Communities in many rural, coastal, and urban destinations in Britain are affected somewhat by tourism. Its sociocultural effects in these areas, however, are less well documented, as much of the academic literature concentrates on the impacts in developing countries, or else evaluates them at a more general level. This is despite the fact that, as Krippendorf (1987) argues, the social effects are so significant that they should be studied before anything else. Mathieson and Wall (1982) point out that although many studies make passing reference to the existence of social impacts, both positive and negative, most cast little light on their nature or the means for their investigation. They argue that research should be directed more explicitly at determining the perceptions and attitudes of the host population towards the presence and behavior of tourists; and unless local inhabitants are contacted, it may not be possible to identify the real significance of any change.

Sharpley (1994) points out that a considerable amount of research has been undertaken into the desires, motivation, and behavior of tourists in relation to their impact on host societies and Krippendorf (1987) also notes that the psychology and sociology of tourism have so far been largely concerned with the tourists’ views and behavior. More recently, however, numerous studies have focused on residents’ attitudes, tourists, and tourism development (Ap; Hernandez; Johnson; Lankford; Lankford; Lankford; Lea; McCool; Schroeder; Ross and Ryan).

Murphy (1985) defines tourism as a sociocultural event for both the guest and host. He suggests that more emphasis has been placed on the convenience of tourists, and any local disillusionment with the industry has been given less of a priority. Nevertheless, destinations have been inconvenienced by congestion and debased by certain staged events and attractions, and there is also growing concern over the acculturation process of tourism. Murphy argued, that “if tourism is to merit its pseudonym of being ‘the hospitality industry’, it must look beyond its own doors and employees to consider the social and cultural impacts it is having on the host community at large” (1985:133).

From a resource management point of view, social and cultural impacts of tourism should be considered throughout the planning process and in an environmental impact assessment procedure, so that benefits are optimized and problems minimized. An important general planning policy to reinforce positive and mitigate negative impacts is the involvement of communities so that residents understand tourism, have participated in its decision making, and receive benefits from the industry (Kavallinis and McIntyre). Likewise, Ap and Lankford point out that the perceptions and attitudes of residents towards the impacts of tourism are likely to be an important planning and policy consideration for the successful development, marketing, and operation of existing and future programs and projects. Therefore, the case study reported in this paper also has implications in terms of planning for tourism development and managing resources in rural and coastal locations.

Literature in this field acknowledges that from a social and cultural perspective, the rapid expansion of tourism in the latter half of the 20th century is important in two respects. First, within individual destination areas or countries, its development has led to changes in the structure of society. Some of these may be welcome: improving income, education, employment opportunities, and local infrastructure and services (Lankford; McCool and Ross). Others may be less welcome: social and family values challenged, new economically powerful groups emerging, and cultural practices adapted to suit the needs of tourists (Ap and Johnson). Second, because “tourism is unique as an export industry in that consumers themselves travel to collect the goods” ( Crick 1989:310) the expansion of international tourism has increased the contact among different societies and cultures. To some, this interaction threatens to destroy traditional cultures and societies and to others it represents an opportunity for peace, understanding and greater knowledge among different societies and nations. Such social impacts can be described as those which have a more immediate effect on both tourists and host communities in terms of their quality of life (Sharpley 1994). As Mathieson and Wall (1982) suggest, these impacts can change through time in response to structural changes in the industry, and the extent and duration of the exposure of the host population to tourist development. For instance, Allen, R., Long, P., Perdue, R. and Kieselbach, S., 1988. The Impact of Tourism Development on Residents’ Perceptions of Community Life. Journal of Travel Research 27 1, pp. 16–21.Allen, Long, Perdue and Kieselbach (1988) argue that residents’ attitudes towards tourism may be directly related to the degree or stage of development.

On the other hand, cultural impacts are those which lead to a longer-term, gradual change in a society’s values, beliefs, and cultural practices. To an extent, this is caused by the demand of tourists for instant culture and authentic souvenirs, and at the extreme may result in the situation whereby the host society becomes culturally dependent on the tourism generating country (Sharpley 1994). In other situations, however, local communities can be quite ambivalent towards its development (Johnson, Snepenger and Akis 1994), even when the pace of growth is rapid (Hernandez et al 1996). The degree to which sociocultural impacts influence or are experienced by host communities may depend on a number of factors, including the number and type of tourists, the nature of tourism development in the area, and the pace of development.

Many commentators suggest that tourism often contributes to social and cultural change rather than being the cause of such change. However, because the industry is highly visual it has often become the scapegoat for sociocultural change (Crick 1989). The dynamic character of all societies and cultures should thus not be overlooked and the potential influences must be considered against this background (Sharpley 1994). These influences can be grouped into tourism development, tourist–host interaction and culture, with each allowing for specific impacts. Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3 summarize some of the most salient impacts. For each case, an author has been attributed, but it should be acknowledged that there is overlap within this part of the literature and no single impact is the “preserve” of a particular author. To relate these impacts to the host, this paper examines the perceived social and cultural impacts of tourism on a small British coastal resort. In addition, the paper aims to evaluate how the impacts found in the case study compare with the general analyses reported in the literature.