The perceptions of tourism employees and their families towards tourism

Tourism Management 1994 15 (1) 5S61

The perceptions of tourism employees and their families towards tourism

A cross-cultural comparison

Abraham Pizam, Ady Milman and Brian King

The purpose of this study was to compare the perceptions of tourism industry employees and their families in a deveiop- ing country with their equivalents in a developed country. Two localities were selected exemplifying these characteristics, namely Nadi, Fiji and Central Florida, USA. A sample of 41 respondents who benefited directly from the tourism industry was extricated from a previous study conducted in Central Florida, USA and compared with a sample of 134 equivalent respondents in another study conducted in Nadi, Fiji. The results of the comparison indicated that despite the physical, cultural and economic dissimilarity between the two communities the attitude of respondents towards the tourism industry and their perceptions of the impact of tourism were remarkably similar. Both groups were highly supportive of their respective tourism industries in general terms, though Fiji expressed stronger support than Central Floridians. The impact of tourism on the community was perceived as positive from an economic point of view by both groups, but as negative in its impact on legal and environmental issues. The socio-cultural impacts of tourism were perceived as being mixed; some registered as negative whilst others were perceived as being neutral. Respondents from Fiji perceived the economic benefits to be more positive than their Central Florida counterparts.

Over the last 15 years, a relatively large number of studies have been conducted on residents’ perceptions of the impacts of tourism on their communities.

Abraham Pizam and Adv Milman are both in the Deoartment of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, PO Box 25000, Orlando, FL 32816-1400, USA. Brian King is Associate Professor, Victoria University of Technology, PO Box 14428 MMC, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia.

Submitted February 1993; accepted April 1993.

Such studies have focused on diverse locations and notably North America, South America, the Carib- bean, Europe, Africa, the Far East and Australia. Most of these studies concluded by observing that while a majority of respondents perceived the economic impacts of tourism to be mostly positive, the social-cultural, legal and environmental impacts were in many cases perceived to be negative and in some neutral. As noted by Jafarir in a comprehen- sive review of the English-language literature on the subject of ‘Tourism as a Factor of Change’ tourism has been perceived to cause cultural commercialization, promote staged authenticity2, generate social conflict, cause cultural paradoxes, and breed clashes of values,3 which result in misunderstanding and stereotyping.4 Furthermore, residents of tourist communities have perceived tourism to result in unwanted socio-cultural consequences such as re- sentment of tourists,’ socio-economic dependency,6 increased incidence of crime,7 prostitution’ and gambling.’ Despite the presence of these negative impacts, a large proportion of the studies found general support for the tourism industry amongst surrounding communities.

Several studies compared the attitudes of those residents who benefited directly from tourism with those who did not. Such studies as Pizam” in Massachusetts, Rothman” in Delaware, Kariel12 in Austria, Sternquist-Witter13 in Hawaii, Liu and Var14 in Hawaii, Schliiter and Var” in Argentina, Milman and Pizam16 in Central Florida, and King,

0261-5177/94/018953-09 0 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd 53

The perceptions of tourism employees and their families towards tourism: A Pizam et al

Pizam and Milman17 in Fiji found that residents who benefited directly from tourism, ie were employed in the tourism industry or were engaged in activities involved in selling goods and services to tourists, were more supportive of the tourism industry than those who did not. Furthermore, certain studies found that the perceptions of those who benefited economically from tourism were more positive than those who did not benefit economically.

While a number of studies have compared the perceived impacts of tourism among different communities within a single region, to the best of our knowledge only two studies18 have compared the perceptions of residents across different nations. In a study on local residents’ perceptions of the impacts of tourism in Hawaii, USA, North Wales, UK and Istanbul, Turkey, Liu, Sheldon and Var” discovered that residents’ perceptions about the impact of tourism on the environment were a universal concern in all three communities. However, the results sug- gested that residents living in areas with more mature tourist industries, ie Hawaii and North Wales, were more aware of negative environmental impacts than residents of less mature industries, ie Istanbul. For example, residents of Hawaii and North Wales perceived ‘environment’ as ‘ecology’ and were concerned about it, while those of Istanbul, Turkey, associated environment with facilities, natural beau- ty and promotion. The study also pointed out that where tourism is a significant part of the economy (Hawaii and North Wales), residents were primarily concerned with the negative impact on their environment. However, in Turkey, which is constantly expanding its tourism industry, respondents were concerned with development of facilities, hospitality and promotion.

