Residents’ Perception of Tourism: A Critical Theoretical and Methodological Review

Tourism impacts have been commonly assessed through the examination of perceptions of host communities. A considerable amount of literature in this field has been developed during the last few decades. The present exploratory paper presents a critical discussion of the academic advancement in the assessment of resident perceptions towards tourism. By considering a significant number of relevant academic research articles, this theoretical discussion highlights the most significant methodological and theoretical limitations in this field. The commonly contradictory findings, the lack of standard, scales for measuring resident attitudes, and the variation of theoretical and methodological approaches, were found as significantly limiting the academic progress in the study of tourism perceptions. General propositions are eventually made.Se presenta una discusión crítica del progreso académico en la evaluación de las percepciones del turismo en comunidades receptoras. Considerando un número significativode artículos relevantes en la investigación académica, se muestran las limitaciones metodológicas y teóricas más relevantes en el área. Los resultados comúnmente contradictorios, la falta de escalas para la medición de percepciones, y las variaciones en aproximaciones teóricometodológicas, se reportan como aspectos limitantes en el progreso del estudio de las percepciones del turismo. Se concluye con propuestas generales al respecto