Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Anne Hacker

Abstract

Experts have studied tourism as an economic or social phenomenon but have overlooked its dual socioeconomic nature, which prevents public administrators from understanding the industry’s impact on local communities. This qualitative study conducted in a city in Central Asia addressed this problem by considering the views of tourism stakeholders related to the industry’s socioeconomic impact on the city’s local community in 2017. The theoretical framework included corporate social responsibility theory and organizational economics theory. Open-ended interviews with 15 tourism stakeholders from the city’s business, NGO, and government sectors provided data that were analyzed using two-cycle coding. Themes related to business, cultural and national identity awakening, educational revival, spatial greenification, proliferation of business and services, tourism’s multiplier effects, economic safety valve mechanisms, and boosted country name recognition. Findings may promote social-oriented officials and policies to improve the quality of tourism-development strategies, budgeting, and real-life projection. Findings may also help the city’s authorities define the pros and cons of tourism development to ensure responsible and sustainable development leading to positive social change.

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