Resident reactions to a pandemic: the impact on community-based tourism from social representation perspective

ABSTRACT

As COVID-19 has spread throughout the world, it has caused unprecedented disruption to community-based tourism (CBT). The purpose of this study is to identify local reactions to COVID-19 in CBT destinations using social representation theory (SRT) as a framework for analysis. Furthermore, this paper uses Q methodology to shed light on residents’ reactions to COVID-19. A demonstration of this method is used to analyze a Q set of 36 statements and a P set of 30 respondents working in the CBT business in Seochon Village, Seoul, Korea from 10 May to 21 May in 2021. As a result of the analysis, three distinct clusters are identified: fear of stigmatization as a plague spreader, maladaptation to environmental change, and threats to livelihoods. Based on the findings, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed to aid the local community to build a more sustainable and safer CBT during and after the pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Pandemic
• COVID-19
• social representation theory
• community-based tourism
• Q-methodology

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This paper was supported by the research grant of Ministry of Education of the Korean Government and the National Research Foundation of Korea in 2019 (Grant number: NRF-2019S1A5B8099551).