Author(s)

H. Zhang & S. L. Lei

Abstract

Researchers in tourism development have often suggested that the participation of local residents is essential for sustainable tourism, and for identifying and understanding the factors affecting residents’ willingness to participate (\“participation intention”) is instrumental in tourism development. \“Place attachment” refers to the emotions and feelings people have for places or landscapes. When residents develop deeper bonds to their nearby settings, they are more willing to be involved in the development of the area. This study aims to examine residents’ attachment to nearby landscapes and investigate the effects of attachment on residents’ participate intention in local tourism. From the findings, three categories of attachment to different landscape attributes were extracted: cultural and historical landscapes, everyday landscapes, and natural landscapes. Moreover, regression analysis showed that attachment to cultural and historical landscapes can serve as a predictor of participation intention in tourism development. Under these circumstances, tourism authorities should give greater priority to enhancing residents’ attachment to cultural and historical landscapes, which would, in turn, increase their participation intention, thus fostering sustainable tourism. Keywords: place attachment, participation intention, sustainable tourism, cultural and historical landscape, everyday landscape, natural landscape. 1 Introduction Sustainability has come to be widely accepted as a key issue facing today's tourism industry. Participation by residents would likely strengthen communications between residents and tourism authorities and reduce conflicts. Many studies have demonstrated that residents’ participation is an essential

Keywords

place attachment, participation intention, sustainable tourism,cultural and historical landscape, everyday landscape, natural landscape