The structural relationships between residents’ tourism-phobia, life satisfaction, length of residence and political leaning

Abstract

Tourism-phobia is a measure of residents’ annoyance by tourism based on the perceived impacts of the activity for their community. Understanding what shapes residents’ opinions on tourism impacts is necessary to comprehend tourism-phobia fully. This paper aims to analyse personal factors that have been insufficiently addressed, such as life satisfaction, length of residence and political leaning to explain residents’ tourism-phobia. A covariance-based structural equation model was used and empirically validated with self-reported information from 300 residents in the Canary Islands (Spain) who filled-in an online questionnaire. The results support previous hypotheses stating that annoyance intensifies when the perceptions of negative impacts (costs) increase and positive perceptions (benefits) decrease. Data also indicate that long-term residents perceive fewer benefits from tourism and are more likely to develop a phobia. Life satisfaction does not directly impact phobia but has an indirect effect due to its capacity to shape how individuals appraise tourism. Finally, a negative indirect effect of political leaning was found. Right-leaning residents perceive tourism as having more benefits than left-leaning residents. The findings provide a broader understanding of the root causes of tourism-phobia and offer a useful framework for identifying residents most sensitive to tourism’s impacts. This ultimately helps plan future management actions to cultivate resident-friendly tourism destinations.