[Bachelor thesis]
Tourism has impacts on smaller destinations too
A questionnaire study to determine any tourism effects on smaller destinations and its residents.
Authors : Felicia Carlström & Johanna Gustavsson Supervisor : Christer Foghagen Examiner : Hans Wessblad Semester : HT20
Subject : Tourism Science Level : Bachelor
Course code : 2TR42E
Abstract
Tourism is something that today is very common for most parts of the world. Tourism effects is a phenomenon that focuses on the effects of tourism which can affect destinations and residents in different ways. The most common are social, cultural, environmental and economic impacts. The purpose of this bachelor thesis has been to explore if there are any tourism effects and if so, what are they and in what ways can they affect a small rural area as a destination and the effect on the residents. For this purpose we have used an area called Glasriket in Sweden as an example. This study has used both qualitative and quantitative data with a deductive approach. After conducting our research, we then composed a questionnaire. The questionnaire was shared on our personal Facebook pages and also sent out through email to businesses, organizations and municipalities in Glasriket. In total, the empirical data was collected from 74 respondents. The results of the study showed that tourism is often perceived as positive. The positive effects of tourism outweigh the negative. It is clear that tourism has impacts on destinations in rural areas and not only on major cities or coastal areas. One conclusion is that yes, there are effects caused by tourism in Glasriket. There are several environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts in this area. It can also be concluded that tourism affects people and destinations in different ways and the ways the effects are perceived by residents might vary depending on factors such as cultural background, economic status and personal opinions.
Keywords
tourism, destination, rural tourism, triple bottom line, sociocultural effects, economic effects, environmental effects, Glasriket, residents’ attitudes, seasonality
Acknowledgements
We want to express our deepest gratitude to our respondents who have taken the time and
effort to answer our questionnaire. We would like to thank our mentor Christer Foghagen
for his time and advice during this process. Finally, we would like to say thank you to our
examinator Hans Wessblad and our opponents for their comments and suggestions.
Table of contents
1. Introduction 4
1.1. Background 5
1.2. Problem discussion 6
1.3. Research question 7
1.4. Purpose of research 8
1.5. Scope 8
1.6. Definitions 9
1.7. Disposition 10
2. Methodology 11
2.1. Method 11
2.2. Research design and approach 13
2.3. Selections 14
2.4. Ethical aspects 16
2.5. Limitations 18
3. Literature review 20
3.1. Destination 20
3.2. Rural tourism 22
3.3. Triple Bottom Line 24
3.4. Tourism effects 27
4. Study and results 39
4.1. Glasriket background 39
4.2. The choice of questionnaire 42
4.3. Questions used for the empirical study 43
4.4. The questionnaire results 46
4.5. Summary 54
5. Discussion 56
5.1. Positive or negative? 56
5.2. Tourism effects on destinations and its residents 58
5.3. Attraction value 62
5.4. The future of tourism in Glasriket 64
5.5. Realizations on our final study 65
6. Conclusions 67
7. References 69
8. Appendix 74
1. Introduction
In this first chapter, we will introduce the topic of this research paper with focus on destinations, rural tourism and potential tourism effects. Further, we will explain several main concepts that are important for this thesis. We will discuss the problem concerning tourism impacts on smaller destinations and then we will explain the purpose of this research paper and define our research question.
Changes in peoples’ socioeconomic status have given rise to more traveling as more people can now afford to travel more often and for longer periods of time. According to Rocca (2005) the tourism industry is constantly changing because society is changing.
Destinations have to adapt to meet the needs of the visitors. With this, Rocca (2005) means that if a destination does not adapt physically and socially then less people will visit. If a destination cannot handle the numbers of visitors then it can cause problems for both residents and visitors. Another perspective on the issues that tourism can have on a destination is given by Postma and Schmuecker (2017). They state that increased tourism could lead to conflicts between residents and visitors at the destination due to tourism having indirect and direct effects on the destination and the residents.
Tourism is a major topic and most countries in the world have some type of tourism
industry. There are many different types of tourism and the main focus of this research
paper will be rural tourism and smaller destinations. What consequences can tourism cause
for rural or small destinations? What positive and negative effects can tourism have for
small destinations and further development of rural areas? How does tourism impact the
residents of small destinations that are located in more rural areas? These questions are
important. to research further because research about tourism effects often focus on city
destinations and coastal areas, not on rural or small destinations.
1.1. Background
During the last decades, rural areas have been affected more by tourism than before. Rural tourism has existed for hundreds of years and is becoming more popular as of late. Rural tourism is about seeing the value in landscapes, the local culture and traditions and also nature (Robinson and Jamal, 2009). Tourism can mean different things for different people and rural tourism is no exception of this. Rural tourism is therefore hard to explain.
According to a website called Tourism Notes (2020), one definition of rural tourism is “the movement of people from their normal place of residence to rural areas for a minimum period of twenty-four hours to the maximum of six months for the sole purpose of leisure and pleasure. Rural tourism refers to all tourism activities in a rural area.”
WTO (The World Tourism Organization, 2020) defines tourism as “...a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which involve tourism expenditure”. Based on these definitions, the only difference between rural tourism and tourism in general is the very fact that rural tourism takes place in rural areas.
