Sustainable Tourism Development and Rural Community Values : An Examination of Australia's Forest Regions

In many parts of rural Australia, tourism is a relatively new economic activity. Traditionally regional economies have relied on primary industries, such as agriculture, fishing and mining to sustain their populations. For a host of reasons many of these activities have been in decline or have ceased altogether in recent years. This may be due to the depletion of the resource, changes in the environmental ethic of the broader population, or government land management policies. Whatever the reason, the consequences of a decline in, or loss of a region's economic base may have a profound impact on a rural community. There is thus pressure to find an alternative or supplementary economic base so that the community can be sustained. This work explores new ways of assessing a rural community's response to a tourism development scenario in their area. The work uses psychological values theories to interpret the attitudes and economic valuations of rural residents to further tourism development. The foundations of this new approach to values assessment is the contingent valuation method and the Personal Construct Theory (PCT) repertory grid.