Impact of tourism on lives of residents is of great importance for tourism industry for a range of reasons. Tourism development is undertaken in order to promote economic prosperity of the destination to improve wellbeing of residents. On the other hand, support from residents is of great importance for achieving positive overall experience for tourists.
In a series of works we investigated the relationship between tourism and satisfaction with life of German residents. We base our analysis on the data coming from SOEP annual survey in the period from 2000 to 2012. This data was enriched by data on tourism intensity taken from official statistics.
Our analysis is based on a theoretical model of satisfaction with life that stems from bottom up spillover theory of satisfaction with life. According to this model individual satisfaction with life is a collection of satisfaction with eight spheres of life of the individual: working life, material life, health, emotional life, relationships with friends and family, quality of environment, personal safety and community life. In this model tourism is assumed to influence overall satisfaction with life through community life.
We demonstrate that there is significant relationship between tourism and satisfaction with life of residents. We show that effect of tourism is different depending on spatial aggregation of data. Moreover, we underline differences of tourism impact in large cities compared to other destinations. Theoretical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Topics: Regional economy , Well-being