Linking Culture and the Environment

94 Tourism, Sustainability and the Social Milieux
Table 5.6. Dimensions responsible for grouping.
Dimensions Wilks’ Lambda Sig.
Factor 5: tourism development requires planning 0.42535 >0.001
Factor 3: tourism’s negative effects 0.32966 >0.001
Factor 7: tourism and decision making 0.25872 >0.001
Factor 6: tourism and infrastructure 0.21062 >0.001
Factor 4: negative views of tourism 0.18044 >0.001
Factor 2: tourism in the local economy 0.16372 >0.001
Factor 1: personal benefits of tourism 0.15265 >0.001
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factor 5: tourism development requires planning;
factor 3: tourism’s negative effects; and
factor 7: tourism and decision making.
These dimensions address the issues of tourism’s effects and of how to control
the effects, rather than whether tourism is economically beneficial in the
region. Clearly, there is concern among the participants about how well local
people will be able to control tourism development. This concern is at the
heart of social sustainability.
The commonalities and differences identified in this discussion of the
quantitative results set the stage for a more detailed exploration using qualitative
data.
Themes concerning tourism among the participants
People’s discussions concerning the role of tourism in the shore zone and
islands of the north shore of Lake Superior revealed a number of major
themes, three of which are discussed below:
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host–tourist interactions;
tourism’s environmental impacts; and
tourism management issues.
The themes are composed of dimensions which reveal the residents’ farranging
knowledge about the north shore and the islands as well as their
uncertainties about the future role of tourism in their lives and in the region.
Their uncertainties are reflected in the often contradictory sub-themes, especially
under the main themes of host–tourist interactions and (tourism)
management issues. Residents recognize that while increased tourism may
bring themselves or their community benefits, there may also be costs, in
terms of environmental degradation, changes in lifestyles and loss of local
control.
Host–tourist interactions
This theme addresses a common issue in areas where tourism plays a major
role in local ways of life – the interactions between local people (the hosts)