Özet:

Abstract The purpose of this study is to determine how residents’ perceived personal benefits, as well as their attachment to the destination, influence on the degree of solidarity towards tourists; ultimately, how this emotional solidarity scale factors (sympathetic understanding, emotional closeness & welcoming nature) shape support for tourism developments. The data of this study (n=366) was distributed to residents of Fredericksburg, Texas, the USA through using cluster sampling. Although several studies have been focused on residents’ attitudinal, intentional, and behavioral support for tourism development, there is still a need to examine the relationship between place attachment, personal economic benefits, emotional solidarity, and support for tourism development. 8 of the 12 proposed hypotheses were supported. The results of this study showed that as residents’ degree of place dependence and personal economic benefits of residents from tourism were increased so do the degree of solidarity with tourists. Furthermore, two of the three Emotional Solidarity Scale (ESS) factors (sympathetic understanding & welcoming nature) were significantly predicted residents' support for tourism development (R2SMC: 0.66). Limitations of this research and several future study recommendations are presented in the conclusion section.

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