Title: Understanding attitudes of Kashmir Valley residents towards tourism development: a SEM study

Authors: Younis Malik; Shakeel Basheer; Vikram Jit Singh

Addresses: School of Hotel Management and Tourism, Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar Punjab, India ' Department of Tourism and Airlines, Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar Punjab, India ' School of Hotel Management and Tourism, Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar Punjab, India

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to develop an approach for examining the opinions of residents regarding the growth of tourism in the Kashmir Valley, utilising the principles of community attachment and tourist contact. By utilising a multistage convenient sampling approach and a pretested questionnaire, primary data (n = 520) were collected from residents of the top three tourist destinations in the Kashmir Valley. Structural equation modelling was employed to develop and analyse the model. As a result of the economic, social, and cultural advantages that tourism provides, the findings indicate that residents possess a strong sense of community and consider interaction with tourists to be a critical component in the development and promotion of tourism in the Kashmir Valley. The study also demonstrates that residents who perceive more benefits from tourism development are happily in support of it, while others are not supportive due to a greater number of drawbacks.

Keywords: residents' attitudes; Kashmir Valley; community attachment; tourist contact; structural equation modelling; SEM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWI.2025.144328

International Journal of Work Innovation, 2025 Vol.6 No.1, pp.22 - 44

Received: 20 Jul 2023
Accepted: 30 Aug 2023
Published online: 07 Feb 2025 *

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