The Pizam and Telisman-Kosuta’” study was a comparative study conducted under the auspices of the European Centre for Coordination of Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (Vienna Cen- tre) for the purpose of examining the long-term socio-cultural effects of tourism on host communities. The study was carried out by local researchers in seven countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Spain, UK (Wales), USA (Florida) and Yugoslavia - each of whom administered an identical questionnaire to residents of one or several tourist communities. The results of the first-phase cross-national comparison showed that: (a) while all respondents from the seven countries were supportive of their tourism industries only the Yugoslavs supported an increase in the tourist populations; (b) in all countries, residents perceived tourism to induce positive economic impacts but at the same time to create negative socio-cultural changes; (c) the perceived negative socio-cultural changes in all the seven countries were: decrease in honesty, friendliness, sincer- ity and confidence among people and an increase in theft, alcoholism and openness to sexual permissive-

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ness; (d) as to the difference in the magnitude of the socio-cultural changes, the Spaniards, Yugoslavs and Hungarians perceived fewer negative impacts than the Welsh, Polish and Bulgarians. Since the Spaniards, Yugoslavs and Hungarians were also found to be the least attached to past traditions in their attitudes towards family and community, and the Polish were the most attached, it is possible to conclude that perception of the magnitude of socio- cultural changes induced by tourism is affected by cultural differences within the community. Com- munities that have a strong attachment to their historic culture will perceive tourism to cause more socio-cultural changes than communities which have embraced modern Anglo-American culture.

In addition to cultural differences, it is possible that the residents’ perception of the socio-cultural impacts of tourism varies by ethnicity. This is a sensitive and significant issue which deserves full attention. Unfortunately the current literature on this as ect

2P is rather limited and inconclusive.

Samy, in a study of residents’ perceptions of tourism in Fiji, pointed to a stronger disenchantment amongst Indians-compared with Fijians - regarding the effects of tourism on their communities. How- ever, a study by Plangez2 found a high level of support for tourism among both the Fijian and Indian populations. He stated that ‘within the country and amongst the various races and ethnic groups, there exists an overwhelming feeling of friendliness and receptivity towards tourists’. He did, however, identify a major concern amongst residents that tourism was leading to a commercialization of culture.

None of the studies cited, however, tried to examine separately the attitudes and opinions of tourism employees and their families, and to compare those across countries. Two of the above-mentioned studiesz3 employed identical methodologies and included among their respondents groups that were either employed in the tourism industry or had family members employed in this industry. In the light of such similarities, the authors have seen fit to extricate the data from the original samples and to compare them.

Our intent was to compare the attitudes towards tourism of residents who were employed in the tourism industry, or had family members employed in the tourism industry, in two markedly different communities: Central Florida, USA and Nadi, Fiji. Such a comparison offers the possibility of laying some early building blocks towards the development of a cross-cultural theory on the social impacts of tourism. More specifically we intended to examine whether the perceptions of tourism employees and their families might be similar, across different communities, in spite of the existence of very divergent economic, geographical, cultural and touristic situa- tions.

Tourism Management 1994 Volume 15 Number I


Tourism development in Central Florida and Nadi, Fiji

Central Florida

For the last 17 years tourism has been the largest industry in Central Florida. In 1991, close to 13 million domestic and international tourists visited the area and spent more than $7 billion on goods and services. With a current population of one million residents the ratio of tourists to residents is 13: 1, one of the highest in the world.

