Belfries of Belgium and France

Resident Support for Tourism Development: Application of a Simplified Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale on Developing Destinations in Flanders

Tourism development in the Scheldeland region of Flanders, Belgium, is primarily driven by social, psychological, and political empowerment rather than personal economic benefits. This finding emerges from a study that applied a simplified version of the Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale (RETS) to 2058 residents across seven municipalities, revealing high but nuanced support for tourism growth in an underdeveloped destination. The research used partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze resident responses, demonstrating that social exchange theory (SET) has limited validity in such contexts. Notably, municipalities with the lowest tourism development showed the least support, suggesting that increased tourism intensity correlates with higher awareness of its benefits and greater resident backing.