Analysing the social perception of residential tourism development

Abstract

Is the residential tourist model a type of development which is accepted by society? This question will be answered using the qualitative analysis of the discourses made by the main social actors involved in the dynamics of this process in the host societies. The information has been gathered via 45 in-depth interviews from the stakeholders who are directly involved (hotel managers, managers of travel agencies, estate agents and housing developers), as well as those who are indirectly involved (presidents of trade associations, bank managers) and those in administration (Tourist office staffs, councillors from all of the political parties). Our field of research is the Costa Blanca on the Spanish Mediterranean coast where residential tourism has been recognised as the dominant tourist typology when compared with other development models. Three basic thematic areas can be identified around which the information has been arranged: the economic, geoenvironmental and the socio-cultural dimensions. The dominant discourse tendency produces arguments which are closer to legitimation of the residential tourism model than to resistant.