The man-made attractions of Central Florida such as Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, Universal Studios and Sea World are world re- nowned and are considered by many to be the major reason for visiting the area. Central Florida houses a large civic centre plus many secondary convention centres located in large hotels, and these attributes have placed the area in the top ten US destinations for convention tourism. The area has more than 75 000 hotel/motel rooms and tens of thousands of restaurant seats. Despite the current lull in tourist visitations caused by the world-wide recession, tourism within Central Florida is expected to expand further and to retain its position as the major component of the region’s economy. While the tourism industry has not met with any vocal opposi- tion from the resident population, many in the community recognize its negative social and environmental impacts and understand the shortcomings of relying on a tourism-dominated economy.24

Nadi, Fiji As is the case with Central Florida, tourism is the largest single economic activity in the Republic of Fiji, a group of 322 islands located in the South Pacific. The permanent population of Fiji is 725 000 and consists of two major ethnic groups, Fijians and Indians, with smaller numbers of Chinese, Euro- peans and other Pacific islanders. In 1991, Fiji hosted 279 000 international visitors (a ratio of 0.38 tourists per resident) and earned US$23.5 million from the sale of tourism goods and services? Fiji is the major tourism destination in the South Pacific in terms of volume and value.26

The main tourism attraction of Fiji is its warm weather and unique culture which blends Polyne- sian, Melanesian and Indian. Most of the country’s resort zones are located within easy reach of the main international airport at Nadi. The largest inte- grated resort in Fiji is Denarau (a 500 acre-plus complex consisting of accommodations, food and beverage outlets, recreation and entertainment, sport and shopping facilities) and is located a few kilometres from Nadi. The popular Mamanuca Is- lands and Coral Coast are located between 30 mi- nutes and two hours from Nadi airport by sea or land transfer. Nadi, the Coral Coast and the Mamanucas are the country’s most developed tourist zones and


account for 64% of the country’s room capacity. Nadi functions as a tourist transit town. Most visitors stay for a night, and then head off to the resorts. Local residents have a high level of exposure to tourists and those who are employed in the tourism industry are highly supportive of it though they recognize its negative social impacts.27

Methodology

Since both studies employed an almost identical questionnaire it was possible to extricate from the samples of each study those respondents who: (1) were directly employed in the tourism industry; (2) were associated with the tourism industry (eg employed in retail business selling mostly to tourists); or (3) had one or more of their family members employed in the tourism industry.

Instrument The questionnaires used in the two studies were similar. Only a few minor modifications were made to the survey instrument. Such alterations as were made attempted to minimize any misunderstanding of the questions that might have arisen because of different cultural and economic values. Each survey consisted of 39 questions divided into the following categories: 16 questions involved perceptions of tourism impacts, 11 sought to elicit demographic information, seven asked about attitudes towards tourism, and finally five related to perceptions held towards tourists and the nature of relationships between residents and tourists.

Sampling Central Florida. In the earlier study, a sample of Central Florida residents was drawn from the local telephone directory. Tables were then drawn up on a computer using random sampling. Strata sampling of residents of Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties was drawn up in proportion to the number of residents in each county (60.1% , 35 .O% and 4.9%) respectively). The response rate for each stratum was uniform. Interviews were conducted in the fall of 1987 by experienced telephone interviewers employed by a local marketing research company. Calls were made to households during weekdays between 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm. First-time calls supplemented by two call-backs for no-replies were made to 351 households, with respondents completing interviews in 203 households, for a response rate of 57.8%. Out of the above 203 respondents, 41 benefited directly from tourism and therefore were included in this study.

Since the demographic characteristics of the subsample (n=41) were found to be identical to those of the entire sample (n=203) and in turn those of the sample were identical to the population of Central Florida, it is valid to deduce that despite its relatively

55


small size, this subsample was representative of the subpopulation of Central Florida residents who benefited from tourism.

Table 1. Attitudes towards tourism - differences between Central Florida and Nadi, Fiji (t-tests).

