Changes in Residents’ Perceptions of and Support to Tourism: A Longitudinal Study

Local people's reactions to tourism have been extensively examined in the tourism field, but mostly cross-sectionally. While cross-sectional studies may provide insights into reactions at a certain point in time, longitudinal studies are required to capture changes over time. Nevertheless, longitudinal studies are scarce, and the majority of these studies was conducted over short time spans. Therefore, long-term changes in local residents’ reactions to tourism have not been comprehensively explored. This study examines the transformations of the perceptions and support attitudes of local residents through data gathered three times over an 18-year period and contributes to filling the gap in the literature. The data was compiled using convenience sampling method in 2002, 2012 and 2019 in Kuşadası, an important sea-sand-sun tourism destination in Türkiye, and analysed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The findings reveal that both positive and negative impact perceptions do not shift linearly, and changes differ per impact item. While perceptions of positive economic impacts have generally decreased over time, other positive impacts have remained stable or even strengthened and negative impacts have weakened. On the other hand, despite significant decreases, local residents continue to express support for tourism.