TOURISM IMPACT PERCEPTION OF RESIDENTS IN JIANGNAN ANCIENT TOWN AND ITS FORMATION MECHANISM: A CASE STUDY OF TONGLI
WU Li-min1, HUANG Zhen-fang1, TAN Zhi-juan1, HOU Bing2, CHEN Xiao-yan1
1. College of Geographical Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China;
2. College of Tourism and Culinary, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Abstract Community residents are important stakeholders for sightseeing places, whose perception on tourism impact is one of the main contents of man-land relationship study in tourism geography. Taking Tongli as an example, combining with qualitative interviews and questionnaire surveys to explore the residents' perception of tourism impact, the results showed that:(1) The residents have both positive perception and negative perception for tourism impact, which mainly reflected in many aspects, such as economy, society, culture and environment. (2) Their perceptions can be divided into six dimensions, these are "authenticity weakening and environmental deterioration", "economic benefits and living condition improvement", "cost raising and unfair distribution", "social disorder", "place identity and ideology update", "cultural inheritance and image promotion". (3) Based on the theory of social representations, this paper finds that personal base perception and individual behavior as well as group awareness and group behavior interact with each other. (4) The government and the scenic managers should carry through the idea of "people-oriented" in the tourism planning, and highlight humanistic care for residents in the whole process of tourism development. All that be done will promote the positive attitude for tourism development. It can also enhance the support of community residents and improve the subject and object relationship between residents and tourists, and finally promote the sustainable development of sightseeing places.
2015, Vol. 30 