According to Dickinson and Robbins (2008) there have been studies that show that about
half of all tourists questioned the link between tourism and climate change but that they
know little about the impact they make as tourists. They continue to say that visitor traffic
can create tensions with the locals and can also threaten the natural attributes that drew
people to the area in the first place. Tourism activities in rural areas depend a lot on visitors
having their own car or at least having access to one by renting or borrowing from
someone they know. The attractions are usually spread out and might even be far from a
main road which can make them difficult to get to if the visitors have not been there
before. More often than not the public transport is not very good in rural places and in
places outside of cities.
One area which has this accessibility problem is Glasriket. Glasriket, or the Kingdom of Crystal as it is called in English, is the name of an area in Småland in the southeast of Sweden where most of the glass factories were built hundreds of years ago. Glasriket covers four different municipalities; Nybro, Emmaboda, Lessebo and Uppvidinge (Glasriket, n.d.) and they all collaborate with each other to make Glasriket the best destination possible. Some of the larger villages or towns in this area such as Nybro and Lessebo have train stations and more frequent public transportation. However, it is nothing compared to major cities and can still make it harder for residents and visitors to get anywhere without a car. To reach some of the smaller destinations in this area like Kosta, Orrefors or Målerås, a car is a must because there are no train stations and the buses leave very rarely.
1.2. Problem discussion
Saarinen (2004) states that tourism is a dynamic process and for the past decades, tourism has benefited from research and studies investigating tourist destination development. The need to study and understand tourism and the way it changes and grows as well as the consequences caused by tourism, has been growing more and more. Furthermore, Saarinen (2006) states that tourism impacts have been gaining more attention in research and development studies for several decades. Saarinen (2006) writes that tourism is based on people, goods and services, financial capital and ideas being moved around in some way.
Saarinen (2006) also states that tourism impacts include environmental, social, cultural and economic factors.
According to Saarinen (2004) tourism is developing fast and new destinations are
developing along with new facilities and attractions. Stylidis et al. (2014) argues that
tourism development has led to several economic, sociocultural and environmental
changes for the destination and for local residents. Because of this, it is important to further
investigate and study how tourism can impact destinations and the residents’ lives. Further,
it is explained by Stylidis et al. (2014) that by understanding the residents’ perspective, it
would be possible to minimize the negative impacts of tourism development which in turn
would lead to further development for the community. By researching and studying the
impacts caused by tourism on smaller destinations, our hope is to provide more information and knowledge concerning the tourism industry and development of tourism at small destinations. There is currently limited previous research about tourism impacts on smaller destinations and therefore it is important to study this and to understand how these tourism impacts can affect the local residents. There is almost no available information concerning the tourism impacts on an area such as Glasriket and its residents, in Sweden, at least not that we could find. We searched for research that did not necessarily focus on Glasriket or Sweden but we could not seem to find a lot of previous research related to more rural areas and the impacts of tourism. One major problem is accessibility, meaning that it is hard to reach the destination without having a car. Another problem is seasonality, which can cause traffic congestion during the peak season and could make it harder for residents to go about their daily lives. From a different perspective, there are also potential environmental issues as this area is rather rural and hard to reach without a vehicle.
Another possible environmental issue is littering, especially during the peak season when both international and national tourists visit Glasriket. Glasriket as a destination has some similarities with other destinations but there has been less focus on this area and other rural areas in research.
1.3. Research question
This research paper will focus on one main question: In what ways can tourism affect
small destinations and the residents?This research question was chosen because of the broad scope of it, as it allows us to
investigate if there are any potential tourism impacts on smaller destinations, and if there
are impacts, in what ways they could affect small destinations and its residents. We chose
to focus on investigating if there are any tourism impacts and if so, identifying how and in
what ways they affect smaller destinations and residents. We did this rather than focusing
on only identifying the potential impacts of tourism. This gives us more space and insight
into the potential issues with tourism in rural areas, using Glasriket as an example.
1.4. Purpose of research
The purpose of this research paper is to identify the possible effects of tourism on small destinations and their residents. We want to do this to bring awareness to the consequences of tourism in rural areas. This research paper will therefore include a study with the purpose to investigate if there are any tourism effects on Glasriket as a destination and if the residents have experienced any effects caused by tourism and tourists. We have chosen this topic because it is important to us to bring more awareness to the tourism impacts on smaller destinations and not to only focus on cities. We also think it is important to know how the residents in the Glasriket area perceive tourism impacts. By combining the theoretical part with the empirical study, the aim of this research paper is to answer our research question. Further, we have chosen to write in English as to allow for more people to take part in our research and perhaps learn more about this topic. We also think that this will allow us to challenge ourselves more and we can provide more research within this particular topic.
1.5. Scope
Tourism is a very broad topic and there are several different types of tourism. Because of this, we have decided to limit the scope of our research paper to a smaller geographical area in Småland called Glasriket, which will be used as an example in our study. The population of this area is the intended participants for our study. We have chosen this area because we want to focus on the effects that tourism can have on smaller destinations and its residents. Another reason for choosing this particular area is our own connection to it.
We both grew up in small villages in the Glasriket area and we have both worked in Kosta.
This limitation was made because of time constraints as well as the possibility of
conducting a better study and possibly interviews due to easier access. Because of the
COVID-19 pandemic, we have had to make some changes to our original ideas.
1.6. Definitions
Here are some definitions that are important while reading this thesis paper. Several concepts such as ‘destination’ and ‘tourism’ will be recurring throughout.
