In the research carried out by Latkova & Vogt (2012) on the residents’ attitudes towards the tourism development plans in the rural areas, there are a number of facts that can be gathered. There have been a number of development projects that have been undertaken by the tourism sector in the United States to enhance the current as well as future initiatives in the country. This was the main focus of the research; to find out the perceptions of the rural occupants towards the development plans that are being put in place to the rural tourism sector in the United States.
In order to collect data for the research, the authors focused on the residents as the main respondents and rich source of information. This was so because they were the most reliable primary source of information that could be used in making a proper conclusion on the research topic. Those who own homes, both permanently and seasonal residents were considered for data collection.
As an approach to collect data more appropriately, a homeowner list was obtained from three primary rural areas in the Midwest State of the United States. These three rural regions were selected randomly in order to eliminate biasness at the time of data collection. The assessors were then asked to select 1000 households from the most updated and recent county list. In the final list, there were 3008 households included in the study; 1008 from the first rural region, 1000 from the second and another 1000 from the third village.
The members of these households were administered with questionnaires that contained a series of questions all of which were relevant to the research topic. There were five main categories of questions that were asked in relation to the research topic. In the first case, data was collected on the possible positive attitudes of the respondents towards the current and future development plans being done in the tourism sector. This was summarised in 12 sub-sections.
There were also possible negative attitudes towards the plans that were collected in terms of 9 questions. The other points of focus included support for the future tourism activities, perceived community future as a result of the development plans being put in place and the restrictions that are likely to be created if the development plans were all to be implemented.
Prior to the delivery of the research findings, there were a number of issues that were clarified from the residents that were interviewed. A majority of the residents (homeowners) through all the three sites of research were between ages 50 and 69. Most of these homeowners had owned these homes for at least 10 years to mean that they were well aware of all the undertaking that were going on in their regions.
The three regions, marked T, E and S, had varied opinions with regard to the development plans that were being put in place to make tourism a major economic activity in each of the three zones. Residents from E County expressed the concern that tourism should have a larger contribution to their economy compared to any other activity in their region. The residents from S and T Counties expressed the feeling that tourism should have an equal role as all the other economic activities in their regions of residence.
Following the data collected, there was a number of data analysis approaches adopted as a way to make the data more meaningful for inferences. The researchers made conclusions out of these detailed analyses. The overall conclusion of the study was that residents who have in one way or the other benefited from tourism appear to have a more positive attitude towards it compared to the younger generations that have not taken a keen interest in tourism. This appears to be quite interesting. It is worth finding out whether it is the elderly members of the society in the United States that are more interested in tourism compared to the younger people. The research that was carried out by Latkova & Vogt (2012) was purely investigative and was successful since all the information required was collected and analysed.
The most interesting bit of the findings that were made by the researchers is that the more elderly members of the society valued tourism more than the younger generations. There are a number of reasons as to why the older people had information related to the value of tourism.
To begin with, the elderly people have stayed in their homes for a longer time. They have a broader perspective of the activity compared to their children (Singh, 2013). From an economic angle, they have more facts related to the contributions that tourism brings to the society. Most of the younger people have not lived to witness all the economic variations that the tourism destination areas enjoy out of the activities that are carried out in relation to tourism activities.
The younger people also do not take into account the benefits that are realized out of tourism (Patterson, 2011). In fact, it is not the old people that take part more actively in tourism. Most of the youth enjoy touring places but do not realize the benefits that are derived out of their activities. This provides another reason that points it out why the younger people may end up providing negative responses when questioned about the value of tourism development plans.
There is also a challenge when it comes to selection of the most appropriate forms of tourism. In spite of the attempts that were being made in order to promote tourism in the rural areas, what the old people value may be different from that which is of importance to the youth (Nimrod, 2012). Consequently, it might not have been that the younger people do not like the tourism development plans that were being implemented. What is valued by the old people is not the same as what the young people may perceive to be important.
According to the research that has been carried out by most of the tourism agencies and departments in the U.S, most of the elderly people value both domestic and international tourism. However, most of the young people are still more enthusiastic and eager to explore other countries. As a result of the shifted attention that is targeted towards international destinations, there is very little attention that is given to the domestic tourism developments being carried out in the rural areas.
From the findings that were made by Latkova & Vogt (2012), therefore, it would have been more important to learn the reasons as to why the young people were more negative towards the development plans that were being made. There is need, therefore, to stratify sampled units on the basis of age when it comes to research and data collection and analysis.
Tourism development is of importance to all the regions of the world. In spite of the fact that different people may have varying perceptions when it comes to being such developments, there is need to focus more on the benefits that are likely to be derived out of them. Therefore, countries should be interested in developing the tourism sectors, both in the rural and urban areas.
