MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PERCEPTIONS ABOUT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN GOA: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING

Abstract

AbstractThe state of Goa is a well known and popular mass tourism destination for both domestic and international tourists; and increased awareness about the ill-effects of mass tourism coupled with the economic necessity of encouraging tourism growth, has fuelled stakeholder interest towards sustainable tourism. The vital role that stakeholders play in the development and promotion of sustainable tourism in a destination cannot be overemphasized, yet there seems to be very little concerted involvement by them, in the planning and management of sustainable tourism development of the destination, also appears to be limited research carried out so far. The study aims at bridging this gap by assessing multi-stakeholder perceptions about various aspects about the sustainability of tourism in Goa in an attempt to predict the direction and consequently the strength of their support for the same using Structural Equation Modeling. The results indicate that stakeholder perception about sustainable tourism management, the focus of sustainable tourism and attitude towards sustainable tourism share a high, positive association with sustainable tourism while understanding of sustainability, its economics and the tourism industry and sustainability are positively associated to a moderate extent only. But actual participation in sustainable tourism efforts does not share a significant relationship with sustainable tourism.