Shaping Residents’ Attitudes Towards Tourism: Do Interactions With Tourists and Family Involvement Matter?

Abstract

Residents' perspectives on tourism are essential for the sustained development of tourism destinations. Understanding the factors that influence these perceptions is thereby critical for tourism researchers, destination policymakers, and practitioners. Based on Social Learning Theory, this study evaluates whether residents' frequency of interaction with tourists affects their positive attitudes about tourism through perceived cultural revitalisation, and whether family involvement in tourism moderates these associations.

A quantitative research methodology was utilised, drawing on secondary data from the 2023 Cook Islands Community Attitudes Survey. Following data screening and cleaning, 659 valid responses from residents were retained for analysis. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and Hayes’ Process macro were employed to investigate the suggested mediation and moderated mediation relationships. The findings show that residents' interactions with tourists have a positive influence on perceptions of cultural revitalisation, which in turn increases positive attitudes towards tourism. Perceived cultural revitalisation was found to mediate the relationship between interaction frequency and residents’ positive attitudes towards tourism, underscoring its role as a mechanism through which resident-tourist interactions shape tourism perceptions. Furthermore, family involvement in tourism attenuated the positive relationship between perceived cultural revitalisation and positive attitudes towards tourism, which was stronger among residents without family involvement. The moderated mediation analysis also demonstrated that the indirect effect of interaction frequency on residents' positive attitudes via perceived cultural revitalisation was stronger among residents who did not have family involvement in tourism.

This study extends the application of Social Learning Theory in residents’ attitude research by demonstrating how interactions with tourists contribute to learning processes that strengthen perceptions of cultural revitalisation and, in turn, foster positive attitudes towards tourism. The findings also provide practical insights for tourism policymakers and practitioners in the Cook Islands by highlighting the importance of promoting meaningful resident-tourist interactions and initiatives that support cultural revitalisation to encourage positive community attitudes towards tourism.