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Tourism ‘benefits communities’ – report
Communities in one of England’s top holiday hotspots believe that tourism benefits the area.
Results from a community attitudes survey released by South West Tourism for 2006 show that 96% of residents think that tourism was good for their area.
Twice as many people think tourism increases the choice of employment available than believe it limits and twice as many residents think that tourism increases the quality of employment, according to the survey.
Around a third of residents think that the cost of eating out has increased a little with around 10% believing eating out has increased a lot.
A total of 61% perceived an increase in the number of leisure visitors to their area over the last few years.
While more than half (52%) of residents in resort locations perceived an increase in the number of visitors, a further 21% consider that there had been a decline.
Almost 60% felt that their area had about the right number of visitors during the summer months (a 9% increase in comparison to 2004) and 56% of respondents felt they now received the right amount of visitors during the off peak period in comparison to 43% that responded similarly in 2004.
Around 70% believe that tourism helps to contribute to the increase in house prices but 60% believe car parking is more expensive as a result of tourism.
Approximately half of all residents believe that visitors make their local area livelier and fun and around three quarters enjoy meeting visitors, with a further 30% actively seeking opportunities to socialise with them.
Further research revealed that only 10% of local residents believe that visitors intrude on their privacy, and 70% believe tourism has a good effect on the facilities and services available to local people.
South West Tourism chief executive Malcolm Bell said: “This research proves that not only do visitors bring economical benefits to the region they also bring social benefits and enrich the lives of those who are fortunate enough to live here all year round.
“Increasingly, visitors are often looking for an experience when on a break or trip, which may include meeting the local residents and enjoying their company, as well as the local environment and this is why we receive so many repeat visitors per year – as we continue to make our visitors feel extremely welcome.”
by Phil Davies
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