Tourism
“Tourism refers to the activity of visitors” (WTO, 2020) and the definition of what a tourist, or visitor, is has already been explained above. These trips that tourists take, both overnight trips and same-day trips, are tourism trips since tourism is the activity of visitors (UN, 2010).
Rural tourism
One definition of what rural tourism is has already been given but since the concept can be hard to explain we will give another definition from Loureiro (2014:6), who writes that rural tourism is “a market niche in the countryside, which involves lodgings with a small number of beds and a set of possible activities such as appreciating landscape, eating and drinking regional food and wine, visiting regional fairs, or learning how to make handicrafts”. This is something that we feel fit into smaller and rural destinations since there are usually a lot of nature and smaller and more unique businesses around.
Tourism effects
According to Hadjikakou et al. (2014) tourism impacts can be positive and negative. There are different types of effects caused by tourism. There are three main categories;
sociocultural, economic and environmental effects.
Tourist
“A visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound) is classified as a tourist (or overnight visitor),
if his/her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist)
otherwise” (WTO, 2020).
Destination
‘Destination’ is a concept that is used frequently within tourism but different people use it differently. It is possible that the concept creates confusion since it can mean so many different things depending on the context. It can be talked about as a narrative, a marketing object, a place where tourism happens, an attraction, a production system and a lot more (Framke, 2002).
Small destinations
There is no definition of what a small destination is, that we think would fit our intended research area. Based on the previous definition of ‘destination’ and our own knowledge and thoughts; we have decided that for this research paper, a small destination is a place where less than 15,000 people live. A small destination can be a major tourist destination but still have less than 15,000 inhabitants. One example is Kosta in Glasriket, where only about 1,000 people lived in 2019 (Wikipedia, 2020 A) and another is Orrefors where about 808 people lived in 2019 (Wikipedia, 2020 B).
1.7. Disposition
The first chapter (1) will provide a background to the topic and explain the main concepts of this study. In addition to this, the purpose of this research paper and the research question will be presented in this chapter. The second chapter (2) will cover methodology.
The third chapter (3) will focus on theory and chapter four (4) will focus on the empirical study. Chapter five (5) will be a discussion of the theoretical and empirical chapters.
Chapter six (6) will be the conclusions of our study and will answer the research question.
The last chapter (7) will be a reference list of sources.
2. Methodology
Chapter 2 is called methodology and here we will introduce our study and the chosen method. We will argue for our chosen method and approach as well as how we are going to use the method and approach to conduct our research study. We will explain the design, the creation of our questionnaire and the selections of respondents for our study. Finally, we will discuss possible limitations and other issues with this research paper and study.
2.1. Method
This research paper focuses on tourism impacts on the Glasriket area in Småland, Sweden, with focus on the residents’ perception of tourism effects. Glasriket is an area that is made up of four municipalities: Nybro, Emmaboda, Lessebo and Uppvidinge. We chose to use Glasriket as an example because it is a smaller area located in rural parts of Småland in Sweden and because we are both from this area. The area has also expanded over the last few decades and is a good example of tourism development. Glasriket is more than just a geographical area but for the purpose of this research paper and the study, Glasriket is mainly used as an example of a geographical area because we are both from the area and felt like we have good access to the residents there. The research study was conducted through a questionnaire. Since we both are from the area, we decided that we would share it on our own personal Facebook pages and asked our friends and family to participate and to share it with their family and friends. We wanted to study if the residents in this area have experienced any effects and if so, which impacts have they experienced and if they are affected by tourism and tourists. We also want to know if there are any tourism effects on Glasriket as a destination.
We started our research by first deciding on a topic that we both find interesting and that
we know is important to discuss further. There is plenty of research in regards to tourism
impacts, so we then decided that we wanted to focus on a smaller area and we decided to
focus on the impacts of tourism on small destinations. At the beginning of our research
process, we collected articles and other information, and we found that we could find very limited information about the tourism impacts on smaller destinations. Further, we decided on the area called Glasriket pretty soon as we found very little research about it. We decided on collecting articles that focus on tourism impacts, tourism effects on destinations and on tourism impacts on rural destinations. During the research process, we have revised and made some changes to our primary research question and purpose. We have done this so that it would be easier to specify exactly which problem we intend to investigate.
Åsberg (2001) explains that a method is a series of steps, or choices, that we make to get to where we want to be and how to get there. Further, Åsberg (2001) states that the concept
‘method’ comes from the greek word ‘méthodos’ (‘meta’ meaning after and ‘ho’dos’
meaning road). Based on this, method could be explained as how we do something to gather information and data through for example observations and questionnaires. As mentioned before, we have chosen to compose a questionnaire for our study and to conduct our study by sharing it on Facebook. Åsberg (2001) argues that a method is not qualitative or quantitative, but rather the data that is collected is. The way data is collected can not be either qualitative or quantitative. For the purpose of this research paper, we have decided to go with both qualitative and quantitative data. Åsberg (2001) states that qualitative comes from the latin word ‘qua’litas’ and according to Latdict (n.d. A) it means “character/nature, essential/distinguishing quality/characteristic”. Further, Latdict (n.d. B) explains that quantitative comes from another latin word; ‘qua’nitas’, which means “(specified) amount/quantity/sum, magnitude/multitude, quantity, degree, size”.
For our study, this means that we will collect both quantitative and qualitative data as in the questionnaire we ask a series of questions in regards to age, sex, residence and specific questions about their perceptions of tourism impacts. Quantitative data such as age and sex can be used to anlyse if there are any similiarties or differences in the answers.
