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THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM A Case Study of Bath, UK A.J. Haley Arizona State

THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM A Case Study of Bath, UK A.J. Haley Arizona State University, USA Tim Snaith Cape Consulting, UK Graham Miller University of Surrey, UK Abstract: The purpose of this study is to identify and examine the attitudes of residents in Bath, United Kingdom, towards tourism development. This paper holds that impact research conducted on hosts’ perceptions is predominantly descriptive and lacking in a consistent approach to measurement. The primary aim here is to establish a benchmark study for the city, enabling future longitudinal and comparative analyses of host attitudes. A sample was secured from the residents, and factor and regression analyses conducted, to ascertain whether there were any underlying dimensions regarding their attitudes toward tourism development, and whether socioeconomic and demographic characteristics were useful pre- dictors of these attitudes. Keywords: social impacts, historic cities, Bath, host percep- tions. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Re ´sume ´: Les impacts sociaux du tourisme: une e ´tude de cas de Bath, au Royaume-Uni. L’objet de cette e ´tude est d’identiﬁer et d’examiner les attitudes des habitants d’une ville britannique envers le de ´veloppement du tourisme. L’article soutient que les recherches entreprises au sujet des perceptions de la communaute ´ d’accueil sont essentiellement descriptives et manquent d’une approche cohe ´rente au mesurage. Le but principal ici est de re ´aliser une e ´tude de re ´fe ´rence de la ville qui permettrait des analyses longitudinales et comparatives futures des attitudes de la communaute ´ d’accueil. On a fait un sondage des habitants, puis on a fait une analyse factorielle et une analyse de re ´gression pour savoir s’il y avait des dimensions sous-jacentes relatives a ` leurs attitudes envers le de ´veloppement du tourisme et si les caracte ´ristiques socioe ´conomiques et de ´mographiques e ´taient des indices utiles de ces attitudes. Mots-cle ´s: impacts sociaux, villes historiques, Bath, perceptions de la communaute ´ d’accueil. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION The literature widely documents that urban tourism has been ne- glected as a study area (Ashworth 1989), and consequently lacks a developed understanding or research base (Law 1993; Page 1995). One explanation for this is that the uniqueness of individual cities A. Haley is Professor in the College of Public Programs at Arizona State University. Tim Snaith is Senior Consultant with Cape Consulting, UK. Graham Miller is a lecturer in the School of Management, University of Surrey (Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK. Email <G.Miller@surrey.ac.uk>). All have research interests within the ﬁeld of sustainability and public policy. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 647–668, 2005 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/$30.00 doi:10.1016/j.annals.2004.10.009 www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures 647 hinders reliable comparisons, with a sizeable portion of the literature centered on individual cases. Thus, this study responds to the need for the development of valid and reliable investigations supported by longitudinal and comparative data collection techniques. Research into social impact assessment has jumped too quickly from description to modeling and studies are needed to provide longitudinal and com- parative data. Without an approach of this nature, any proposed under- standing would merely add to the fragmented picture of urban tourism research. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the attitudes of residents in Bath, United Kingdom, towards tourism development, with aiming to establish a benchmark study for the city, to enable future longitudinal and comparative analyses of host atti- tudes. It is also anticipated that future comparative analysis with other historic cities could establish a basis for theory formation and the development of ﬂexible modeling tools regarding the social impacts of tourism on residents of historic and related cities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. SOCIAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM IN BATH Bath was the thriving center of the spa business as long ago as Roman times. It became a popular tourism center during the 17th and 18th centuries, routinely included in the social round. During these times Bath was still very much a medieval town, enclosed by its wall, and possessing narrow streets (Havins 1976). It became more of a ‘‘classical’’ city during the late 18th century when it was elevated to the position of the most fashionable city in England. The architects of this development in the fortunes of Bath were heav- ily inﬂuenced in their designs by the Greeks and Romans. Indeed, John Wood’s realization of Bath as a