Perceptions of residents and hospitality agents towards tourism impacts on sustainability: The Case of UNESCO Literature Creative town of Óbidos Sílvia de Carvalho Cláudio Peniche, November 2020 Perceptions of residents and hospitality agents towards tourism impacts on sustainability: The Case of UNESCO Literature Creative town of Óbidos Sílvia de Carvalho Cláudio A dissertation submitted to the School of Tourism and Maritime Technology of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master's Degree in Sustainable Tourism Management Dissertation conducted under the supervision of Professor Inês Brasão and Professor Michael Schön Peniche, November 2020 Acknowledgments My deep gratitude goes to all residents of Óbidos, who took the time and trusted me to share their perceptions and, in some cases, their life stories; I am honored and thankful to have deserved such trust. My gratitude to all accommodation managers who took the time to participate in this study. To the Óbidos Town's Mayor, Humberto Marques, for his time and enlightening insights; very much appreciated. My appreciation extends to the Óbidos Municipal Library, with special and warm thanks to Mr. Pedro Luís and Mr. Raúl Penha, for their generosity and enthusiasm. To my Professors, Inês Brasão and Michael Schön, for their mentoring and encouragement, providing valuable early insights on my research and along the way. Special thanks to Professor Sofia Lopes for her precious assistance. To all those who participated in any way, directly or indirectly, to the successful completion of this research study. And last but not least, to all my friends and family, for the encouragement and understanding. For all those times I missed out, even long before any lockdown, it was all part of this challenge. i Every challenging work requires self efforts. Dedicated to my beloved grandparents, for paving me the way! ii Abstract This master thesis focuses on the perceptions of residents and hospitality agents, of the tourism impacts in the historic walled town of Óbidos, classified as a Portuguese monument and part of UNESCO's Creative Cities network, as Literature Town. In recent years, the historic center of Óbidos has seen an influx of tourists and day visitors, with a consequent overcrowding of the narrow streets, increase of waste, excessive traffic, rise of costs of goods and housing, abandonment of the town center, by the local residents, and fewer local service infrastructures. It is certain that the historic center of Óbidos has seen, over the last decade, an economic boost in the tourism offer, with almost all the businesses and services inside the walls being tourism related. The town hall, the parish church, social security and finance offices are of the few infrastructures used by local residents, who are non-tourism related. The following master thesis examines the positive and negative economic, socio-cultural and environmental perceptions of residents and the hospitality agents, in the historic town. The study was conducted through the use of two different surveys: one administered to local hospitality agents managers and one to the residents, in the historic center. Furthermore, an interview to the town's mayor was also conducted. Keywords: local residents' perceptions, hospitality agents' perceptions, tourism impact, sustainable tourism development, sustainability, walled towns, carrying capacity iii Table of contents Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... i Abstract .............................................................................................................. iii Table of contents ................................................................................................ iv List of tables ....................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .................................................................................................... vii Introduction....................................................................................................... viii 1. Literature Review ......................................................................................... 1 1.1. Tourism impacts .......................................................................................... 1 1.1.1. Economic impacts ................................................................................. 5 1.1.2. Socio-cultural impacts ........................................................................... 6 1.1.3. Environmental impacts .......................................................................... 7 1.2. Sustainability ............................................................................................... 8 1.2.1. Sustainable development ...................................................................... 8 1.2.2. Sustainable tourism ............................................................................. 12 1.2.3. Sustainable relationships in a tourism destination ............................... 17 2. The Case study of Óbidos ......................................................................... 34 2.1. Walled towns and place identity ................................................................ 34 2.2. Óbidos as a tourism destination ................................................................ 40 3. Methodology ............................................................................................... 48 3.1. Sample and Data Analysis ........................................................................ 48 3.2. Research hypotheses ................................................................................ 54 4. Results and discussion ............................................................................. 55 4.1. Residents' results ...................................................................................... 55 4.2. Accommodations' results ........................................................................... 71 4.3. Interview results ........................................................................................ 82 4.4. Research hypotheses results .................................................................... 87 4.4.1. Residents' hypotheses results ............................................................. 87 4.4.2. Accommodations' hypotheses results ................................................. 90 5. Conclusions, limitations, reflections and future research ...................... 91 List of references .............................................................................................. 98 iv Appendices ................................................................................................... 103 Appendix 1: Resident's questionnaire - Portuguese .................................... 103 Appendix 2: Residents questionnaire - English ........................................... 107 Appendix 3: Accommodations questionnaire - Portuguese ......................... 111 Appendix 4: Accommodations questionnaire - English ............................... 115 Appendix 5: Interview .................................................................................. 118 v List of tables Table 1 - Sustainable versus unsustainable tourism development Table 2 - Key stakeholders in Tourism and their roles Table 3 - Resident's variables Table 4 - Accommodation's variables Table 5 - Resident's profile Table 6 - Accommodations in the historic center Table 7 - Accommodation's profile Table 8 - Residents' professional relation to the tourism activity hypothesis testing Table 9 - Residents' integration in the tourism decision-making process hypothesis testing Table 10 - Accommodations' integration with the local management and planning process hypothesis testing vi List of Figures Figure 1 - Global survey on the perception of residents towards city tourism Figure 2 - Impacts of Covid-19 on the SDGs Figure 3 - Tourism and the community Figure 4 - Tourism Industry, Environment and Community Figure 5 - Castle of Óbidos and walled perimeter Figure 6 - Óbidos National Monument, General Protection Zone and Special Protection Zone Figure 7 - Covid-19 circulation pathways inside castle walls Figure 8 - Residents' houses location on the map Figure 9 - Resident's professionally related to the tourism activity Figure 10 - Resident's integrated in the tourism decision-making process Figure 11 - Resident's positive economic perceptions Figure 12 - Resident's negative economic perceptions Figure 13 - Resident's positive socio-cultural perceptions Figure 14 - Resident's negative socio-cultural perceptions Figure 15 - Resident's positive environmental perceptions Figure 16 - Resident's negative environmental perceptions Figure 17 - Accommodation's location on the map Figure 18 - Accommodations integration in the local management and planning of the tourism activity Figure 19 - Accommodation's positive economic perceptions Figure 20 - Accommodation's negative economic perceptions Figure 21 - Accommodation's positive socio-cultural perceptions Figure 22 - Accommodation's negative socio-cultural perceptions Figure 23 - Accommodation's positive environmental perceptions Figure 24 - Accommodation's negative environmental perceptions vii Introduction Tourism has been expanding worldwide, with an increased economic and infrastructure development which contributed to the growth of tourism revenues. The expansion