Residents’ attitude towards tourists and tourism in Porvoo
Salonen, Pieta (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020051711919
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020051711919
Tiivistelmä
This thesis aims to study the attitudes and opinions of the people living in Porvoo towards tourism and tourists in their hometown. The commissioner of the thesis is Porvoo Tourism and Marketing Unit, who takes care of and oversees tourism related matters and marketing of the city of Porvoo to both domestic and international tourists and potential new residents of Porvoo.
The thesis consists of a theoretical part, which examines the socio-cultural impact that tour-ism can have on a tourist destination and its residents. In addition, the thesis presents vari-ous examples of socio-cultural impacts of tourism in a destination, benchmarking the cities of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki and Venice. Furthermore, the city of Porvoo is intro-duced as a tourism destination.
For the theoretical framework, socio-cultural impacts of tourism were studied by reading various books and articles. Furthermore, the author used a quantitative research method in order to collect data and the attitudes of the people living in Porvoo were investigated by means of an opinion poll. The survey consisted of 12 questions.
Through the answers, the author of the thesis found out about the attitudes and opinions of the residents of Porvoo. The survey was published on different groups on Facebook and sent through emails and text messages. A total of 71 people living in Porvoo answered to the survey.
The key findings of the survey show that the socio-cultural impact due to tourism in Porvoo has been quite minor and that the changes and effects have been mainly positive aside from overcrowding and congestion issues. It was discovered that nowadays there are more job opportunities, events and services in the town and that cultural understanding amongst Porvoo residents has increased.
The locals are proud of their city and cultural heritage and feel that it is appreciated and con-served. The old town is regarded as Porvoo's speciality and main asset. However, many wished for more marketing and events in order to have more liveliness and energy in the town and for other aspects of Porvoo to be emphasized in addition to the most popular at-tractions, when promoting the city.
The thesis consists of a theoretical part, which examines the socio-cultural impact that tour-ism can have on a tourist destination and its residents. In addition, the thesis presents vari-ous examples of socio-cultural impacts of tourism in a destination, benchmarking the cities of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki and Venice. Furthermore, the city of Porvoo is intro-duced as a tourism destination.
For the theoretical framework, socio-cultural impacts of tourism were studied by reading various books and articles. Furthermore, the author used a quantitative research method in order to collect data and the attitudes of the people living in Porvoo were investigated by means of an opinion poll. The survey consisted of 12 questions.
Through the answers, the author of the thesis found out about the attitudes and opinions of the residents of Porvoo. The survey was published on different groups on Facebook and sent through emails and text messages. A total of 71 people living in Porvoo answered to the survey.
The key findings of the survey show that the socio-cultural impact due to tourism in Porvoo has been quite minor and that the changes and effects have been mainly positive aside from overcrowding and congestion issues. It was discovered that nowadays there are more job opportunities, events and services in the town and that cultural understanding amongst Porvoo residents has increased.
The locals are proud of their city and cultural heritage and feel that it is appreciated and con-served. The old town is regarded as Porvoo's speciality and main asset. However, many wished for more marketing and events in order to have more liveliness and energy in the town and for other aspects of Porvoo to be emphasized in addition to the most popular at-tractions, when promoting the city.