“A Passport for the Beach”. Mixed Method Research on Moderation of Tourist Hosting and Media Exposure on Refugee Hosting Attitude Formation in Mytilene
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2019-10-17
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en
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Abstract
This paper tries to contribute to the range of theories on how local communities form
attitudes towards hosting refugees, as well as provide an innovative link with the areas of
tourism hosting and media studies. An overview of existing theories about refugee
impacts,
perceptions and beliefs is provided and illustrated through a symbolic interactionist
approach on the case of Mytilene, a city on the island of Lesvos. The conclusions are drawn
from a mixed-method research design in which both surveys and participatory
observation
were combined. Results show that perceived impacts of refugees on society and perceived
duration of hosting refugees affect attitudes towards hosting refugees. Also, the belief
about equal treatment between refugees and Greek citizens is indicatory
for resulting
attitudes. Furthermore, it appeared from the quantitative analysis that attitudes towards
hosting tourists and exposure to media do not influence the variables that lead to different
attitudes towards hosting refugees. Even though the observations
found that tourists can
challenge societal capacity and security, there was no proof for the idea that tourism
hosting moderates attitude formation towards refugees. The impact of media exposure on
attitude formation seemed non-existent, which might have to
do with the variety in media
discourse.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen