By: Scott Nicholoson
A tourism study suggested local residents are concerned about the environment, traffic and rate of growth.
The study, “An Examination of Resident Perceptions of Community and
Tourism Development,” was presented to the Watauga County commissioners
Monday. The study was funded and commissioned by Appalachian State
University and was co-authored by Eric Frauman and Sarah Banks, faculty
members in ASU’s Health, Leisure and Exercise Science Department.
Banks said the key
findings of the survey were concerns over how growth was affecting the
environment. She said there were slightly differing attitudes among the
sample groups, depending on whether they lived in the town limits, out
in the more rural areas of the county, or were second-home owners.
“People in town were generally a little more tolerant of growth,” Banks
said, noting that second-home owners were also a little more tolerant
because their first homes might be in more urban areas.
However, they were also concerned that growth might make an impact in
the reasons they decided to make a second home in the mountains.
The report’s
executive summary concluded, “Protect the natural environment, first
and foremost, as community quality of life and tourism development seem
intricately connected to its protection.”
The study examined the role of “place attachment” across the various
types of residential groups. A three-page survey was mailed out to
random residents last year, then a follow-up survey was hand delivered
to tourism-related businesses earlier this year. The survey asked
people to rate 34 items on a varying scale for environmental,
socioeconomic and sociocultural attributes, including pollution,
litter, safety, population density, economic opportunity and business
development.
The five items
ranked as most important in making Watauga a desirable place to live
included safety from crime, amount of pollution, preserving undeveloped
mountain tops and slopes, amount of uncontrolled development and
quality of the natural environment.
While there were
few significant differences among the various sample groups, the report
noted business owners put more value on number of available jobs,
personal income and affordable housing.
The biggest concerns among the survey respondents were amount of
traffic, amount of uncontrolled development, ridge preservation,
affordable housing and noise. Permanent residents were more concerned
about the amount of open space and amount of traffic than were
tourism-related business owners and seasonal residents.
The authors noted,
“The findings from this study reveal the natural environment is the
primary thing that makes Watauga County special. Not only is the
natural environment considered important but there is serious concern
about its current condition and possible future state across resident
type...the natural environment may well be the engine that drives the
county’s economy and contributes to the quality of life residents have
come to know and love over the years.”
The study suggests that government and business leaders should
recognize the role of environmental quality in decision making.
Recommendations included “developing a
widely shared vision for the future, creating an inventory of local
resources, capitalizing on existing assets, providing incentives to
protect and encourage smart growth, teaming with public land managers,
providing opportunities for citizen leadership and paying attention to
aesthetics in both developed and undeveloped areas.
Banks acknowledged that older people were more likely to respond to the
survey, and she hopes to do more follow-up surveys to get broader data.
She and Frauman also plan to meet with local tourism development groups
and local government leaders to discuss the issues reflected in the
survey.