N&i, Fiji. In the earlier study on Fiji a sample of 199 households in the Nadi area was undertaken from a total population of approximately 7500 people. The geographical nature of the local community deman- ded that a cluster sample be undertaken. Interviews were conducted by experienced interviewers who were part-time students at the University of the South Pacific. Visits were made to households between 3:00 and 9:00 pm, with a view to obtaining a balance between day and night workers. Interview- ers asked to speak to the adult male or female head of the household. Each third property on one side only of each street was incorporated into the sample, in order to achieve a representative group within the relevant communities. The interviewers sketched out target households, prior to the commencement of fieldwork. As it turned out an absolute majority of the respondents were employed in the tourism industry, had family members employed in it or were closely associated with the tourism industry. Of these households, 134 were selected for inclusion in the comparison study because they were considered as benefiting directly from tourism.

Variable’

Feeling about presence of tourists Tourism impact on town’s image Tourist numbers should decrease/increase Overall opinion of tourism industry

Mean CF Mean Fiji t-value

4.5 4.3 1.2 3.7 4.4 -4.02b

3.9 4.2 -1.83 4.4 4.1 -4.5b

/Votes: a l-5 scale where 1 = most negative and 5 = most positive b Statistically significant at 0.05 level.

Land Trust Board). It is possible that respondents’ opinions might have been positively biased, because of a reduced inclination to express dissatisfaction with various aspects of tourism in the area. Second, though both ethnic groups, Fijians and Indians, were interviewed in almost equal proportions, owing to an unintentional oversight, the interviewers did not mark the ethnic origin of the respondents. Conse- quently, it was impossible to do any detailed analy- ses distinguishing between the attitudes of ethnic Fijians and ethnic Indians. Hence, this study, while representative of the sample population as a whole, may not have been representative of each separate ethnic group.

Limitations

Results

Attitude to wards tourism Since the current study is based on data collected in two different studies, the limitations of these two earlier studies must be acknowledged as well as the limitations relating to the current comparison.

With a few notable exceptions, the opinions expressed in the Central Florida study were not significantly different from those in the Fiji study. Residents in both locales expressed:

Limitations relating to the current study. The Central Florida study was conducted in 1987 whilst its coun- terpart in Fiji was conducted four years later, in 1991. Consequently it is possible that the time span between the two studies might have affected the results.

Limitations relating to the Central Florida study. Because respondents were generally aware that their opinions were sought by a tourism institute at their local state university they might have been less likely to express dissatisfaction with various aspects of the tourism industry (a phenomenon described in the research methodology literature as ‘social desirabil- ity’). In addition, since the telephone numbers were drawn from a published telephone directory, the sample may have been biased against those respondents who had unlisted numbers.

positive feelings about the presence of tourists in their towns; thought that tourism had a positive impact on the image of their towns; had a generally positive opinion of the tourism industry; thought that local inhabitants willingly accept jobs in the tourism industry; and would recommend a job in the tourism industry to a friend (Tables l-2).

In the two cases where there were significant differences, Fiji respondents thought that tourism had more of a positive impact on their town’s image than did Central Floridians, but Central Floridians had a better overall opinion of the tourism industry than their Fiji counterparts.

Limitations relating to the Nadi, Fiji study. First, Nadi and its surrounding villages benefited financial- ly from the Fijian tourism industry through the payment of direct royalties (ie a percentage of turnover) by tourism enterprises to the local communities albeit through a central agency (The Native

As to the reasons for the difference in the opinions about the impact of tourism on the town’s image, we theorize that this is due to the nature of Fiji and its tourism. Fiji is an island relatively isolated from the rest of the world while Central Florida is part of the mainland USA, easily accessible by all modes of transportation. Furthermore, the tourist population of Fiji is primarily made up of international tourists, while in Central Florida close to 85% of its tourists

56 Tourism Management 1994 Volume 15 Number I


Table 2. Attitudes towards tourism - differences between Central Florida and Nadi, Fiji (chi-square tests).

