Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Recreation, Parks and Tourism Resources

Committee Chair

Jinyang Deng

Committee Co-Chair

Douglas Arbogast

Committee Member

Chad Pierskalla

Abstract

Tourism has continually been presented as a growing economic sector around the world. Having become an area of increased interest for diversifying rural economies, tourism is an attractive alternative to the declining traditional economic engines of rural communities like agriculture, forestry, and mining. Rural destinations have become increasingly attractive to outside visitors who seek to pursue activities embedded within the local culture and distinctive attractive assets available in rural regions. The USDA has recognized the increasing importance of recreation and tourism economies as an emerging or priority area of national need and an effective means for rural development. Even with the rate of growth and popularity, many rural communities lack the human capacity, access to funding and marketing expertise, and other necessary resources to successfully capitalize on the economic opportunities associated with recreation and tourism development. Additionally, competition between communities for the same or similar markets poses another challenge. Limited research has been conducted to examine collaboration between communities at a regional level, which focuses on the development of partnerships and shared resources for mutual growth and co-promotion of a regional tourism product(s) among the communities involved.

As a precursor to this study, the Mon Forest Towns Partnership was created in 2017 through the support of the US Forest Service, West Virginia University, USDA Rural Development, and 10 gateway communities to the Monongahela National Forest (MNF). The Mon Forest Towns function in the belief that having access to the resources, infrastructure, and energy of local communities provides opportunities for the pursuit of larger goals and projects as resources are pooled for collaborative successes. This study aims to understand and identify where within the region the collaborative efforts are supported, whether the residents of the region believe that there exists the necessary foundation for collaboration between the gateway communities, and whether the potential for benefits of regional collaboration are universally perceived within the eight-county region.

The purpose of this study is to explore the current levels of recreation and tourism development within the MNF region from the perspective of the local resident population, while also to examine potential synergies or differences in attitudes and perceptions of recreation and tourism development between individual counties within the region. Quantitative methods were employed with support from both the West Virginia University research team as well as the Mon Forest Towns Marketing Committee. Survey data was collected from 759 residents. Factor analysis and ANOVA were utilized as analysis methods for regional and county to county comparisons.

Results are divided into sections. The results of the factor analysis identify both positive and negative aspects of resident attitudes and perceptions of recreation and tourism development, as well as their particular aspects related to their support for regional collaboration. Identified factor means are further used to test for differences between the counties within the region, an investigation that aims to pinpoint areas where residents are experiencing outlying effects or attitude formations of tourism development. The goal of this is to provide regional planners and policy makers with a better understanding of areas where work may be needed and/or where there exist threats to the overall success of recreation and tourism development and the regional collaborative efforts that are underway. Findings in this study suggest that the residents within the region are generally supportive of further recreation and tourism development within the region but are less supportive toward unsustainable development practices as well as expressing concerns for threats to the authenticity of their communities. There also exists support for collaboration across the region, as residents of all of the counties placed a high value on the natural and cultural resources available within the region. This study contributes to the existing body of literature on resident attitudes toward tourism development at different stages of development in addition to tourism’s impact on local communities at a regional level. Conclusions from this study include recommendations for continued involvement of the resident population in the planning and development of a recreation and tourism economy, as well as the need for further research in order to better understand how the impacts of recreation and tourism development vary according to tourism lifecycle stages in rural areas.

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