Understanding resident subjectivities toward tourism using Q method: Orchid Island, Taiwan

The pursuit of sustainable destination tourism should begin with an understanding of resident subjectivities. Residents are concerned with good governance and cultural integrity, and they are aware of their role as stakeholders in tourism in their communities. In this study, residents of Orchid Island, Taiwan, were interviewed using Q method in order to evaluate their subjectivities toward tourism. Forty-two statements regarding a theoretically and historically defined discourse of tourism were sorted by 34 respondents. This forced-choice method revealed four types of subjectivities, which are distinguished as Culture Broker, Cultural Conservative, Cultural Purist and Pragmatic Governance. The results show how the respondents perceived tourism in their destination. They agreed upon certain core issues regarding destination tourism, while contesting other issues. Respondents held strong views concerning how government policy affects their community and how tourism and culture shape each other. It is concluded that many issues in tourism research are highly relevant to residents of small tourism destination communities. This implies that tourism research should focus on understanding and coordinating resident subjectivities so as to inform government planning and decision-making, especially in indigenous communities or small islands.