Residents' attitudes toward tourism development

In recent years, tourism has been playing a more significant role in the economics of several African countries, including Ghana. The purpose of the paper is to examine attitudes of residents of two of its towns toward tourism development. Factor analysis of scaled items measuring their attitudes resulted in seven tourism-related factors: social interaction with tourists, beneficial cultural influences, welfare impacts, negative interference in daily life, economic costs, sexual permissiveness, and perception of crowding. Results indicate residents' expectations from tourism development were not met and also individuals working in related businesses have negative attitudes toward the industry.