Resident Perceptions of the Impact of Tourism on an Australian City

In this study, 508 residents of the Australian tourist city of Cairns rated the impact of tourism on a range of community facilities, as well as on individual and community life. Residents perceived major positive impacts within the economic sphere, major negative impacts on housing and crime levels, and overall perceptions of negative personal impact being associated with a change in the friendliness of local residents. Judgments about personal impacts were much more likely to be associated with perceptions of community enjoyment than were judgments about community impacts. Partialling out the effects of judgments of tourism's impacts on individual and community life revealed the importance of perceived friendliness of local residents. The relevance of these findings for host communities and the tourist industry is discussed.