Communities in change: Social sustainability and tourism development

In order to measure how tourism developments may change quality of life it is important to understand how tourism can impact quality of life, how residents perceive their quality of life and what variables influence these perceptions. Social capital research has developed a model to suggest how communities respond to change (see Kelly & Sreec, 2004). Adapting this model into the theories of social sustainability and quality of life would suggest that social sustainability occurs when communities are able to retain or gain some level of social capital irrespective of the change. This research intends to predict how tourism (as the change dimension of the model shown in Figure 1) affects the social characteristics of the community, measuring for the social condition of the community before and after a proposed tourism development to determine if said development is social sustainability for the community.; The purpose of this research is to determine the feasibility of using quality of life assessments as a potential decision making tool to evaluate the social sustainability of tourism developments. Specific research objectives included: (1) determining if and how tourism affects the quality of life of residents; (2) measuring the affect of environmental, social and economic impacts of tourism on quality of life and (3) evaluating the effectiveness of quality of life assessments in determining the social sustainability of tourism developments.; This research explored the case of the proposed {dollar}450 million Jumbo Glacier all season ski resort in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia by quantifying perceived assessments of the residents' quality of life using a multi-methods approach.; The level social capital and informal and formal community social structures were assessed to be adequately diversified in order to respond effectively and efficiently to change. Past behaviour was used to support this conclusion and implications and recommendations from this conclusion were provided, drawing on other examples of regional rural communities who may be less receptive to change given their economic and potential social limitations.; It was found that quality of life assessment can make valuable contributions to the fields of social assessment and social sustainability. Social assessment may not be employed or are discredited given their lack of a solid foundation in the 'hard' sciences and given the subjectivity and qualitative methods used in deriving quality of life and social impact assessments. Although social scientists may find it difficult to validate and integrate their findings and results into economic impact assessments, which are traditionally, quantitatively approached, it is recognized that the results of such assessments can make valuable contributions to the fields of sustainable tourism and sustainable community development and therefore should be employed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...