Naho Maruyama

Solidarity at the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove—a UNESCO World Heritage Site

ABSTRACT Destinations that remain proactive in planning for tourism development are best served by examining the relationship that exists between residents of and tourists to the area. Considering the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove and the annual Osun Osogbo Festival (both in honor of the Fertility Goddess, Osun) in Osogbo, Nigeria, this study examines the extant relationship of destination residents and tourists in the Global South through the use of the Emotional Solidarity Scale (ESS). Results revealed strong psychometric properties and consistent factor structure of the ESS, while demonstrating usability of the measure in a context outside of the USA. Residents and tourists reported significantly different levels of emotional solidarity on two of the three ESS factors (e.g. emotional closeness and sympathetic understanding), where, in each instance, tourists reported a significantly higher degree of solidarity with residents than did residents with tourists. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Comparing levels of resident empowerment among two culturally diverse resident populations in Oizumi, Gunma, Japan

ABSTRACT While resident empowerment has been a central aspect of the sustainable tourism literature, difficulties of putting the concept into practice have been noted given the heterogeneous nature of communities. “Community” is often divided by kinship, age, gender and ethnicity, and such division may influence the perceptions of empowerment. The goal of this study was to better understand heterogeneous perceptions of empowerment by administering the Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale within the community of Oizumi, Japan. Oizumi has the highest concentration of Brazilian immigrants in Japan, and the town has embraced “ethnic neighborhood tourism” centered on Brazilian culture as a strategy for economic development. Oizumis demographic makeup allowed for testing differences in perceived empowerment between members of the dominant ethnic group (Japanese) and members of the ethnic minority group (Japanese Brazilians). Analysis of 650 completed questionnaires revealed that Brazilians felt more psychologically and socially empowered than Japanese residents, indicating a shift in the balance of power between the ethnic groups. Results also revealed that the political dimension of empowerment was rated relatively low among both groups, suggesting a general lack of opportunities to participate in the planning process. Implications for both practice and theory are presented.

Gender and empowerment: assessing discrepancies using the resident empowerment through tourism scale

ABSTRACT While gender equality and empowerment are core components of sustainable tourism, most of the literature has approached the concepts from qualitative perspectives, thus limiting the ability to empirically test for empowerment discrepancies between men and women. With this gap in mind, this study sought to test the widely held notion that empowerment discrepancies exist between men and women in tourism development. Discrepancies in psychological, social and political empowerment were tested for using the 12-item Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale (RETS). The RETS was administered across five sample populations, with results revealing that gender discrepancies were present, but surprisingly, not in the direction suggested in previous literature. In all three US samples, there was evidence that women were more likely to perceive themselves being empowered than men. The results from the two Japanese samples did not find any significant differences, which is of interest because Japan is traditionally seen a very patriarchal society. Applications of the RETS can be paired with qualitative research to better understand empowerment success stories and then to apply these best practices to other destinations where empowerment discrepancies are present. Future applications of the RETS are suggested to help initiate “gender mainstreaming” within the sustainable tourism literature.

Stereotypes and perceived solidarity in ethnic enclave tourism

ABSTRACT This study considers how ethnic attitudes or stereotypes held by Japanese residents (as the majority ethnic group) of Brazilian residents (as the minority ethnic group) factor into the former’s perceived emotional solidarity with the latter. The aim of this work is to (1) initially assess the factor structure of the Ethnic Attitude Scale (EAS) and Emotional Solidarity Scale (ESS) and (2) to determine if underlying factors of the EAS serve to explain factors of the ESS. Following a multistage sampling scheme, 456 Japanese households within Oizumi completed an on-site, self-administered questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses of the EAS and ESS revealed consistent two- and three-factor structures with extant findings in the literature. Japanese residents tended to indicate they perceived Brazilian residents slightly favorably on items from each of the EAS factors (i.e. character and intelligence and social evaluation), while responding with ambivalence to items within the ESS factors (i.e. welcoming nature, emotional closeness, and sympathetic understanding). Structural paths (in five of six scenarios) revealed that EAS factors explained between 27% and 59% of the variance in the ESS factors. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed at the close of the paper.

Perceptions of the ‘Other’ Residents: Implications for Attitudes of Tourism Development Focused on the Minority Ethnic Group

ABSTRACT This study utilizes the Emotional Solidarity Scale (ESS) to examine the relationship between ethnic majority (Japanese) and minority (Brazilian) residents living in Oizumi, Japan. Results revealed significant differences in nine of the 10 ESS items. Resulting ESS factors from confirmatory factor analysis were then found to predict six of the eight models among Japanese residents (versus only two among Brazilian residents) which explained perceptions of tourism focused on Brazilian culture. Results suggest emotional solidarity among disparate ethnic groups living in the community to be a key construct to consider when investigating residents’ support for ethnic enclave tourism.

Residents' attitudes toward ethnic neighborhood tourism (ENT): perspectives of ethnicity and empowerment

ABSTRACT Ethnic neighborhood tourism (ENT) has the potential to not only alter the identity of the ethnic landscape but to also influence the distribution of power and economic benefits from tourism between ethnic groups. Such unequal distribution may foster divergent attitudes toward tourism between minority residents whose culture is at the center of ENT and those of the majority population whose cultural heritage is being overshadowed. With this in mind, this study compared the relationship between Japanese and Brazilian residents’ perceived empowerment from tourism and their attitudes toward tourism development in the ENT destination of Oizumi, Japan. Results revealed that even though the Brazilians perceived themselves to be more psychologically and socially empowered from ENT, the perceptions of empowerment among the Japanese were slightly better predictors of support for tourism and Japanese residents’ perceptions of tourisms contributions within the community. The findings suggest the importance of sociocultural determinants of resident attitudes especially among those who do not perceive economic benefits from tourism. The study also indicates the appropriateness of combining social exchange theory with more holistic theories to capture the complexities influencing resident attitudes toward tourism.