Variable’ % CF % Fiji Chi square

Willing to work in the tourism industry 90.2 97.0 3.2 Suggesting a job in the industry to a friend 90.5 89.6 0.03 Preferring a tourism occupation 29.8 70.1 31.2b

Notes: a percentage responding yes. b Statistically significant at 0.05 level.

are domestic. Therefore, it is logical to assume that the residents of Nadi, Fiji see tourism as having a major impact on their town’s image by ‘putting it on the world map’.

As evidenced in Table 3 the less positive attitude of Nadi residents towards the tourism industry generally results from the more pronounced negative opinions that they expressed towards its influence on their social-cultural milieu. Nadi and its surroundings are a relatively small area and the life-style of its residents is traditional, involving participating in pronounced Fijian and Indian cultural practices. Any negative social impacts introduced by international tourists would be more easily de- tectable in Fiji than in Central Florida.

Residents of Fiji appear to have a more positive attitude towards employment in the tourism industry. The wider range of well-remunerated positions outside tourism in Central Florida may explain the lower status accorded to tourism employment there. In Nadi, the major alternative employment is agri- culture and specifically the cultivation of sugar-cane. Alternative opportunities are more limited and are certainly less lucrative.

Tourism impacts Segregated variables. In the earlier studies respon- dent opinions were sought concerning the impact of the tourism industry on a variety of issues. Sixteen areas (variables) were evaluated with regard to the impacts of tourism. A response of 1 was an indica- tion that the variable had been ‘significantly worsened’ by the tourism industry, a response of 5 that it had been ‘significantly improved’.

As can be seen from Table 3, employment opportunities, income and standard of living, the town’s overall tax revenue and quality of life were perceived as being improved by tourism in Central Florida. The same variables were also perceived as being improved as a result of tourism in Nadi, Fiji. However, in the case of Nadi, Fiji, courtesy and hospitality to strangers, attitudes toward work and mutual confidence among people were also perceived as improving because of tourism. On the other hand, traffic conditions, individual crimes, organized crime (crimes which are the product of groups or organizations), drug addictions and alcoholism were perceived as worsening as a result of tourism in both Central Florida and in Nadi. Sexual permissiveness was also perceived as worsening by Nadi respondents. The mean (around 3.0) for the other variables may indicate that the level of tourism was seen as having little impact on them. Among these variables were included: morality, politeness and manners, and people’s honesty.

When comparing the statistical difference between the two samples, several conclusions can be drawn. First, while there was no statistically significant difference between the grand means (an index of all 16 variables) of the two samples, in eight out of

Table 3. Tourism impacts.”

Variable’

A: employment opportunities 8: income and standard of living C: town’s overall tax revenue D: quality of life in general E: courtesy and hospitality to strangers F: attitude toward work G: mutual confidence among people H: politeness and good manners I: morality J: people’s honesty K: sexual permissiveness L: alcoholism M: drug addiction N: organized crime

(crimes which are the products of groups or organizations)

0: individual crimes (planned and conducted by individuals)

P: traffic conditions Grand mean

Mean CF” Mean Fijib t-value

4.1 4.4 -1.91 4.0 4.1 PO.79 3.8 4.2 ~2.3’ 3.8 3.7 0.73 3.3 3.7 -2.8’ 3.2 3.9 -6.4’ 3.1 3.6 -4.6’ 2.9 3.1 -1.3 2.9 2.8 0.77 2.9 2.8 1.2 2.8 2.2 3.9c 2.6 1.9 5.9c 2.5 2.0 3.4c 2.4 2.1 1.4

2.3

1.8 2.4 -3.9c 3.02 3.06 -0.14

2.1 1.4

Notes: a ‘What impact do you think the current level of tourism would have on the following issues?’ b 1 = Significantly worsen; 2 = worsen somewhat: 3 = not make any difference; 4 = improve somewhat; 5 = significantly improve. c Statistically significant at 0.05 level.

