Co-creation or co-destruction?

Is residents’ support vital for sustainable rural tourism strategies? New research says yes!

“Involving residents in tourism development and securing their support are vital for successful, sustainable tourism”.

Sustainable rural tourism depends not only on visitor demand but on residents’ willingness to support tourism development. New research shows that how locals and visitors interact plays a decisive role in residents’ feelings of involvement. A 2025 study published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism finds that residents’ support is strongly shaped by social encounters with tourists, highlighting the social foundations of sustainability.

The research identifies two key types of hosts–tourist interaction. Everyday Necessity Interactions (ENI) are routine, commercial, or random encounters, while Emotional Knowledge Interactions (EKI) involve stronger emotional expression and transfer of cultural knowledge, such as villagers sharing historical practices or agricultural knowledge. Both types embed rational, emotional, and cognitive components that influence residents’ perceptions of tourism.
These interactions strengthen a sense of meaning, self-worth, and authentic happiness in rural life, fostering supportive attitudes toward sustainable tourism development.

What DMOs can do:
Encourage community-based experiences that foster respectful and meaningful interaction
Prepare visitors with messaging emphasizing empathy, norms, and local life, which aimed at continually boosting emotional energy and enhancing life meaning
DMOs can foster responsible tourism by implementing a clear system that encourages visitors to respect local culture, minimize disruptive behavior, and prevent conflicts.
To increase residents’ support benign and equal interaction between host and tourist will be helpful.
DMOs can promote educational tourism by encouraging residents to share local knowledge and history.

By centering residents’ experiences, rural destinations can build strategies that communities genuinely support for sustainable tourism development.

The study can be found here.

Li, H., Xu, H., Wei, Z., & Huang, C. (2025). Co-creation or co-destruction? Rethinking the relationship between host-tourist interactions and support for tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1-25.