Quantitative data will also be any answers that the respondents provide in terms of for
example degree or size.
2.2. Research design and approach
This research paper has two main parts; a theoretical and an empirical part. The theoretical part is a literature review focusing on the effects or impacts caused by tourism on small destinations and rural destinations. The literature review also focuses on the triple bottom line approach as the main tourism impacts are economic, sociocultural and environmental.
According to Snyder (2019), there are several different types of literature reviews. A systematic literature review is a complex type that among other aspects needs to cover all the research on the topic. Snyder (2019) further explains that a semi-systematic literature review is specifically designed for topics that are broad and can be used and studied in different ways and by various disciplines, which we feel will fit our research paper better than a systematic literature review. We think that this type of literature review is the best fit for our research paper. The empirical part will be the study conducted through a questionnaire that we developed. The study will focus on the residents’ perceived tourism impacts on Glasriket area, that they have noticed and been affected by. According to Smith (2017) there are two main approaches to use in research: deductive and inductive. An inductive approach is when the researcher bases their research on something that has previously happened and creates new theories. This type of research approach is based on empirical data. A deductive approach, is the opposite of inductive and focuses on already existing research and theories (Smith, 2017).
We decided to use a deductive approach for our research as there is plenty of research
regarding tourism impacts and destinations. It seemed like a better approach for our topic
and study, allowing us to use a literature review for our theoretical aspect and as a basis for
our research study. Smith (2017) further explains that a deductive approach aims to explain
and confirm or contradict previous theories. Deductive approaches are based on theoretical
data. Our research paper and study are deductive because of the theory base that we have
in our study. We want to determine if there are any links between the theory base we have
researched and the area Glasriket. We want to investigate if there are any tourism impacts
in Glasriket in relation to the previous research. Based on our study, it will be possible for
us to say something about the tourism impacts that exist in Glasriket and to further discuss
if it can affect the population and the destination, by finding any similarities between our questionnaire and the previous research.
2.3. Selections
For our questionnaire, we decided to share it on our Facebook pages and asked friends and family to answer it and then share it on their pages as well. We also asked people we know who work in Lessebo municipality to ask their colleagues to answer the questionnaire. This was done by either sharing the link for the questionnaire or by bringing the questionnaire with them on paper to work. Further, we emailed all four municipalities and also several businesses within Glasriket. This way we could reach even more people to participate in our study. When receiving any physical copies, we entered them into the digital questionnaire so we would have all the answers in one place. By distributing our questionnaire this way, the selection of respondents has been random, based on a few selected criterias, and all answers are anonymous. According to Bryman (2011) this process is called målstyrt urval, which we are going to call ‘goal-focused selection’ in English. This process of selection would easiest be described as a strategic selection of participants based on the purpose of the study. The participants are selected based on them having some knowledge about, or being in some way affected by, what the study aim to investigate. Further, Bryman (2011) explains that one kind of ‘goal-focused selection’ is the so-called snowball effect where participants are asked to participate in the study and then share it with other people that are relevant for the study. We have, based on this, chosen some criteria that all of our participants have to match to be included in the final study.
The main criteria that we chose to work with was that the respondents have to either work or live somewhere within the Glasriket area, for the results to be included in the study. We chose to conduct our study this way because it would allow our answers to be more accurate, coming from residents’ own experiences. Another criteria we chose to use was that most of the mandatory questions had to be answered for it to be included in the study.
We made some exceptions with the mandatory questions for the paper copies we received
as some had missed at least one question due to the way the questionnaire was printed and
because not all mandatory questions were marked as mandatory on paper. Even with only using a small selection of residents in Glasriket, it is possible to use our study to see if tourism impacts are generally seen as positive or negative and potentially which effects are seen as positive and negative. With all the previous research done on tourism impacts and residents’ attitudes towards them, it is possible with our study to gain further knowledge and insight in regards to tourism impacts on small destinations or smaller areas like Glasriket . Some of the questionnaires we received had answers that were not in line with the criteria we chose so those answers were not included in the study.
Questionnaire development
We wanted to develop the questionnaire as soon as possible so we could work with collecting data and the literature review parallel to each other. First, we decided to create a pilot questionnaire at the end of November to send out to a few selected people to see if the questions were easy to understand and answer as well as how long it took them to complete it. After this we composed the real questionnaire, giving ourselves approximately one month to collect data. The questionnaire was closed just before Christmas Eve. The questionnaire was designed to only take 5-7 minutes to complete and we decided to keep it short so more people would take the time to answer it. Based on our own experiences, questionnaires that are long and complicated are less likely to be answered. The questions were developed based on the literature review and after discussing it between us. The final questionnaire has 12 mandatory questions and 1 voluntary question. However, with physical copies not all mandatory questions were answered which might cause a credibility issue that we need to consider when analyzing the answers. We chose to include the voluntary question to see if anyone had anything else they would like to add, which would give us further insight into their thoughts.