Roman city on English soil is his greatest claim to fame. Although much of his plan was never real- ized, Woods’ work laid the foundation for Bath, the Georgian city that became England’s off-duty capital and the model for other spa resort towns. Interestingly, Havins (1976) speculates that it was no more than a series of historical accidents that led it to become the chosen site. Although Bath was accepted as a London-in-the-West, it possessed little on the lines of monumental London other than its Abbey. It was in no better state than many other English towns of that time, and the con- ditions were aggravated by a growing annual inﬂow of tourists. The town was still fairly prosperous as a result of its connection with the wool-trade, although this too was in decline. Indeed, it was its develop- ing recognition as a spa resort that fashioned its development, and acceptance today as a notable destination. Bath’s custodianship of sev- eral historic attractions, most notably its Roman Baths and dominant Georgian architecture, have contributed to its becoming a UNESCO- designated World Heritage Site. Present-day Bath has a population of approximately 85,000. Its three largest employers are the Ministry of Defense, the Health Authority, and the Bath and North East Somerset Council. The 2001 data indi- 648 SOCIAL IMPACTS cated that 15–24 year olds represented 13% of its population; 25–34, 13%; 35–44, 14%; 45-pensionable age 24%; pensioners under 75, 9%; and those over 75, 9% (Census 2001, 2003). The 1991 data noted an increase in the number of people working in the service sector (+26%, 1981–1991 NOMIS/Census of employment) with approxi- mately 40% of the working population in ‘‘Other services’’. Relatedly, the Bath Tourism Bureau recognizes the value of this industry as an increasingly important element of local economic activity. In 2001 the estimated value of tourism to the city was US$357 million, with 2.7 million day and 937,000 overnight tourists (Bath Tourism Bureau 2003). Social Impacts The literature has given tourism impact extensive treatment, because the industry inevitably induces impacts, both beneﬁcial and adverse. Tourism is seen as a tool of development (Gee, Choy and Makens 1989) and many associated economic beneﬁts can be measured objec- tively and serve as support for further development (Cohen 1972). However, the social impacts appear to be somewhat more subjective and intangible. Over the past 25 years North American research has examined many different aspects related to residents’ perceptions of tourism develop- ment. Pizam (1978) suggested that heavy concentration has led to the emergence of negative host attitudes. Rothman (1978) highlighted negative perceptions towards increased noise, litter, trafﬁc, crime, over- crowding, and tourism induced price increases, although research ﬁndings also noted the perception of positive aspects. These included improvements in local infrastructure (Belisle and Hoy 1980), increased employment opportunities (Milman and Pizam 1988; Rothman 1978), and increased recreational opportunities (Davis, Allen and Cosenza 1988). Other signiﬁcant ﬁndings include the personal and demo- graphic factors known to inﬂuence attitudes and perceptions, such as distance of residence from the central tourism zone (Belisle and Hoy 1980), the inﬂuence of one’s length of residence in the commu- nity (Liu and Var 1986) and age, as in the case of Bastias-Perez and Var’s (1996) study in Darwin, Australia. The majority of research on host’ perceptions of tourism develop- ment has addressed only small, rural, or resort-type communities. This has been the focus in the United States (Davis et al 1988; Liu and Var 1986; Milman and Pizam 1988; Perdue, Long and Allen 1990; Pizam 1978; Rothman 1978; Thomason, Crompton and Kamp 1979), in Eur- ope (Var, Kendall and Tarakcioglu 1985), and in the United Kingdom (Brougham and Butler 1981; Sheldon and Var 1984). Research into perceptions in larger urban areas has been relatively ignored, with con- tributions summarized in Table 1. While past research has made a signiﬁcant step towards better under- standing of the relationship between positive and negative perceptions of tourism and support for speciﬁc policies, historically most research HALEY, SNAITH AND MILLER 649 on residents’ perceptions has been atheoretical (Ap 1990). The domi- nant theory to emerge to shape understanding has been social ex- change theory, which concentrates on the extent to which residents receive something for the imposition the industry places upon them. Recent work on this subject in Ghana (Sirakaya, Teye and Sonmez 2002) shows that it is not simply the existence of an exchange that is important, but its nature and value that inﬂuences attitudes and per- Table 1. Studies of Social Impacts in Relevant Urban Environments Author(s) of Study Date Destination Studied Main Findings Murphy 1991 York, UK uploads/Litterature/ the-social-impacts-of-tourism-a-case-study-of-bath-uk-annals-of-tourism-research-vol-32-issue-3-2005.pdf