Tourism Management 1994 Volume 15 Number I 57


the 16 individual variables a statistically significant difference was found between Central Florida and Nadi. In five of those variables Fiji respondents perceived tourism impacts to be more positive than Central Floridians. In the remaining three variables Fiji respondents perceived the impacts to be more negative than Central Floridians. The more positive variables were: town’s overall tax revenue, courtesy and hospitality to strangers, attitude towards work, mutual confidence among people and traffic conditions. Sexual permissiveness, alcoholism and drug addiction were the more negative variables.

While the reasons for these differences cannot be ascertained at this stage, it is nevertheless possible to hypothesize as to the probable causes. In our opinion, Fiji respondents perceived the social impacts of courtesy and hospitality, attitude toward work and mutual confidence among people to be more positively impacted by tourism than did Central Flori- dians because of the two factors mentioned earlier, namely the fact that most tourists were and are international and that Fiji is a geographically isolated country. Nadi respondents seemed to be of the view that self-respect and confidence resulted from Fiji being ‘placed on the world map’ and creating much needed foreign exchange through contact with apparently wealthy foreigners.

Since friendliness to tourists is a highly advertised and emphasized aspect of Fiji’s tourism industry (the ‘land of smiles’), all those employed in the industry appear to have learned to extend as much hospitality and courtesy as they can. The result is a high level of courtesy and hospitality, permeating throughout the tourism industry, though some critics have claimed that it creates an element of artificiality. Last but not least, hospitality and tourism jobs require adherence to routine and a high level of reliable uniform service to guests. In Fiji the highest priority is traditionally given to communal and family responsibilities by the indigenous population, sometimes at the expense of work in the western sense. Attitudes of employees towards work in general and to service jobs in particular have had to be reformulated, often by expatriate managers. Clearly tourism employees in Fiji who had previously been involved in traditional agricultural occupations have experienced much greater changes in their attitude to work than their counterparts in Central Florida.

In our opinion, an increase in sexual permissiveness, alcoholism and drug addiction has been attributed by most Fiji respondents to the increased interaction between local residents and foreigners. Fiji, being an isolated country with a traditional agrarian culture, had limited experience of interaction with foreigners and the culture that they brought with them prior to the development of the country’s tourism industry. Since most visitors are international as opposed to domestic tourists, the association between foreigners and tourists is almost

58

automatic in the minds of most of the Fiji population and tourism is blamed for an increase in the ‘undesir- able’ activities mentioned previously. The influence of the moral preachings of the Christian Churches is also very much in evidence in Fiji, as is the case with most countries of the South Pacific. Church attend- ance is high and, as a legacy of the 19th-century missionaries and the Churches, believers form a powerful pressure group within the country. This is in sharp contrast with the highly secular Australia and New Zealand, which account for some 4.5% of all visitors to Nadi. It would not be surprising if increased permissiveness was attributed to the incur- sions of secular foreigners. Fiji has also been to some extent shielded from international cultural influ- ences because of the nature of its media. Regular television broadcasting commenced only in late 1991. The absence of television as a catalyst for change may have sharpened the focus on tourism as a cause.

In marked contrast, Central Floridians have been exposed to metropolitan values through TV, news- papers and personal travel. The locale is a part of and is surrounded by US culture in which sexual permissiveness, drugs and alcohol are a part of daily life. In this context there may be a tendency to be less critical of the tourism industry and to blame it less for introducing these activities into the community.

Finally, the more negative perceived impact of tourism on traffic conditions in Central Florida as compared with Fiji merits some consideration. A likely explanation is the volume of traffic in the two communities. In Fiji most tourists arrive by air and are transported by taxis, limousines, coaches or boats to a resort area where they spend most of their vacation time. In Central Florida most tourists either drive to the destination in their own private car or, if they arrive by air, they subsequently rent a car. This, along with the fact that Central Florida hosts about 13 million tourists per year compared with 280 000 tourists in Fiji, may explain why traffic is perceived as more of a problem in the North American example.