The 12 mandatory questions are a combination of multiple choice questions, long and short
answers along with one question that allows for the respondent to grade how they are
affected by tourism in their area. First, to establish a baseline, we asked for the sex and age
of the respondent and then which municipality they live in. To allow for more people to
answer our questionnaire we decided to include people who work and/or live in the
Glasriket area, so the following question was which municipality they work in. Further, we asked what they think of tourism in Glasriket and what they think of the high numbers of tourists in Glasriket during the peak season. The main topic of this study is the perception of tourism impacts by residents in Glasriket, so naturally the most important question is related to tourism impacts. To make it easier for the respondents to answer, we decided to divide the tourism impacts into negative and positive and provide options for them to choose. We also asked a series of questions in regards to if they have experienced any effects in their daily lives and how often they interact with tourists. As we are currently living during a pandemic (2020-2021), we wanted to include one question regarding COVID-19 so we asked if the residents had experienced any differences between the summer of 2020 and previous summers. Then we asked if there were any changes within tourism that they would like to see in Glasriket and if there was anything else they would like to add.
2.4. Ethical aspects
It is important to consider the research ethics when gathering the empirical material. We chose some criteria that the respondents had to fulfill for their answers to be included in the study, which could lead to slightly different results than if we had had other criteria.
Further, we are aware that it is important to be critical towards any sources we have collected and to be critical of our own knowledge which might affect the outcome of our research and study. We have to be aware that it is possible that some of our respondents may not answer our questions truthfully as it might make them look bad even though their answers are anonymous and will only be used for our research paper. We also have to consider that everyone may not answer all of the questions.
We have decided to use the European code of conduct for research integrity and the
ethical rules. According to the ALLEA European code of conduct for research integrity
(2017), research is the search for knowledge that can be received through experimentation
and observations but also by doing a systematic study or thinking. ALLEA (2017) also
says that every good research practice has principles of research integrity that they are
based on. There are four principles that guide the researchers in their work but also their
engagement: Reliability: makes sure of the quality of the research and that it shows in the methodology, analysis, design and also the use of resources. Honesty: the researcher needs to be honest about everything that they do in a full, transparent and unbiased way when they review, develop, report and communicate their research. Respect: the researcher has to show respect for the environment, society, cultural heritage, research participants and colleagues. Accountability: the researcher is responsible for their research, from the very first idea to actually publishing it, for the management, supervision, mentoring and training (if it is needed) and also for the impacts it can have.
As mentioned before, the questionnaire was kept short so more people could answer it but we would also not know if the respondents answered them truthfully or not. We hope by using a variety of multiple choice questions and open answer questions, that the respondents will answer them as truthfully as possible. We take full responsibility and accountability for the results of this questionnaire and the research paper. As we chose to use the snowball effect to share our questionnaire, we have to keep in mind that it could spread very quickly and reach people who do not match our criteria. According to Bryman (2011) the validity of a study is based on how reliable the collected data is and the possibility to form conclusions based on the data. Furthermore, Bryman (2011) explains reliability as how relevant the chosen data collection method is for the purpose of the study. Based on this, we can conclude that the validity of our study is quite high as our respondents have knowledge about the topic we want to investigate and the reliability of our study might not be the highest because we only received 74 answers to our questionnaire, which is too low of a number of respondents to make any generalizations about our topic. Further, Bryman (2011) also says that results from a study using the snowball effect cannot be generalized because it is not representative of a population.
Since we chose participants from a limited population and because we used the snowball effect, we probably will not be able to make a generalization based on our study’s results.
However, with our study results and the high level of validity, we can give an indication of
what residents in Glasriket think about tourism effects as our respondents have first hand
experience of potential tourism effects in the Glasriket area.
2.5. Limitations
We realized that there are several limitations to our study that had to be considered beforehand and during the research process such as the validity of our study. One example is that we do not always have access to articles unless we want to pay for them or we would need a specific email address which we do not have nor could we get one. We had to adjust our search perimeters when we realized that the information we wanted on tourism impacts on smaller destinations is limited. Another limitation is that several of our sources are over 10 years old and may not be as relevant or reliable as when they were written. We also had time and money constraints so we had to change our previous ideas of how to conduct our research study. For example, we would have liked to randomly send out the questionnaire through mail to residents in the Glasriket area but this idea would have taken a lot more time and money than we had. This idea also would have had similar limitations as the online questionnaire we decided on, as it is possible that several respondents would not answer the questionnaire at all. As we could not travel to Glasriket to perform interviews or hand out questionnaires due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stricter traveling restrictions, we finally decided to conduct our study through an online questionnaire instead, as it was the better option with the pandemic and time and money constraints. An online questionnaire is also a more environmentally friendly option as it means that less paper being used, no car is needed to get around and it is a more time efficient option. With our criteria, there is a small risk of the credibility of our study being lower than if we had chosen to not include any questionnaires or questions that are missing answers. Due to the low amount of total answers, we decided to include questionnaires that might be missing answers to some questions.
Confirmation bias
According to Nickerson (1998) confirmation bias is the concept used to describe when somebody seeks to find evidence to confirm the personal beliefs, expectations or theories.
This means that we, unintentionally, seek information that confirms what we are looking
for and by doing so, ignore any information that might contradict our own theories and
beliefs (Nickerson, 1998). Based on this, it was important for us to thoroughly make sure
that we were not conducting our study to find evidence for our own beliefs but to answer
our research question. It was equally important to make sure that we looked at our research
question from different perspectives and thus seek information that might contradict our
own theories about this topic. Confirmation bias can affect how and from where we collect
our information as well as what information we seek and do collect. Whether we
succeeded in doing this or not, remains to be seen.
3. Literature review
In the third chapter we will further explain the important aspects of this research paper.
