywhere without a car. To reach some of the smaller destinations in this area like Kosta, Orrefors or Målerås, a car is a must because there are no train stations and the buses leave very rarely. 1.2. Problem discussion Saarinen (2004) states that tourism is a dynamic process and for the past decades, tourism has benefited from research and studies investigating tourist destination development. The need to study and understand tourism and the way it changes and grows as well as the consequences caused by tourism, has been growing more and more. Furthermore, Saarinen (2006) states that tourism impacts have been gaining more attention in research and development studies for several decades. Saarinen (2006) writes that tourism is based on people, goods and services, financial capital and ideas being moved around in some way. Saarinen (2006) also states that tourism impacts include environmental, social, cultural and economic factors. According to Saarinen (2004) tourism is developing fast and new destinations are developing along with new facilities and attractions. Stylidis et al. (2014) argues that tourism development has led to several economic, sociocultural and environmental changes for the destination and for local residents. Because of this, it is important to further investigate and study how tourism can impact destinations and the residents’ lives. Further, it is explained by Stylidis et al. (2014) that by understanding the residents’ perspective, it would be possible to minimize the negative impacts of tourism development which in turn would lead to further development for the community.