Aggregated variables. To test for possible combined effects, four indices were created out of the 16 impact variables. Index one, the Total Index, was an average of all 16 impacts, index two, which we termed the Economic Index, was composed of variables A-C (employment opportunities, income and standard of living, town’s overall tax revenue), index three - SociaE Index - was composed of variables D-K (quality of life in general, courtesy and hospitality to strangers, attitude toward work, mutual confidence among people, politeness and good manners, morality, people’s honesty, sexual permissiveness) and index four - LegallEnvironmental Zndex - was composed of variables L-P (alcoholism, drug



addiction, organized crime, individual crimes, traffic conditions). These indices were developed in the two earlier studies. Following the creation of the indices a series of t-tests were conducted to analyse the statistical differences between the two samples.

Table 5. Perceptions of tourists-differences between Central Florida and Nadi, Fiji (chi-square tests).

The results showed that in three out of the four indices noted above there were no statistically significant differences between Central Florida and Fiji. Central Florida and Fiji did not differ from each other in either the Total Index or the SociaE Index, or in the LegallEnvironmental Index. In other words, when the individual variables in each of the respective indices were combined, the perceptions of Cen- tral Floridians towards the total impacts of tourism as well as towards the social and legal/environmental impacts of tourism did not differ from the perceptions of the Nadi residents. However, a statistically significant difference was found between Central Florida and Nadi in the Economic Index (mean Central Florida=3.9, mean Fiji=4.2, t=-2.4). The residents of Nadi perceived the economic impacts (benefits) of tourism to be greater than the residents of Central Florida. This finding is not surprising since, as mentioned before, in the case of Nadi the tourism industry pays direct royalties to the communities in which it operates and a large proportion of residents in the area are employed in the tourism industry or sell products and services to tourists. In Central Florida, however, there are no such direct payments and the economic benefits are indirect and not as visible as in Fiji.

Variable % CP

Maintaining correspondence with past tourists 40.5

Notes: a Percentage responding yes. b Statistically significant at 0.05 level.

% Fiji’

61.2

Chi square

5.6’

that they perceived little difference between these tourists and themselves.

As to social relations, the results summarized in Tables 4 and 5 show that the residents of Nadi maintained greater contact with tourists, both face to face and through correspondence, than Central Floridians. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is the friendliness of the people of Fiji; another may be the fact that many Indians and ethnic Fijians have emigrated, particularly to Au- stralia and New Zealand. Friendships made by these groups overseas may have encouraged the con- tinuing personal associations, especially through family contacts.

Demographic differences

Perception of tourists and relationships with them A few questions addressed the issue of residents’ perceptions of tourists. As can be seen from Table 4, Fijian perceptions of tourists were significantly different from Central Floridians’ perceptions. Since practically all tourists visiting Fiji are international, and a large proportion of those are racially, re- ligiously and culturally different from the people of Fiji (both ethnic Fijians and ethnic Indians), it is only natural for Nadi residents to perceive these tourists to be quite different from themselves. In contrast to this, an absolute majority of tourists visiting Central Florida are North Americans and the remainder are international tourists, mostly European. Central Floridians expressed the view

Table 4. Perceptions of tourists - differences between Central Florida and Nadi, Fiji (f-tests).

As can be concluded from Tables 6 and 7 the demographic characteristics of Central Florida residents differed from their Fiji counterparts in several ways. They raised fewer children, and had lived a shorter period of time in their town. Central Florida had a higher proportion of single-occupancy households and a lower proportion of males, children living in their household, and employment on a full-time basis. Some of the demographic characteristics influenced the attitudes of Nadi residents but did not appear to influence significantly the attitudes of Central Floridians towards the tourism industry. Having children in the household was found to affect Nadi resident attitudes towards the tourism industry in two ways. On the one hand those respondents who had children under 18 living in their households were more supportive of tourism than those who did not (means of 4.3 and 3.6, respectively). On the other hand, the higher the number of children living in the household, the lower was the respondents’ support for tourism (r=-0.42). In other words, the fewer the number of children in the household the higher the support for tourism but having no children at all diminishes the level of support significant-

1Y.

