Residents’ Perception of Tourism Impact, Participation and Support in Destinations under the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Intermediary Role of Government Trust

Abstract

Community residents’ support is one of the key factors affecting the development of tourist destinations. A clear understanding of influencing factors and internal transmission mechanisms in community residents’ support for tourism can lend to a theoretical basis and reference for tourism management departments to formulate relevant policies. It is therefore conducive to the rapid recovery and sustainable development of tourism amidst the intermittent outbreaks of COVID-19 pandemic. Taking Guilin as the site for a case study, this study examined the effect of local residents’ perceptions of risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, benefits of tourism and residents’ participation in it, government trust, and support for tourism. In particular, the intermediary role of residents’ tourism participation and the moderating role of government trust has been explored. A total of 383 residents in Guilin City were selected as the sample for hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that perceived risks had a significant negative impact on support for tourism, but no significant impact on resident participation. Tourism’s perceived benefits had a significant positive impact on both support for and participation in tourism, and residents’ participation played a partial mediating role in the relationship between perceived benefits of and support for tourism. Government trust played a significant moderating role in the relationship between tourism’s perceived benefits and residents’ participation, between perceived benefits and support for tourism, and between residents’ participation in and support for tourism.