Harvesting micro-geographic heterogeneity to increase community acceptance of tourism

Tourism marketing literature has long recognised the importance of residents’ acceptance of tourism if a location’s tourism industry is to be sustainable. This study contributes to this field by challenging the composite or averaging approach often applied by studies of residents in a tourism destination by arguing that there may be important differences of residents’ attitudes within a location. The study focuses on the emerging tourism industry in the City of Wollongong and finds that there are important differences between residents based on the characteristics of micro-communities. It is argued that a greater understanding of the heterogeneity of attitudes towards tourism within these micro-communities will assist destination managers to more efficiently and effectively mange the community acceptance of tourism.