Variable Mean CF Mean Fiji t-value

Difference between tourists and local9 3.4 1.7 6.7’ View of overseas touristsa 2.2 1.3 4.4c Social relations with touris&’ 2.0 2.6 -4.5c

Notes: a 1 = Very different; 2 = somewhat different; 3 = in some ways different and in others similar: 4 = somewhat similar; 5 = very similar. b 1 = Have no contacts with tourists; 2 = have some contacts with tourists; 3 = have constant contacts with tourists. c Statistically significant at 0.05 level.

Discussion and conclusions The results of this study suggest that despite the obvious differences between Nadi, Fiji and Central Florida, USA, employees of the tourism industry and their families in both communities had very similar attitudes and opinions about the tourism industry and its impacts. As expected, both com-

Tourism Management 1994 Volume 15 Number 1 59


Table 6. Demographic characteristics - differences between Central Florida and Nadi, Fiji (t-tests).

Variable Mean CF Mean Fiji t-value

Number of children 1.4 3.4 -6.1a Years lived in town 4.0 4.9 -4.5=

Note: a Statistically significant at 0.05 level.

Table 7. Demographic characteristics - differences between Central Florida and Nadi, Fiji (chi-square tests).

Variable % CF’ % Fiji’ Chi square

Singles (all types)b 27.8 17.1 13.9d Children under 18 in household 35.0 79.0 63.3d Full-time employed 59.6’ 99.3 71.7d Males 51.2 63.6 5.ld

Notes: a percentage responding yes. b Including unmarried, divorced and widowed. ‘The remaining 40.4% included: part time (6.4). unemployed (2.5), retired (22.2), homemaker (6.9) and student (0.5). d Statistically significant at 0.05 level.

munities were highly supportive of the tourism industry, though to some extent respondents from Fiji were even more supportive of its presence than Central Floridians. The difference in the level of support for the tourism industry could be explained by the high visibility of the financial contributions of tourism and its direct impact on the local residents in the case of Fiji.

Both groups of respondents perceived the impacts of tourism very similarly, with only a few exceptions. They perceived tourism as having positive impacts on their local economy, a combination of positive impacts and no impacts on the social-cultural milieu of their communities, and mostly negative impacts on legal and environmental factors in their communities. In the few cases where the opinions of Nadi residents differed from those of the Central Floridians, the differences could be explained by local conditions such as heavy traffic in Central Florida, the large ethnic and cultural differences between tourists and hosts in the case of Fiji, the physical and cultural isolation of Fiji prior to the advent of tourism and the quick change from an agrarian-based economy and culture to a services- based economy and culture in Fiji.

The one area where large significant differences were observed between Central Florida and Nadi residents was the perception of tourists and the magnitude of relationships between hosts and tourists. Fijians perceived themselves to be very different from tourists, while Central Floridians perceived themselves as being rather similar to tourists. The different perceptions evidenced in the two samples can be attributed to the make-up of the tourist populations in the two communities. While Central Florida is dominated by fellow American tourists, Nadi is dominated by international tourists from developed western countries. In spite of the greater perceived difference between tourists and hosts in

60

Nadi, residents claimed to have more frequent and more lasting social relationships with their tourists than their counterparts in Central Florida. As previously mentioned, this could be explained by either the natural friendliness of the people of Fiji or by the contacts that ethnic Indians and Fijians have with tourists through their friends and relatives overseas.

In summary, this study has aimed to make a contribution to the body of knowledge concerning the perceptions of tourism employees and their families towards the impacts of tourism on their communities. More importantly it has tried for the first time to make a cross-cultural comparison between individuals residing in two communities thousands of miles apart. Despite the physical, cultural and economic dissimilarity between the two communities their attitudes towards the industry and their perceptions of tourism’s impacts were remarkably similar.

It is hoped that further comparative studies will be conducted in order to confirm the similarity between perceived impacts of tourism employees and families in different communities.

References

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The perceptions of tourism employees and their families towards tourism

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