Resident perceptions of the sociocultural impacts of tourism in Llangollen, North-east Wales. WHALLEY, Peter A. Available from the Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/20521/ A Sheffield Hallam University thesis This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Please visit http://shura.shu.ac.uk/20521/ and http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html for further details about copyright and re-use permissions. REFERENCE Fines are charged at 50p per hour n 7 Mf" , l ° 5 V l ' 1 1 °CT 2007 1 5 NQV 2006 1 5 OCT 2007 1 3 NflV 2006 q _ S 6 p iin U ' l ' T 2 9 MAR 2007 L ^-O D u ^ - S S p /— i74fw'iofc T/W I ProQuest Number: 10701168 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10701168 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Resident Perceptions of the Sociocultural Impacts of Tourism in Llangollen, North-east Wales. PETER A. WHALLEY A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Sheffield Hallam University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy With the collaboration of the European Centre for Traditional and Regional Cultures November 2000 ABSTRACT Taking as its starting point the need to better understand the relationship between tourism and culture in a western European context, this research develops and applies a conceptual framework and methodology to evaluate the attitudes among residents of a tourist receiving community to the sociocultural impacts of tourism. To this end, a case study approach is used to evaluate the attitudes of the residents of Llangollen, a small market town in North-east Wales, to the sociocultural impacts of tourism on their town and way of life. As host to the annual Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, and as a popular destination for day visitors and longer stay tourists alike, the community of Llangollen is a mature tourist destination possessing a wide range of tourist and cultural facilities. The study examines a range of appropriate literature and develops a conceptual framework around three key theories: the notion of resident 'coping strategies' to deal with the impacts of tourism, the sociological principle of social exchange theory and the social-psychological theory of social representations, with the latter being central to the study's methodology. There were three elements to the field work. Firstly, preliminary sensitising interviews were carried out in order to highlight key areas of local concern, and to inform the design of the survey work. Secondly, a questionnaire survey was undertaken of the residents of Llangollen, which was then interpreted using two different methods of respondent segmentation and using an assessment of the difference between groups. Finally, focus group discussions were carried out in the town in order to assist in the interpretation of the questionnaire findings and also to provide a systematically-derived set of qualitative data in order to assess the relative merits of taking different methodological approaches to the research. The findings of the research show that the community of Llangollen is generally positive about the impacts of tourism, with the role of the International Eisteddfod being pivotal in cultural terms. The three different approaches to the analysis of the impacts of tourism in Llangollen provided different perspectives and insights. The multivariate technique of cluster analysis gave the clearest picture from the questionnaire of resident perceptions of the cultural impacts of tourism, whereas an equity-based approach gave more indication of exchange processes at work in the community. The use of focus group discussions proved to be by far the most valuable in terms of drawing out not only what were the attitudes of residents, but also how and why such attitudes had come about in the first place. Most importantly, this research has made much clearer the political, economic and cultural contexts within which the residents of Llangollen perceive the impacts of tourism, and how it is these contexts which are influential in the attitudes taken to the impacts of tourism on the community, on groups in the community, and on the individual members of the community. The research also suggests there is a need for tourism research to move away from its traditional reliance on the questionnaire survey, and the search for statistically significant but perhaps socially irrelevant groups. It is suggested that further use of focus group discussions may help to more fully understand the relationships between tourism and culture within local communities. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank my family and friends who have offered both moral and, at times, physical support during the completion of this thesis, and who have provided me with a life outside of the confines of academic inquiry. I am most greatly indebted to my director of studies, Dr Bill Bramwell, whose caring support and advice has been invaluable, and whose enthusiasm has helped to see me through some lengthy periods of drought in the process of this research. I would also like to most sincerely thank Ms Elspeth Fyfe, without whom I would never have embarked on this journey, and whose gentle encouragement and friendship have been invaluable to me over the past few years. Thanks are also due to all of my colleagues in the Centre for Tourism, and to Professor Chris Gratton and to Mrs Louise Dungworth and Ms Elizabeth Watts for allowing me the necessary space to see this thesis to completion. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to the memory of my father, Christopher, and of my grandfather, Peter. I know they would have been proud. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1-19 1.1 Background to the research 1 1.2 The Case Study 6 1.2.1 Tourism in Wales 7 1.2.2 Background to Llangollen and tourism in Llangollen 8 1.2.3 Background to the Llangollen International Musical 11 Eisteddfod 1.2.4 The International Eisteddfod today 13 1.3 Summary 16 1.4 Structure of the thesis 17 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 20-68 2.1 Perspectives on Culture 21 2.2 Cultural Change and Commodification through Tourism 28 2.3 Tourism And Authenticity 40 2.4 Resident Perceptions of Tourism Impacts 49 2.5 Summary 67 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS 69-82 3.1 Social Representations 69 3.2 Aims and Objectives of "the Research 75 3.3 Summary 82 CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY 83-117 4.1 Social Representations - methodological considerations 83 4.2 Resident Perception Studies - methods and approaches 84 4.3 Research Techniques Utilised 87 4.3.1 Preliminary Sensitising Interviews 87 4.3.2 Questionnaire Survey 92 4.3.2.1. Questionnaire Design 92 4.3.2.2 Pilot Survey 100 4.3.2.3 Full Questionnaire Survey 101 4.3.3 Focus Group Interviews 106 4.4 Synthesis and Analysis of Results 112 4.5 Summary 117 CHAPTER FIVE: BASIC QUESTIONNAIRE FINDINGS 118-132 5.1 General Impacts of Tourism 118 5.2 Perceptions of the current impacts of tourism in Llangollen 121 5.3 Attitudes to the current impacts of tourism in Llangollen 123 5.4 Attitudes to suggestions for future changes in tourism 125 5.5 Socio-demographic details 126 5.6 Summary and conclusions 129 i CHAPTER SIX: THE EQUITY APPROACH 133-175 6.1 Measures of equity considerations 134 6.2 Equity groups and perceptions of and attitudes to the impacts of 145 tourism 6.2.1 Equity groups and perceptions of the current impacts of 146 tourism 6.2.2 Attitudes and opinions of equity groups to curent Impacts 155 of Tourism 6.2.3 ANOVA of equity group membership and attitudes to the 158 current impacts of tourism 6.2.4 Attitudes of equity groups to suggestions for future changes 163 in tourism 6.2.5 ANOVA of personal equity groups and attitudes to 165 suggestions for future changes in tourism 6.2.6 Eouitv groups and personal and demographic details 170 6.3 Summary and Conclusions 173 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE CLUSTER ANALYSIS APPROACH 176-210 7.1 Cluster groups and eouitv perceptions 176 7.2 Cluster groups and perceptions of the specific impacts of tourism 182 7.3 Cluster groups and attitudes to the current impacts of tourism in 191 Llangollen 7.3.1 ANOVA of cluster group membership and attitudes to the 193 current impacts of tourism 7.4 Cluster groups and attitudes to suggestions for future changes in 198 tourism 7.4.1 ANOVA of cluster groups and attitudes to suggestions for 200 future changes in tourism 7.5 Cluster groups and personal and demographic details 205 7.6 Summary and Conclusions 208 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE FOCUS GROUP APPROACH 211-264 8.1 Eouitv Dimensions 212 8.1.1 Personal and Community Perspectives 212 8.1.2 Tourist Benefit and Local Benefit 219 8.1.3 Council.