La opinión pública sobre el turismocrítica y propuesta para una nueva orientación
- 1 Universidad de Alicante, España
ISSN: 1851-1732, 0327-5841
Year of publication: 2016
Volume: 25
Issue: 2
Pages: 110-123
Type: Article
More publications in: Estudios y perspectivas en turismo
Abstract
The Study of Public Opinion on Tourism. Critique and Proposal for a New Framework. This paper presents a critical reflection on the use of the basic principles of the Social Exchange Theory to study how host societies perceive tourism. Specifically, I challenge its scientific relevance. This is important given that the empirical studies on tourism conducted over the last three decades have failed to produce a solid core of theories on which to base new knowledge, and have also led to a dead-end street. In addition, I suggest an alternative approach, inspired in sociological concepts rarely used until now in tourism research. This approach is based on the premise that public opinion is just the result of a constitutive process encouraged by groups mobilized around private interests, and it demands the reposition of power as an essential explanatory factor, and therefore, the design of more suitable methodological strategies