| Author: | Hussain, Zeenaz |
| Title: | A comparative assessment of domestic tourism and its impacts on the one-island one-resort hotels of the Maldives among different stakeholders using stakeholder theory |
| Advisors: | Kim, Sam (SHTM) |
| Degree: | DHTM |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | Tourism -- Maldives Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | School of Hotel and Tourism Management |
| Pages: | xv, 514 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Domestic tourism has been forecasted by the World Tourism Organization to expand within the next 20 years in the developing countries. It is evident from the developing countries the potential of domestic tourism. Domestic tourism to the one-island one-resort hotels of the Maldives is a relatively underdeveloped area of study. There is a lack of data both qualitative as well as quantitative. While there are few regulatory barriers preventing locals from holidaying in the resorts, however there are price restrictive measures in place and the sector is an undeveloped subset of the tourism industry. To date, there has been very little interest on the part of stakeholders to spur growth within the industry. As a result, the majority of the Maldivians often spend their holidays abroad in neighboring countries. This study assessed domestic tourism and its impacts in the resort sector of Maldives. It reviewed key stakeholder perspectives and experiences on domestic tourism to the resorts and its further development. It also examined the relationships of key domestic tourism stakeholders (locals/ residents, resort management, government/ regulatory bodies, NGOs/ associations, and media), their involvement, perspectives and engagements underpinned by the stakeholder theory with the support of collaboration theory. Further the study analyzed the sustainable domestic tourism dimensions, exploring the economic, environmental, socio-cultural, and other impacts. Thus identified the potential domestic tourism could play in reducing industry vulnerability inclusive of the factors that contributes and factors that act as barriers/ challenges to the growth of domestic tourism to the one-island one-resort of hotels of Maldives. The research methodology and the design for the study employed a quantitative approach. Questionnaires for the five stakeholder groups were developed from existing literature inclusive of carrying out pre-tests and pilot tests in context with the objectives of the study. For the data analysis of the study a total of 1994 questionnaires were used from the domestic tourism stakeholder groups. A series of Kruskal-Wallis and Friedman tests were carried out on the self-evaluation of stakeholders and the evaluation of other stakeholders in power, legitimacy, urgency, and negotiation/ collaboration. Further the perceived dimensions of sustainable domestic tourism were evaluated using a series of Kruskal-Wallis tests. Additionally, the perspectives and experiences of stakeholders on the general aspects of domestic tourism to the resorts were assessed. The results from the stakeholder relationship attributes (power, legitimacy, urgency) and collaborations/ negotiations indicated significant differences among key domestic tourism stakeholder groups except the evaluation of other stakeholders by the resort management on the negotiation/ collaboration dimension. The most powerful stakeholder group evident from the self-perceptions are the media followed by the government/ regulatory bodies, NGOs/ associations, and the resort management. From the evaluation by the other stakeholders the most powerful stakeholders are the resort management and the government/ regulatory bodies. The least powerful stakeholder group are the locals/ residents. The most legitimate stakeholders are determined as the locals/ residents (self-perception) and the government/ regulatory bodies followed by the resort management (evaluation by the other stakeholders). The least legitimate stakeholder evident from the self-perception contrary to the evaluation by the other stakeholders are the government/ regulatory bodies and the NGOs/ associations from evaluation by the other stakeholders. The most urgent stakeholders from the self-evaluation are the NGOs/ associations, followed by government/ regulatory bodies and resort management while the evaluation by the other stakeholders revealed the government/ regulatory bodies followed by the resort management as the most urgent stakeholders of the domestic tourism initiative. The least urgent players of the initiative are observed as the locals/ residents from self-perception and NGOs/ associations from the evaluation by the other stakeholders. The resort management followed by government/ regulatory bodies and the media self-perceived that they are most effective in negotiation/ collaboration. While from the evaluation by the other stakeholders it was observed that the government/ regulatory bodies are the most effective in negotiation/ collaboration among other stakeholders of domestic tourism. The least effective in negotiation/ collaboration are the locals/ residents from self-perception and the NGOs/ association followed by locals/ residents via evaluation by the other stakeholders. The results from the sustainable domestic tourism dimensions: economic, environmental, socio-cultural, and other impacts indicated significant differences in the perception of stakeholders on all the impacts except the negative economic impact on the imposition of tourism taxes by government leads to charging higher rates from locals at the resorts. The domestic tourism economic impacts are highly regarded by both NGOs/ associations and the media apart from the negative impact that value of high-end resorts will decrease due to the fact that the resorts are opened for domestic tourism. Most of the economic impacts are mainly disregarded by some of the subgroups from the locals/ residents stakeholder group. The positive environmental impacts are highly regarded by the NGOs/ associations and the negative environmental impacts are highly considered as a negative outcome by the media followed by the NGOs/ associations. The environmental impacts both positive and negative are least regarded mostly by some of the subgroups of locals/ residents group apart from two negative environmental impacts. Almost all the socio-cultural impacts are regarded by the media. The least consideration is given to the socio-cultural positive impacts by subgroups from the locals/ residents stakeholder group while the negative impacts are least regarded by the NGOs/ associations. The other impacts results shows that media has the highest perception while the least consideration for most of the other impacts are from the subgroups of locals/ residents stakeholder group. The formulation of any social theoretical aspect of research is focused on the aptitude to comprehend and explicate the problem while coming up with normative results to the problem the theory pursues to address. The outcome of this study contributes both practically and theoretically. Academic literature on Maldivian tourism is dismally minimal. The existing literature in context with Maldivian tourism revolves around environmental issues or general industry vulnerability. This study presented a more intersubjective method looking into domestic tourism to the one-island one-resort hotels of Maldives using stakeholder theory whilst taking into consideration the sustainable domestic tourism dimensions: economic, environmental, socio-cultural, and other impacts. The study provides insights for concerned stakeholders in diversifying the existing Maldivian tourism through the development of domestic tourism to the resorts. It sheds light on the particular roles, relationships, and concerns of relevant stakeholders, so that they can better engage in terms of progressing this infant sub sector of tourism, thereby ensuring its long-term success. This is a relatively unexplored area of study in context with Maldives and would prove highly beneficial both to industry stakeholders, policymakers and additionally pave the way for future research. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6797.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 5.38 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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