Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
This study analyses how residents of urban communities perceive the impact of tourism on
their community, as well as the attitudes that these residents have towards tourism. Most of
the previous tourism literature is focused on the visitor point of view. Although there are
some studies on residents’ perceptions and attitudes, almost all of them are located in small
rural communities and resort-type destinations. Therefore, there is a lack of research into
residents’ perceptions and attitudes in urban destinations. It is generally argued that
destinations have different characteristics, and therefore determinants of perceptions and
attitude formation might be different in each case. Barceloneta is a port neighbourhood in
Barcelona, which has been increasing in popularity since 1992, and is now one of the most
popular tourist areas in the city. Originally populated by sailors and fishermen, Barceloneta
now has a considerable part of the community living off tourism. However, an important
portion of the community has been protesting against the negative effects of mass tourism
since the summer of 2014. This paper has conducted 11 semi-structured in depth interviews
in order to look into perceptions and attitudes as well as the factors influencing them.
The results of this study have shown that residents perceive positive and negative impacts
regardless of their general opinion of tourism. The Barceloneta community seems to be
heterogeneous when it comes to their perceptions, where each individual develops different
attitudes as a result of observation and evaluation of the effects of tourism; this relates to the
Social Exchange Theory. The findings of this paper aim to assist urban planners with making
tourism development strategies with higher rates of acceptance within the community. More
acceptance of tourism development would contribute positively to the host-visitor
relationship, as well as to visitors’ overall satisfaction and destination image.
2016.
Impacts of tourism, attitudes towards tourism, community attitudes, urban tourism, perception of impacts, urban tourism, Barcelona, Barceloneta