Local support for tourism development and its determinants: an empirical study of Kashmir region

Kashmir, a politically sensitive region of the newly created union territory of India, is an attractive destination for tourists worldwide and is branded as “Heaven on Earth.” The existing research on tourism in Kashmir is centred on tourists and their well-being. Studies on the local communities are almost absent for the region even though it is an indispensable part of sustainable tourism. The present work is an attempt to analyse the factors that determine support for tourism by local residents in the Kashmir region. The primary data has been collected through questionnaire method from local residents of Pahalgam and Gulmarg, two top tourist destinations in the Kashmir region. PLS-SEM is applied for data analysis. Results revealed that economic benefits, economic costs, social costs, environmental benefits, political trust, and state of local economy had effects on the support for tourism development.