An analysis of variables that influence stakeholder participation and support for sustainable tourism development in rural North Carolina

The purpose of the study was to explore and identify what variables influence stakeholder's support for or against sustainable tourism development and a stakeholder's participation in tourism and political activities. Three research questions were addressed in this study. The first question asked if there were any differences between stakeholders so that homogeneous groups can be identified. The second was what variables influence stakeholders' support for or against the development of sustainable tourism in a rural community? The third question was what variables influence a stakeholder's active or passive participation in the sustainable tourism development process?; To answer these questions an instrument was developed and administered to two rural North Carolina counties, Johnston County and Martin County. The initial analysis of the data was conducted employing SPSS and produced descriptive statistics. To answer the research questions and to support or refute the hypothesizes decision trees were developed for support for sustainable tourism and participation in tourism and political activities using the Exhaustive CHAID method in SPSS Answer Tree.; Based on the results of the study evidence was found that differences exist between stakeholders so that homogeneous groups can be identified. The results of the decision trees also indicated that there are variables that influence a stakeholder's support for or against sustainable tourism policy development. The results also indicated that there are variables that influence a stakeholder's level of participation in tourism policy development.; From this information a model was developed that indicated variables that influence a stakeholder's support for sustainable tourism and variables that influence a stakeholder's participation in tourism and political activities. The model demonstrates the relationship between the variables that influence support and participation and the social dimension of sustainable tourism. Form the results of this study a better understanding of the social dimension of sustainable tourism was developed.