First, we will explain ‘destination’ and then discuss rural tourism to provide further background before continuing with the triple bottom line. We will discuss the different tourism impacts (sociocultural, economic and environmental) and connect them to Glasriket as a destination.
3.1. Destination
Destination has previously been defined in this research paper, with a definition provided by Framke (2002), and it gives an insight into what a destination could possibly be.
Another perspective or definition is given by the UNWTO and the United Nations:
“The main destination of a tourism trip is defined as the place visited that is central to the decision to take the trip. However, if no such place can be identified by the visitor, the main destination is defined as the place where he/she spent most of his/her time during the trip. Again, if no such place can be identified by the visitor, then the main destination is defined as the place that is the farthest from the place of usual residence”
(United Nations, 2010:13).
A destination could thus be anything; an entire city, a smaller place in a city like a museum or something like Astrid Lindgrens Värld in Vimmerby, Sweden or Disneyworld in Florida, United States of America. Destinations can also be different for different people.
According to Page and Connell (2009) there is a model called TALC created by Rickard
Butler. TALC stands for Tourist Area Lifecycle. This model describes how a tourist
destination develops over time and helps to understand how recreational places and
destinations can develop over time. According to Butler’s TALC model there are five
phases and then a destination can go into one of two phases, depending on the development
of the destination.
Bohlin and Elbe (2007) describes the first of the five phases as an exploration phase which is when a place or destination is first discovered by somebody. Here, the local inhabitants are a very important part of the destination and an important cooperation partner. It is still possible to make changes and start to build the product and the infrastructure of a destination. The second phase is the involvement phase which has the most focus on the cooperation with the local inhabitants. This is when marketing the place or destination starts and it is marketed to a specific target group. The amount of visitors is increasing.
Development is phase three when the place starts to develop from focusing on one target group, to a more broad and varied group of visitors. More focus on marketing and less focus on cooperation with the locals. Bohlin and Elbe (2007) further explains that the fourth phase is consolidation, which is probably the most important phase. The economy of the area is becoming more dependent on tourism and a lot of energy is put into marketing.
Nothing new is created but more focus is on the existing market supply. This phase is important for the future of the tourism product.
The final phase of the five is stagnation. This is the phase where the tourism product's success starts to sway and considerations need to be made about how to push the tourism product forward. How can the tourism product be changed and improved or developed further? There are several aspects to why stagnation happens. One aspect is that the place is well-known and popular but does not receive any tourists who have already visited before. This means that all tourists are new and those who have visited before are not interested in visiting again. Or it could be that tourists do not want to visit places with a lot of other tourists and potential overcrowding. Another aspect is that man-made attractions such as casinos are more attractive for tourists (Bohlin and Elbe, 2007).
Bohlin and Elbe (2007) explains that after a destination has gone through the five phases, decisions have to be made. Depending on which changes are made or not, the next phase could be rejuvenation or decline. This means that if changes are made then the destination could go into a rejuvenation phase and start to for example attract tourists again.
Meanwhile, if no changes are made then the destination enters a decline phase which
would mean that tourists chose other destinations with similar attractions and then the destination stops attracting tourists.
3.2. Rural tourism
Previously, we provided a definition of rural tourism as a concept, given by Loureiro (2014). This definition was “a market niche in the countryside, which involves lodgings with a small number of beds and a set of possible activities such as appreciating landscape, eating and drinking regional food and wine, visiting regional fairs, or learning how to make handicrafts”. We feel that this definition fits our research paper better because the Glasriket area is mostly focused on glass works and has developed around this particular handicraft.
This is also something that we feel has drawn a lot of people out to the countryside and rural areas. In 2020, because of COVID-19, ‘staycation’ seemed to have become a more popular thing. Travelling within your own country or around the area you live in to try and stop the virus from spreading has also given people the opportunity to see places that they might not have gone to otherwise.
Both Pesonen and Komppula (2010) and Komppula (2014) write that in some countries,
rural tourism is the same thing as farm tourism or nature tourism. Depending on where a
person is from, ‘rural tourism’ can mean different things, even for people living in the
same country. What rural tourism is for us might not be what rural tourism is for someone
else. UNWTO’s (2019:34) definition of rural tourism is: “a type of tourism activity in
which the visitor’s experience is related to a wide range of products generally linked to
nature-based activities, agriculture, rural lifestyle/culture, angling and sightseeing.” In our
experience this definition seems to be what a lot of people associate with rural tourism; the
agriculture, the nature and fishing. In a lot of people’s minds, ‘rural’ might be imagined as
a barn or a couple of houses somewhere surrounded by meadows or fields where there are
no internet or cell-phone reception. In some cases that is what ‘rural’ does look like but
rural tourism is a lot more. It is little villages and smaller communities that are just as
modern as cities.
Urbanisation is usually associated with cities and cities’ development and how it changes and evolves over time but it is something that happens everywhere (Andersson et al., 2017). The ability to actually become more urbanised wildly differs between municipalities, depending on if their population is growing or decreasing. A growing population can have problems like not enough places to live and segregation while a decreasing population can have less investments and resources to build new houses. Cities are still growing more than rural areas (Syssner et al., 2017) since it is in the cities that most things are; like jobs, shopping and places like museums and theaters. Some people prefer to live as close to their place of work as possible so that they do not have to put a lot of time travelling back and forth every day, while other people do not mind the travel if it means that they can live somewhere that is a little more quiet and has more space. In our experience while working in Kosta during the summers, Lessebo municipality (where Kosta is located) is doing what they can to become more urbanised and modern as well.
