Host communities’ preferences in a multidimensional framework: evaluation of repeated choice experiments

This work provides a study on resident’s preferences about environment conservation and other tourism externalities in Alghero (Sardinia, Italy). The first part draws connections within the current research explaining residents and tourism relationship, consumer theory and economics choice literature. Literature across subjects is examined, synthesised and integrated to develop a multidimensional framework to grasp how to methodologically deal with residents’ welfare. By expanding the theoretical framework, the host community can be also regarded as a composite stakeholder. Its opinion is essential for the long-term success and sustainability of tourism policies. The second part describes and compares two choice experiment waves undertaken in 2006 and in 2010 to infer residents’ preferences in a multidimensional framework. Conditional logit estimation is applied to understand changes in levels of environment protection that entail different impacts in employment, congestion and taxation and to estimate willingness to pay. The results show that a reduction of congestion levels and an increase in employment are strongly sought from the community. It would renounce to an increase in environment protection if it would be compensated by previous benefits. The findings can usefully add to the academic debate on community-based tourism and can also support policy makers in their effort towards a more sustainable model of environmental and tourism development for destinations.