Tourist-resident interaction affects mutual understanding but defined by social distance

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the interrelationships of social distance, tourist-resident interaction and mutual understanding between mainland Chinese tourists and residents in an urban destination of Hong Kong. Social distance affects tourist-resident interaction that predicts their mutual understanding for both tourists and residents are tested. A total of 416 tourist questionnaires and 315 resident questionnaires were obtained. The results show that quality of interaction is a major factor in predicting mutual understanding but negatively affected by social distance for both tourists and residents. From tourist perspective, only quality of interaction predicts the understanding but negatively affected by their social distances. From resident perspective, both quality of interaction and focused interaction positively affect the understanding but defined by their social distances. Co-presence does not affect residents’ understanding but is positively related to their social distance. Overall, tourist-resident interaction may contribute to mutual understanding, but only when the social distance is small to start with. The research findings have significant implications for sustainable development of tourism destinations.

摘要

本文探讨了中国内地游客与香港城市目的地居民之间的社交距离, 游客-居民互动和相互理解之间的作用关系。社交距离会影响游客-居民互动, 从而预测他们之间的相互理解的研究假设被检验。本研究共获得游客问卷416份, 居民问卷315份。结果表明, 对于游客和居民而言, 互动质量是预测相互理解的主要因素, 但都受到其社交距离的消极影响。从游客的角度来看, 只有互动质量能够预测理解, 但受到其社交距离的消极影响。从居民的角度来看, 互动质量和集中互动都会对理解产生积极影响, 但由他们的社交距离决定。共存互动不影响居民的理解, 但与他们的社交距离呈正相关。总体而言, 游客-居民互动可能有助于相互理解, 但只有在社交距离很小的情况下。研究结果对旅游目的地的可持续发展具有重要意义。

KEYWORDS:

• Tourist-resident interaction
• social distance
• mainland Chinese tourists
• Hong Kong residents

关键词:

• 游客-居民互动
• 社交距离
• 内地游客
• 香港居民

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2022.2107134

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities” [63222063].

Notes on contributors

Xing Su

Xing Su is Lecturer in College of Tourism and Service Management at Nankai University, Tianjin, China. Her current research interests focus on the areas of tourist-resident interactions, resident attitude, tourist experience, tourist spatio-temporal behaviors and application of big data in urban tourism research (E-mail: [email protected][email protected]).

Bas Spierings

Bas Spierings is Assistant Professor in Urban Geography of the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. His research focuses on the nexus between urban consumption and public space with specific attention for touristification, leisure, retail developments, (cross-border) shopping, walking mobilities and encounters with difference (E-mail: [email protected]).

Pieter Hooimeijer

Pieter Hooimeijer is Professor of Human Geography and Demography in the Urban Futures Centre at Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. His main research interest is the recursive relation between population change and the dynamics of housing and labor markets at a variety of spatial scales ranging from neighbourhoods to metropolitan areas. Current researches include the effects of neighbourhoods on social mobility and participation in society (E-mail: [email protected]).