One example of this is that they have put up charging stations in different communities in the municipality where people with electric cars, or hybrids, can charge their cars while they are shopping. It is important for smaller communities, like the ones in Glasriket, to try to keep up with the demand of things like housing options, grocery stores, charging stations so that they can continue to attract people to the area, both to visit but also to move there.
Andersson et al. (2017) mentions that it is important for municipalities to work together
instead of seeing each other as competition, which some might do. One municipality might
be better at one thing while another municipality is better at something else. If they work
together and maybe make it easier for people to travel in-between the municipalities by
public transport, then it could be a more attractive place for people to visit or even move
to. The four municipalities in Glasriket are doing their best to do this, to work together to
make it as easy as possible for the people who are visiting the area to, for example, receive
information. If they actually succeed in doing this is only something that the visitors, and
residents, can answer.
3.3. Triple Bottom Line
According to Norman and MacDonald (2004), Kenton (2020) and Wikipedia (2020 C) the phrase ‘triple bottom line’ was coined by the British management consultant John Elkington in 1994. It was his way to examine and measure performance in corporate America. TBL believes that companies should focus just as much on the environmental and social concerns as they do on profits so that there are three bottom lines (profit, people and planet) instead of just one. ‘People’ are the employees, the workers involved in a company, but it is also a way to see how much society benefits from a company, a ‘social bottom line’ if you will. A company that uses TBL should pay fair wages and make sure that the working conditions in their factories are humane. They should also make an effort to give back to the community. The ‘planet’ part might be self explanatory and it is obviously about taking care of the planet in TBL as well. Global warming is a big issue and everyone has to do their part to help. A company
or an organisation using TBL should do their best to reduce their ecological footprint as much as possible. For example, be more efficient with natural resources, reduce waste, improve logistics and invest in renewable energy. ‘Profit’ has been the bottom line but for TBL businesses it is just one part of their plan (Kenton, 2020). The issue with using TBL is that depending on which approach we chose to use, the results will be different from the same study but with a different approach.
According to Kenton (2020) “TBL theory also says that if a company focuses on finances
only and does not examine how it interacts socially, then that company is not able to see
the whole picture, so cannot account for the full cost of doing business.” Companies should
be working on the three bottom lines at the same time but it can be challenging, especially
to try to measure the environmental and social bottom lines. Profitability is quantitative but
what makes up environmental and social responsibility is more of a subjective thing.
Kenton (2020) gives an example of; how do you put monetary value on an oil spill, or preventing one? Ignoring TBL in the name of profits can lead to some really bad things like damage to the ozone layer, the rainforest being destroyed and exploitation of labour.
Every company wants to maximise their profits and to do that they probably hire the least expensive labour possible while getting rid of their waste in the cheapest way possible.
Doing that will most likely result in the best possible profit for the company but it would probably result in horrible working conditions for the labourers and harming the natural environment and the people that live there. “Profits do matter in the triple bottom line—just not at the expense of social and environmental concerns.” (Kenton, 2020). In tourism, people represent sociocultural factors while profit represents the economic factors and the planet represents the environmental factors.
Norman and MacDonald (2004) argue that some businesses or people only use TBL to make themselves look good to the public and say that TBL promises more than it can deliver. The ‘social bottom line’ is brought up as an example of how it is not clear how companies report, measure or calculate it. Most businesses do keep records of their employees by having information about their gender and/or ethnicity and marketing departments try to track customer satisfaction. As far as we know, there is actually no kind of methodology done for the TBL, especially not for the social/people part. That means that companies can say whatever they want when asked about their ‘social bottom line’
because there is nothing to argue against them and since we do not know what the answer
should be. The environmental and social bottom lines can not be measured in currency,
something else needs to be used but it seems like it is up to each business to decide how
they measure ‘planet’ and ‘people’. It could be looked at by how and who the company
might donate money to; an orphanage or maybe a theater? But judging a company by who
or what they donate money to is quite impossible (Norman and MacDonald, 2004). Who
can say that donating money to an orphanage is better than donating money to a struggling
theater? There are a lot of facts and information that needs to be considered before judging
anyone; be it a business or a single person.
“While the triple bottom line approach is already embedded in the corporate business environment, it has been adapted and applied to wider tourism policies.” (Wise, 2016:31).
When considering future development and planning, especially in areas that are between two cities, scholars continuously think about the role that the tourism and leisure industry has. The aim is not only to transform the economic side of things but also to promote new environmental and social agendas that are relevant to the “three key contexts of sustainability” in TBL. TBL can be used to assess sustainability and having a sustainable development and management is an important thing among social scientists and they use that to evaluate trends in both tourism practices and urban environments (Wise, 2016).
Having a lot of tourists visit one place can absolutely have a positive impact on the destination’s economy but it can also put a lot of stress and pressure on both the destination and its environment.
Wise (2016) writes that it is a challenge because people from different countries and cultures may have different views on the environment and have different regulations where they are from. This can lead to misunderstandings and tourists thinking that it is okay to leave their litter in places where it is not. With TBL the focus and drive is more often than not on income and reviving and sustaining the economy but it has also become more and more about the people and planet (social and environmental sustainability) (Wise, 2016).
