Happy Hosts? International Tourist Arrivals and Residents’ Subjective Well-being in Europe

Ivlevs, Artjoms

Abstract

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. While there has been a growing interest in the relationship between perceived tourism impacts and residents’ quality of life, little is known about how residents’ well-being is affected by actual tourist arrivals. This article studies the effect of international tourist arrivals on the subjective well-being—happiness and life satisfaction—of residents in European countries. Data come from the six waves of the European Social Survey, conducted in 32 countries in 2002-2013. The results of the OLS fixed-effects and instrumental-variable estimations suggest that tourist arrivals reduce residents’ life satisfaction. This negative relationship tends to be more pronounced in countries where tourism intensity is relatively high, as well as among people living in rural areas. In addition, tourist arrivals have a greater negative relationship with the evaluative component of subjective well-being (life satisfaction) than its affective component (happiness).

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 5, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Aug 12, 2016
• Publication Date: May 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 11, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 7, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Travel Research
• Print ISSN: 0047-2875
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-6763
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 56
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 599-612
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287516662353
• Keywords: life satisfaction, happiness, tourist arrivals, Europe, instrumental variable analysis
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/902274
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0047287516662353
• Contract Date: Jul 12, 2016