Perceived Environmental Impact and Socio-Economic Benefits as Drivers of Tourism Sustainability: Evidence from Market, Economic, and Social Perspectives

Abstract

The research paper investigates the connections among the perception of the environmental impacts of tourism and socio-economic benefits of the residents and how it affects the growth of sustainable tourism. With focus on the stakeholder theory, the study introduces residents as the key stakeholders whose involvement is vital to the sustainabile tourism. The results show that the perceived environmental impact measures have a positive relationship with the market and economic sustainability, but the relationships with the social sustainability are not significant, which drives the rejection of the Hypothesis H1c. On the contrary, socio-economic benefits positively relate strongly across the three sides of sustainable tourism namely economic, market as well as social which supports Hypothesis H2a, H2b and H2c. Theoretical offerings also enhance the relevance of the stakeholder theory because the paper argues that the position of the residents cannot be ignored to make the sustainable tourism, in market, social and economic terms. Practical implications imply that tourism policymakers (e.g., TDCP, PTDC, KPCTA) need to be more active in the process of engaging residents and encourage them to involve themselves in tourism planning. Conclusively, the research can stress that resident perceptions play significant role in ensuring balanced tourism development. Sustainable tourism requires ethical standards, community involvement and reciprocity of the tourists and the locals. These findings could be advanced in further research to narrow down solutions regarding tours built should be existing in a moderate way without leaving adverse impacts on the environment and concurrently being inclusive.