Stoddard et al. (2012) writes that only being motivated by or focused on the economic part can lead to market failure, which means that it is important for both the economy and the society to work together more. The economy and society are getting more and more attention and that requires organisations to become aware of their environmental and social impacts and to figure out more sustainable options and practices.
In the Brundtland Commission report that was written in 1987, sustainable development
was described as something that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the
needs of future generations” (Stoddard et al., 2012:234) and sustainable tourism seems to
be more and more common around the world. Many larger organisations are doing what
they can and developing strategies to become more sustainable in every way, not just in the
environmental way. For example, ecotourism has become quite big and it is defined as
“responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people” (Stoddard et al., 2012:245). TBL is a thing that is important but should probably be taken with a pinch of salt. As previously mentioned, it is hard to know what it actually is and has many critics because of that (Stoddard et al., 2012). Tourism is an industry that depends on its resources, no other industry’s economic success is so dependent on the success of local communities and the preservation of the environment and culture. Supporting the local communities, preserving the environment and financial growth are all important aspects of tourism and therefore TBL is being used more and more and focuses on the future of tourism and promotes everything local, like businesses and nature. If the economy grows then money can be invested in preserving the environment and also to educate the locals so that the future tourism industry is maintained, competitive and that the resources are not exhausted but sustained (Wise, 2016). Ensuring that the future for our children and grandchildren is secure and that they do not have to worry is something very important for a lot of people and everyone needs to do their part to ensure that it happens. One person can not do everything but everyone can do something.
3.4. Tourism effects
There are many different types of tourism effects and ways that tourism can impact destinations and the local inhabitants’ lives. It is important to understand how and why tourism can have impacts and lasting effects. It is also important to manage the positive and negative impacts caused by tourism ( Garrigós-Simón et al., 2015). Socio-cultural impacts and environmental impacts are less discussed than economic impacts are. Because of this, we have decided to focus on not only the economic effects of tourism but also the social, cultural and environmental effects as well as residents’ attitudes towards tourism and tourism effects.
Socio-cultural effects of tourism
Socio-cultural impacts caused by tourism include any impacts by tourism that affects the
daily life of residents and the local culture. There has been a major focus in research
regarding tourism impacts on residents and their perceptions of tourism impacts (see
Andereck et al., 2005 and Jaafar et al., 2017). Andereck et al. (2005) states that tourism can have negative impacts on the quality of life for residents. Crowding, traffic congestion, parking problems, increased cost of living, conflicts with tourists and changes for residents’ daily lives. Postma and Schmuecker (2017) state that tourism can cause conflicts between residents and visitors because of the effects tourism has on a destination and the residents’ daily lives. One example is irritation and annoyance among residents due to the amount of tourists.
Another is that with an increased number of tourists, facilities such as restaurants, museums, shops and hotels may be harder to access or possibly be inaccessible for residents, despite not only being for tourists. This overlap of usage could cause residents annoyance and interrupt their daily activities. Hall and Lew (2009) provides an example of this. They argue that tourists in Hawaii outnumber the local residents by over six to one.
With more tourists than local residents, it is something that could lead to conflicts within the communities on Hawaii if the tourists are too loud, impolite, litter or do not understand how things work on the islands. Another example of how conflict can happen between tourists and locals is during the summers when people migrate to the beaches and park their cars wherever they want. This also causes problems for emergency services, stopping them from actually reaching the beach if someone would need their help (Strömberg, 2019).
Another impact caused by tourism is rising prices as stated by Capocchi (2019). This
impact is mostly economic but can also have effects on the social and cultural lives of
residents. Local inflation can be a major economic issue for a destination and for the
residents who are affected the most by the rise in prices of residential housing, food,
services and goods. An overflow of tourists will cause problems for public transportation
and hospitals which also affects the local residents in the long run (Capocchi, 2019). The
issue of rising prices causes problems in residents’ social and cultural lives by making
facilities and services less available for them as they no longer have the opportunity or
means to take advantage of them. Residents who can no longer take part in local events
and social activities might suffer because of tourism. They may not be able to spend time
with their friends or go to local museums. Stylidis et al. (2014) argues that tourism provides the opportunity for cultural exchange but can also cause more crimes. More crime could make residents feel less safe where they work or live which might impact their daily lives. Cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts between tourists and residents, as with the Hawaii example given by Hall and Lew (2009).
To us it is clear that socio-cultural effects caused by tourism are less researched and have had less focus in research. Socio-cultural effects vary from person to person and what the individual person thinks of tourism. Someone who works within the tourism industry or places that may receive both locals and other visitors, such as restaurants and shopping centers, might perceive the social effects caused by tourism in a different way than someone who does not. A person with a specific cultural background or extended knowledge about different cultures may see tourists in a different light than others because of their experiences and background. There might also be a difference regarding other factors such as age and gender. Therefore, we have decided that it is important for us to determine which social and cultural tourism impacts the local residents in Glasriket perceive as positive and negative as well as their age and sex. Further, the socio-cultural effects of tourism led us to include where they live and where they work. These two questions were also used to establish a baseline so we could see who works and/or lives in the area we have selected as an example for our study. We then decided to include two other questions regarding what they think of tourism and tourists and how often the resident interacts with tourists, because it is important to know if there is a connection between the interaction with tourists and the residents’ perception of tourism impacts.
Perhaps the interaction between tourists and residents affect the residents’ perception of tourism impacts.
Environmental effects of tourism
