Impacts of tourism in predicting residents’ opinions and interest in tourism activities

The impacts of tourism influence residents’ attitudes and behaviour towards tourists and tourism-related activities such as festivals. Residents are the primary stakeholders of tourism development, considered as the backbone of the industry. Coastal towns such as Jeffreys Bay in South Africa are natural attractions receiving high numbers of tourists regularly. Therefore, on the one hand, residents have to adjust to the influx of tourists, but on the other hand, their support is also needed for the continuation of tourism-related activities and events throughout the year. The objective of this paper is to determine the role of tourism impacts in predicting residents’ opinions and levels of interest in tourism activities. A quantitative survey was completed in Jeffreys Bay, which revealed five tourism impacts. It was evident from the results that tourism should contribute to the development of the destination and the economic welfare of residents to create positive community attitudes. However, the value of the festival is viewed differently since the festival itself is not creating support, but the effects of the festival do. The challenge is to obtain and sustain their support even before they start to benefit from this industry.