Is Toowoomba (Australia), "Challenging the Limits"? Community perceptions of tourism and economic development
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Author(s)
McLennana, Char-lee
Ruhanen, Lisa
Pham, Tien
Ritchie, Brent
Year published
2010
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Understanding and monitoring social norms and cultural beliefs is important for appropriately directing the tourism transformation process. This paper presents the results of an online survey which was administered to 115 stakeholders of Toowoomba, Australia, during August 2009, and builds on literature relating to community perceptions and attitudes of tourism activity and development. In assessing whether Toowoomba has been "Challenging the Limits" of its tourism transformation, this paper argues that, based on the community's perception, tourism in Toowoomba still has capacity for growth and development. Results suggest ...
View more >Understanding and monitoring social norms and cultural beliefs is important for appropriately directing the tourism transformation process. This paper presents the results of an online survey which was administered to 115 stakeholders of Toowoomba, Australia, during August 2009, and builds on literature relating to community perceptions and attitudes of tourism activity and development. In assessing whether Toowoomba has been "Challenging the Limits" of its tourism transformation, this paper argues that, based on the community's perception, tourism in Toowoomba still has capacity for growth and development. Results suggest that the community considers Toowoomba's point of differentiation to be its country atmosphere and laid back lifestyle, along with its beautiful gardens and quality urban facilities. However, the community had mixed opinions about economic development and tourism activity, which suggest there is potential for a paradox of transformation to arise. This study determined that these mixed opinions occur on three levels: 1) by different tourism activities, 2) by respondent for a single tourism activity, and 3) by respondent for economic development more generally.
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View more >Understanding and monitoring social norms and cultural beliefs is important for appropriately directing the tourism transformation process. This paper presents the results of an online survey which was administered to 115 stakeholders of Toowoomba, Australia, during August 2009, and builds on literature relating to community perceptions and attitudes of tourism activity and development. In assessing whether Toowoomba has been "Challenging the Limits" of its tourism transformation, this paper argues that, based on the community's perception, tourism in Toowoomba still has capacity for growth and development. Results suggest that the community considers Toowoomba's point of differentiation to be its country atmosphere and laid back lifestyle, along with its beautiful gardens and quality urban facilities. However, the community had mixed opinions about economic development and tourism activity, which suggest there is potential for a paradox of transformation to arise. This study determined that these mixed opinions occur on three levels: 1) by different tourism activities, 2) by respondent for a single tourism activity, and 3) by respondent for economic development more generally.
View less >
Conference Title
CAUTHE 2010: Tourism and Hospitality: Challenge the Limits
Copyright Statement
© 2010 CAUTHE. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the conference's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Tourism not elsewhere classified