Conflicts in communities and residents’ attitudes toward the impacts of cruise tourism in the Bahamas

ABSTRACT

This study explicates the relationships between cruise participants and destination host communities to examine types of conflicts (i.e., conflicts between cruise tourists and residents, residents and local governments, and residents and their fellow residents) and resident perceptions. Survey data from local Bahamians were collected online. The results revealed that residents experiencing different degrees of conflict displayed significant differences in their responses toward cruise tourism. This research further discloses significant factors for predicting the types of conflicts that may arise within host communities. As this research provides insights into the significance of promoting mutual understanding between stakeholders on the impacts of cruise tourism, the findings provide both theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for researchers and cruise destination managers/policy makers on cruise tourism–related sustainable destination development.

KEYWORDS:

• Cruise tourism
• resident attitudes
• tourism impact
• conflict
• Bahamas
• intergroup conflict
• environmental impact
• sustainable development
• local resident
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

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